A talented singer fights for both her life and her career in Director Barbara Kopple’s new documentary, Miss Sharon Jones!
Kopple's verité documentary follows the R&B and soul singer during the most challenging year of her life. Denied her dream for decades by music executives who deemed her “too fat, too black, too short and too old,” Jones’ perseverance finally paid off at age 50. But on the eve of the release of her new album, the vocalist of the Grammy-nominated band “Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings” was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Tour dates were cancelled, the album pushed back and Sharon entered into a fight for her life and career and struggled to hold her band together, survive cancer and return to her true home: the stage.
Following the Eastern Region Special Projects Committee’s Documentary Series screening on November 4, Kopple discussed the making of Miss Sharon Jones! in a conversation moderated by Director Shari Springer Berman (10,000 Saints).
In addition to Miss Sharon Jones!, Kopple’s work includes the feature film Havoc; the documentaries Woodstock: Now & Then, Shut Up & Sing and Wild Man Blues; and episodes of the series The Addiction Project and American Masters. Kopple won the 1998 DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series Night for her episode of Homicide: Life on the Street “The Documentary.” She is also a two-time winner of the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary/Actuality for her 1990 film American Dream and her 1993 film Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson. She is also a two-time Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, Features for her 1976 film Harlan County U.S.A. and American Dream. She has been a member of the DGA since 1980.
You can listen to Kopple's Q&A by clicking the podcast episode embedded below. You can find all DGA podcast episodes here.