Loving, Black Teenage Instagram Celebrity Converts to Islam. Here's
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A shape-shifting, pepperoni- loving, black teenage Instagram celebrity converts to Islam. Here’s what happens. THE STORY Summer is a 17-year old carefree black girl, whose world is turned upside down when her mother, a popular meteorologist named Jade Jennings, abruptly converts to Islam and becomes a different person, prompting Summer to reevaluate her identity. When her mother coerces her into converting, Summer rebels. But, while Summer initially resists Islam, she eventually becomes drawn to its teachings, particularly around the "Jinn," supernatural beings who occupy a parallel world and have free will, like humans. Summer soon realizes that the religion is more complex than she thought, and that people interpret it in different ways. Yet, Summer's need to be free and untethered to any one way of being clashes with her mother’s strict interpretation of the faith and causes a growing rift between them. When Summer meets Tahir, a fellow Muslim classmate who attends the same masjid, she is further drawn to the religion and especially to his parent’s fluid, freeing practice of it. As Summer and Tahir build a connection based in laughter, curiosity, and beef pepperoni, a budding sexual attraction ignites, causing a major conflict between physical desire and piety. About Nijla- Writer/Director Nijla Mu'min is a writer and filmmaker from the East Bay Area. Named one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine in 2017, she tells stories about black girls and women who find themselves between worlds and identities. Her short films have screened at festivals and venues across the country, including Outfest, Pan African Film Festival, and BAMcinématek. Her filmmaking and screenwriting have been recognized by the Sundance Institute, IFP, Film Independent, and the Princess Grace Foundation. In 2014, she was one of 10 writers selected for the Second Annual Sundance Institute Screenwriters Intensive. She is the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Screenplay at the 2014 Urbanworld Film Festival, for her script Noor. She was selected as the first-prize winner of the 2016 Islamic Scholarship Fund's Film Grant, and in 2017, Jinn was selected for IFP's Narrative Lab and as a recipient of SFFILM's Rainin Film Grant. In July, Nijla was selected to attend the 2017 Sundance Institute Sound and Music Design Lab at Skywalker Ranch. Her first feature film, Jinn, starring Zoe Renee and Simone Missick (Netflix’s Luke Cage), recently premiered at SXSW, where she won the Special Jury Prize for Writing. Her short film Dream was recently acquired by Issa Rae Productions (Insecure, HBO) for online streaming. She is a 2013 dual-degree graduate of CalArts MFA Film Directing and Writing Programs. Her writing appears in VICE, Shadow and Act, The East Bay Express, and The Los Angeles Times. The Team Avril Z. Speaks – Producer Avril has several years of experience as a filmmaker to include credits as a producer, writer, director, and editor. She was an Associate Producer on the TNT docu-series American Race, and is the lead producer on the feature film Jinn, which premiered in Narrative Competition at SXSW in 2018 and won Special Jury Recognition for Writing. Jinn continues to win awards at festivals around the country, and recently gained distribution through MGM/Orion Classics. Avril is currently producing several feature films, including: Hosea, which is in post-production, Scenes from Our Marriage, which is the directing debut of Yolonda Ross (The Chi, The Get Down, Whitney), Caroline’s Wedding, Static, African-America, and Nijla Mu’min’s second feature Mosswood Park. She is a Film Independent Producing Lab Fellow, and was recently selected as a Rotterdam Producing Lab Fellow for 2019. She most recently worked as a Production Manager for Scripted Programming at BET Networks and is a winner of the 2018 Movie Magic Producer Award.. Avril earned her M.F.A. in Film Directing from Columbia University School of the Arts in New York City and was a film professor in Atlanta and at Howard University before moving to Los Angeles. She earned a second Masters in Theology and Film before deciding to leave academia to focus primarily on producing and directing. She has directed two feature films The Round Table, and the award-winning film Sophisticated Romance. For more information, visit http://www.azuspeak.com. Executive Producers: Elton Brand – (NBA All-Star; Producer – Rescue Dawn, All Eyez on Me) Mike C. Manning - (Producer – Lost in America; M.F.A.; The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson) Angela Harvey – (TV Writer – Teen Wolf; Salvation; Station 19) Tommy Oliver – (Producer – Black Love; The Perfect Guy; 1982) Billy Mulligan – (Producer – Black Love; Destined; Take Me to the River, 1982; Yelling to the Sky) Shandra McDonald – (Producer – The Promise, The Last Adam) Amy McGary – (Producer – The Adventures of Ociee Nash, Crystal River) Kristen McGary – (Producer – The Adventures of Ociee Nash) Simone Missick – (Actress – Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, American Koko) Reactions to Jinn Jinn has received tremendous support since its web launch via Kickstarter in March. The film has developed a tight-knit support community throughout the campaign of people who long to see positive representations of African American teenagers and Muslims onscreen. Here are some of the comments received regarding the film: “Love it! Support!” – Reagan Gomez, Actress - The Parent-hood, Dysfunctional Friends, Beauty Shop “In case you want to be about diversity in film instead of talking about it…this is a good one to Kickstart.” – Franklin Leonard – Founder, The Black List “This project looks amazing! So necessary! #ABGApproved.” – Awkward Black Girl web series/Issa Raye “Happy to support @Nijla1 and her Kickstarter campaign for Jinn…” – Gina Prince Bythewood, Writer/Director, Beyond the Lights, Love & Basketball “So excited for all that is to come!” – Angela Harvey, Writer, MTV series Teen Wolf In addition, Jinn has also received support from esteemed filmmakers and influencers: Ava DuVernay, Salim Akil, Dream Hampton, and Lena Waithe. There is an audience waiting to see this film! Recently, Jinn was selected to participate in the Sundance Financing and Strategy Initiative in NYC, where we received valuable insight and support for this film. Jinn is also one of 10 projects selected for Film Independent’s Fast Track program at the L.A. Film Festival. Jinn Accomplishments to Date: • Raised $25,000 in 3 weeks during successful Kickstarter campaign • Featured on Indiewire.com, Filmmaker Magazine, and Blavity.com • Selected for Sundance Financing & Strategy Intensive for Women (April 2016) • Selected for Film Independent’s Fast Track program (June 2016) • Winner, Panavision New Filmmaker Award – includes grant for complete camera package (July 2016) • Winner, Islamic Scholarship Fund grant (October 2016) • Selected for IFP Narrative Completion Lab (May 2017) • Selected for Sundance Music & Sound Design Lab (July 2017) • Winner, SFFS/KRF Rainin Post-Production Grant (July 2017) • Winner, Women in Film Finishing Fund Grant • Premiered at SXSW Film Festival, 2018 • Winner, Special Jury Prize for Writing at SWSW, 2018 • Positive review on Variety.com • Winner, Roxbury Film Festival, BlackStar Film Festival, American Black Film Festival, BronzeLens Film Festival, Indie Memphis Film Festival • Acquired distribution through Orion Classics (a subsidiary of MGM Studios) Significance “I am tired of seeing the same recycled images of Muslims when I watch the news, go online, or hear people talk about them in public. None of those Muslims resemble the Muslims I grew up with or know, like my cousin Saidah who loved LL Cool J and got her hair pressed when I was a kid, or my cousins who blasted Naughty By Nature and A Tribe Called Quest, or my father, who danced to jazz at the nightclub, or sister Daiyah, who had her own band (Can you tell Muslims love music?!). I thirst for something different, so I created it. This film is necessary at a time when potential presidential candidates speak of barring an entire group of people from entering this country based on their religion, when state politicians deny the entry of immigrants seeking asylum, or when police officers use excessive force and brutality against innocent citizens. When a group of people are painted with one sinister brush, it becomes okay to dehumanize them, to strip them of their rights, to blame them for crimes they didn’t commit all under some banner of patriarchy. I’m not okay with that. My films humanize those who are routinely dehumanized.” – Nijla Mu’min .