Event

Betty: They Say I'm Different

Thu Sep 06: 7.30pm
Fri Sep 07: 7.30pm
Sat Sep 08: 8.00pm
Sun Sep 09: 4.00pm, 8.00pm
Wed Sep 12: 7.30pm
Thu Sep 13: 8.00pm

Phil Cox
UK & France
2017
52m
Series - Music in Motion

About
Betty Davis was heralded as the Queen of Funk, notorious for both her incredible performances and stage presence. Arriving on the music scene in the 60s, she made a lasting impression, but then disappeared from the public eye. Filmmaker Phil Cox interviews close friends, old band members, and music historians to find out what happened to Betty and what keeps us coming back to her.

Former husband Miles Davis said that she was Madonna before Madonna, Prince before Prince, and watching footage of her onstage proves his point: she was far ahead of her time. In 1961, at age 16, Betty left Pittsburgh for New York, taking modeling and fashion gigs before her songwriting career took off. When she finally took the stage to sing her own tunes, her live shows spawned an immediate and ravenous cult following. It was a fame fraught with controversy, but despite being banned, blacklisted and boycotted, Betty became the first black woman to go it entirely alone in the music scene, independently managing her career while writing and performing her own original music. Creatively blending interviews with awesome archival footage and animation, Betty: They Say Im Different becomes a different kind of biopic.