Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things: A Virtual Speed Cinema Presentation

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Ella Fitzgerald performs on stage in 1940 in the United States. (Photo by Gilles Petard/Redferns)

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Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things
Directed by Leslie Woodhead

Streaming ENDS July 31. Those who purchase a ticket on this day will have 1 week to watch before the link expires.

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“The archive concert footage steals the show with plenty of priceless reminders of her irresistible charms, from the infectious glee of her vocal tightrope acts in the name of scat singing to the poise and nuance with which she interprets the Great American Songbook.”—Jamie Atkins, Record Collector

This new fascinating documentary follows her extraordinary journey over six decades as her sublime voice transforms the tragedies of her own life and the troubles of her times into joy.

While most of us know her as the tough, thoughtful, funny, dazzling musical innovator, this film also uncovers Fitzgerald’s commitment to the battle for Civil Rights. It also explores the conflicts that always haunted this intensely private woman: the struggle to reconcile her hunger for adoring audiences with her longing for a domestic life with her husband and son. At a time when she was the biggest singing star in the world, her pianist and friend Oscar Peterson said Ella was “the loneliest woman in the world”.

Featuring interviews with Tony Bennett, Jamie Cullum, Laura Mvula, Johnny Mathis, Smokey Robinson, Cleo Laine, Andre Previn, Norma Miller, Patti Austin, Izsak Perlman, Margo Jefferson, Will Friedwald and a rare interview with Ella’s son, Ray Brown Jr. 2019, U.S., 99 minutes. Recommended for 12+.