Watch the Debut Trailer for 'Miss Sharon Jones!' (Exclusive)
Sharon Jones has often been called “The Female James Brown.” Both singers hail from the same hometown of Augusta, Georgia, and the diminutive Jones (she stands just under 5 feet tall) radiates some of the same knock-you-off-your-feet electricity as the Godfather of Soul when she performs alongside her band the Dap-Kings. For those not in the know about Jones, Oscar-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA, Shut Up & Sing) is about to introduce her to the American moviegoing public this summer with the documentary Miss Sharon Jones! We’ve got the exclusive first trailer above.
As evidenced by this first look, Miss Sharon Jones! is the portrait of an artist whose energy on stage matches her fierceness off it — especially when it came to her battle with pancreatic cancer, which she was diagnosed with in 2013. With intimate access to her subject — including the moment Jones shaves her head — Kopple details her struggle to return to the microphone. As Variety chief film critic Peter Debruge wrote, “Jones’s music will always be her legacy, but thanks to Kopple’s portrait, we got a chance to see her soul.”
The film arrives in NYC on July 29 and nationwide in August. (Go here to see theaters.)
