This richly expressive biopic of the legendary singer and civil rights icon Nina Simone is narrated by the late singer herself, serving up intimate insight into Simone’s psyche. We get a guided tour of her life, beginning with her early days as a piano prodigy in a rural North Carolina church. She rose to fame and found transcendence in the civil rights movement—we witness her electrifying performance of the career-changing anthem “Mississippi Goddamn” (written in response to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing). But tragedy was always close at her heels. After an eight-year exile in Liberia, Simone found her way to Switzerland and then Paris, where she re-emerged as a singer. This honest, layered film doesn’t shy away from her personal demons. But it also exalts her as a brave black woman whose music still holds sway. (PS) Presented by Marketing & Communications at the University of Missouri.