'The United States vs. Billie Holiday' comes down to what one single song does to the life of the singer, to the society, and the system. LA Times recalls what really happened when federal officers prosecuted Billie Holiday because of the song about a lynching in the American South - the powerful 'Strange Fruit', with the excuse of fighting against the drugs. Critics don't really like the movie.

"She enjoyed fashion and had a performer’s joy in being looked at, in satin, silks, heels and hairstyles" - the Guardian writes about the fashion choices Billie Holiday made, and what they meant. "For a Black woman in the US at that time, this glamour could be seen as a kind of resistance, too... People said, ‘How dare she wear diamonds, how dare she wear fur,’ but she dressed as a woman of her stature should have. She represented herself exactly as she wanted to and that in itself was revolutionary”. Lee Daniels’ film 'The United States Vs Billie Holiday' is released this week.

'The United States vs. Billie Holiday', a new film about the life of legendary singer, is coming to Hulu in February, and the trailer is out now (watch it below). It is directed by Lee Daniels, stars R&B singer Andra Day in the titular role, and it “unapologetically presents the icon’s complicated, irrepressible life”. Screenplay is written by Suzan-Lori Parks.

James Erskine’s documentary 'Billie' is constructed entirely from interviews by Linda Lipnack Kuehl, a high-school teacher and Holiday fan, who interviewed almost 200 of Billie Holiday's friends and colleagues. Kuehl was found dead in 1979 from a presumed suicide, and her interviews found their way to a private collector, from whom Erskine bought the rights. His film is a journey through Holiday’s life, narrated by the voices on those tapes – eyewitnesses to one of the 20th century’s most remarkable artists, Guardian says presenting it - "listening to musicians, lovers, pimps, childhood friends and FBI agents recounting their time with Holiday is an evocative and transportive experience".

BBC started a new segment, Songs that Made History, and the first one is Billie Holiday's version of 'Strange Fruit' recorded on 20 April 1939. Eighty years on, BBC explores how a poem about lynching became a timeless call to action. Listen to the powerful piano-jazz ballad here.