As celebrities go, Beyonce is arguably the most in control of her public image. She has had a blanket ban on giving interviews since 2015, runs a meticulously curated Instagram and is almost never photographed out in public.
This is why, for Beyonce fans, news of a brand-new documentary about the star is huge news.
Homecoming: A Film By Beyonce was announced by Netflix yesterday, and is set to premiere on the streaming site on April 17. It will be available on Netflix MENA at the same time as the worldwide release.
This isn't the first time Beyonce has released a documentary about her work. Other autobiographical pieces she has released include: Life Is But a Dream (2013), Beyonce: Fierce and Fabulous (2014), On the Run Tour: Beyonce and Jay-Z (2014) and Lemonade (2016).
Here is everything we know about it so far:
It's about Beyonce's Coachella performance
The movie focuses on the Halo singer's 2018 Coachella performance, which "paid homage to America's historically black colleges and universities". In 2018 Beyonce became the first black woman to headline the music festival.
The trailer includes Variety's review of the performance, calling it "her ode to the black college experience".
There are up-close family moments
It seems as though Beyonce's husband, Jay Z, as well as their twins, Rumi and Sir, aged one, will all feature in the movie. Blue Ivy, seven, is also seen copying her mother's dancing. They all appear in the trailer, but blink and you may miss them.
Since giving birth to the twins in June 2017, Beyonce has rarely been seen in public with them.
The trailer is set to a Maya Angelou interview
The first half of the trailer mainly shows concert clips and behind-the-scenes moments, set to an interview with American poet, writer and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou.
“What I really want to do is be a representative of my race, of the human race,” Angelou can be heard saying over footage of Beyonce and her dancers on stage and backstage at Coachella. "I have a chance to show how kind we can be, how intelligent and generous we can be. I have a chance to teach and to love and to laugh.
“I know that when I finish doing what I’m sent here to do, I will be called home. And I will go home without any fear, trepidations, wondering what’s gonna happen.”
An interviewer asks Angelou: "What advice would you have to give to this generation?" To which she responds: "Tell the truth, to yourself first, and to the children."
The Angelou clip is from a 2013 appearance on Canadian show George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, according to The Oprah Magazine. It was one of her last interviews before her death in 2014.
It's set to be a major cultural moment
The powerful theme of breaking barriers is set to be explored in the film.
Netflix has said that "Homecoming traces the emotional road from creative concept to cultural movement," and the trailer includes significant reviews of her Coachella performance. "[She] writes herself into history," said The Guardian; "[It is] an education in black expression," The New Yorker wrote; and "[The performance was] rich with history, potently political, visually grand," added The New York Times.
We are going to see what goes into a headlining performance
Beyonce is going to show her work. Throughout the trailer we see her in rehearsals, with dancers backstage, working out alone in preparation, getting ready to go on stage and directing the performance.
Watch the full trailer here:
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