Project Detail

Billie

Synopsis

Billie Holiday one ofthe greatest voices of all time, a woman of breath-taking talent and globalpopularity, was throughout her short life a figure of controversy - a blackwoman in a white man’s world, a victim and a rebel whose performances and recordings of the protest song "Strange Fruit" earned her powerful enemies. She was also an enigma, her telling of her own life story a mix of half truths and free-form improvisations.
In the late1960s journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biographyof Billie. Over the next decade, she tracked down and tape-recorded interviews with the extraordinary characters that populated the iconic singer’s short, tumultuous life. Raw, emotional and brutally honest, these incredible testimonies ranged from musical greats like Charles Mingus, Tony Bennett, Sylvia Syms and Count Basie to her cousin, schoolfriends, lovers, lawyers, pimps and even the FBI agents who arrested her. But Linda’s book was never finished and the tapes unplayed – until now.
With unprecedented and exclusive access to Linda's astonishing 200 hours of never-before-heard interviews, BILLIE showcases an American legend, capturing her depths andcomplexity through the voices of those who knew her best. Painstakingly restored with footage and stills colourized by one of the leading colour artists, it is an arresting and powerful tale of one of the greatest singers who ever lived, and of Linda Lipnack Kuehl, the woman who would sacrifice her life intrying to tell it.
Official Selection Telluride Film Festival 2019 - World premiere

Details

Year: 2019
Type of film: Features
Running time: 96 min
Format: DCP
Director: James Erskine
Producer: Victoria Gregory, Barry Clark-Ewers, James Erskine, Laure Vaysse
Executive Producer: Michelle Smith, Alex Holmes, Sophia Dilley, Emma Cahusac, Will Clarke, Andy Mason, Mike Runagall, Deepak Nayar, Emil Elmer

Genre

Music Black Dance

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

New Black Films Limited

5 Denmark Street
London
WC2H 8LP

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Sales Company

Altitude Film Sales

34 Foubert's Place
London
W1F 7PX

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Endeavor Content (Co-representation North American sales)

Negeen Yazdi

nyazdi_asst@endeavorcontent.com

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