Orion Classics has snagged the North American and Latin American rights to Nijla Mu’min’s feature directorial debut. Deadline reports that the award-winning mother-daughter drama will open in theaters November 15 with a VOD and Digital HD release to follow the next day.
Written by Mu’min, the coming-of-age story centers a a 17-year-old black girl (Zoe Renee) whose life is upended when her mother suddenly converts to Islam (Simone Missick).
“I was drawn to this story because of my own upbringing in a largely African-American Muslim community in Oakland,” Mu’min told us. “As I got older, I was introduced to pop culture, different forms of sexuality, Lil’ Kim rap tapes, daisy dukes, pressed hair, belly-out t-shirts, and I became quite conflicted about how to define my identity as a black girl with a Muslim father and a spiritual, non-religious mother. I was a part of so many different cultural worlds and wanted to make them all fit,” she recalled.
“This film asks can I be confused, and flawed, and full of desire, and still be a Muslim? Can I be all these things and still be loved?” Mu’min explained. “Often the conversation around Islam is centered on Islamophobia and representation, which are very important and necessary, but can we also have a space for Muslim characters to just be people who feel, laugh, and struggle like everyone else? Can we acknowledge the intersections of being a Black, Muslim woman?”
“Jinn” made its world premiere at SXSW, where it took home the Special Jury Award for writing.
Mu’min directed an episode of “Queen Sugar’s” third season that aired on OWN in July. Her shorts include “Dream” and “Deluge.”
