CAST

A Sweet Potato Pie/Morgan's Mark Co-Production

IN THE PRESS

ABOUT

...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, abruptly converts to Islam and becomes a different person, prompting Summer to reevaluate her identity. 

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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.

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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.

...The Filmmaker

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.

She is in post-production on her first feature film, Jinn, starring Zoe Renee and Simone Missick (Netflix’s Luke Cage). 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.

Jinn is a Sweet Potato Pie Production

and Morgan's Mark/Confluential Films Co-Production. 

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Executive Producers:

Mike C. Manning

Elton Brand

Angela Harvey

Simone Missick

Tommy Oliver

Billy Mulligan

Shandra McDonald

Amy McGary

Kristen McGary

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Co-Executive Producer:

Jason Kampf

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Producers:

Avril Z. Speaks

Nijla Mu'min

Maya Emelle

Arielle Saturne

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Associate Producer:

Roderick Teachey

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Produced by the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding

Rabbi Marc Schneier, President

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BEHIND THE SCENES

CONTACT

For more information, please contact Avril Speaks:

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