Nijla Mu’min is set to receive some valuable support for her feature film debut: the writer-director has been selected for The Panavision New Filmmaker Program. In “Jinn,” Mu’min will tackle questions about identity, Islam, and the experience of first love.
Launched over 25 years ago, the Panavision New Filmmaker Program “loans film or digital camera packages (based on availability) on an ongoing basis to filmmakers for student thesis films, ‘low-budget’ independent features, showcase reels, Public Service Announcements, or any other type of short not-for-profit project for little to no charge.”
Mu’min, whose work has been recognized by the Sundance Film Institute, Urban World Film Festival, and the Princess Grace Awards, is loosely basing the coming-of-age story on her own upbringing in a black, half Islamic home. Hollywood Black Renaissance writes that the film follows “17-year-old carefree black girl named Summer whose world is turned upside down when her mother abruptly converts to Islam and becomes a different person which prompts Summer to reevaluate her own life and identity. Summer initially resists Islam, but then becomes drawn to its teachings particularly around a ‘Jin,’ which in Islam are supernatural beings who occupy another world and have free will. Summer soon comes to realize that the religion is more complex than she thought, and that people interpret it in different ways.”
“I am making this film because I am tired of seeing the same old recycled images of Muslims when I turn the TV on, when I google search them,” explained Mu’min. “None of those Muslims reflect the ones I know or grew up with. When a group of people are routinely painted with one sinister brush, it becomes okay to dehumanize them and strip them of their rights. I am not okay with that.”
Mu’Min’s 2011 short “Two Bodies” screened at fests across the nation, including the Pan African Film Festival, Outfest, and Frameline. Her writing has appeared in VICE, Shadow and Act, Bitch Media, and The Los Angeles Times. Mu’Min worked as a PA on Ava DuVernay’s “Middle of Nowhere.”
For information about how you can apply to The Panavision New Filmmaker Program, click here.
