Iconic musical legend is the subject of award-winning doc at Mary D. Fisher Theatre
Sedona AZ (June 18, 2020) – The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present the Northern Arizona premiere of the award-winning and acclaimed new documentary “Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things” showing June 26-July 2 at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre.
“Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things” premiered to rave reviews at the recent Sedona International Film Festival and is making a return by popular demand.
Tracing the story of Ella Fitzgerald’s life, this documentary film explores how her music became a soundtrack for a tumultuous century. From a 1934 talent contest at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, the film follows Ella’s extraordinary journey across five decades as she reflects the passions and troubles of the times in her music and life.
Ella Fitzgerald was a 15-year-old street kid when she won a talent contest in 1934 at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. Within months she was a star. “Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things” 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.
The film uses never-before-seen images and unheard interviews to bring Ella Fitzgerald to life and to tell the story of her music — a black woman who makes her career in the face of horrifying racism.
Here is an Ella the world never knew — tough, thoughtful, funny, a dazzling musical innovator. The film also uncovers Ella’s commitment to the battle for Civil Rights; and it 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”. But as Jamie Cullum says “her music is one of the reasons it’s worth being on this planet”.
“Ella Fitzgerald” features 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.
“Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things” will be shown at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre June 26-July 2. Showtimes will be 7 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, Wednesday and Thursday, June 26, 27 and July 1 and 2; and 4 p.m. on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, June 28, 29 and 30.
Tickets are $12, or $9 for Film Festival members. For tickets and more information, please call 928-282-1177. Both the theatre and film festival office are located at 2030 W. Hwy. 89A, in West Sedona. For more information, visit: www.SedonaFilmFestival.org.