Nikyatu Jusu

Nikyatu Jusu is a Sierra Leonean-American independent filmmaker and Assistant Professor in Film & Video at George Mason University. Jusu focuses her films on the complexities of Black female characters. Her work deals with displaced, immigrant women in the United States.[1] She is best known for her short film Suicide By Sunlight, which premiered at 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

Early life & education

Nikyatu Jusu was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Sierra Leonean parents Hannah Khoury and Ronald Jusu.[2] She attended Duke University in Durham, North Carolina from 2001-2005, intending to becoming a biomedical engineer. An unexpected meeting with a screenwriting professor introduced her to the world of filmmaking and she changed her focus to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Film/Cinema/Video Studies.[3] She later studied narrative filmmaking at New York University's Tisch Graduate Film school from 2006 - 2011 and received a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Film/Cinema/Video Studies.[4]

Career

Jusu’s second year NYU Graduate Film Exercise made in 2008, African Booty Scratcher, is a semi-autobiography that tells the story of Isatu, who is a young Sierra Leonean American.[1] The story highlights the conflict of differing cultures while Isatu contemplates which culture to please when picking a prom dress. With a budget of $7,000,[5] her self-written and self-directed film[6] was eventually acquired by HBO.[7]

Jusu released Say Grace Before Drowning in 2010 with director and writer credits again.[6] With a bigger budget of $35,000,[5] Jusu created a film that explains the relationship between a young girl and her African refugee mother.[8] This film was also acquired by HBO.[7]

In 2011, Jusu released the narrative film, Black Swan Theory, that was labeled as an experimental work. The plot of the film revolves around Sonya, who is a psychiatric casualty of war, and follows her accepted assignment to murder someone as she struggles for money.[9] Jusu’s budget for her self-written self-directed film[6] was $3,000.[10]

Two years later in 2013,[11] Jusu began developing her feature film debut, FREE THE TOWN, which follows the narrative of three different lives in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The film reveals that Sierra Leone’s past has a grip on the struggling future nation.[12] The film was one of the twelve screenplays selected to participate in Sundance Institute's inaugural Diverse Writers Workshop.[13]

Flowers was released in 2015, Jusu co-wrote and co-directed Flowers with Yvonne Michelle Shirley: a classmate from NYU Grad Film.[6] Flowers toured the festival circuit, being featured at the Milwaukee Film Fest New Orleans Film Fest, Urbanworld Film Fest, BlackStar Film Fest, and Rooftop Film Festival.[14] The coming of age film tells the story of two Brooklyn teens who are looking to get revenge on their teacher until their plan backfires. In an interview, Jusu explains that she wanted to draw attention to the struggles of black girls in school because she feels that only black boys are in the spotlight of struggle in the United States education system.[15] Flowers was acquired by HBO[13] and received the HBO Short Film Award.[16]

In 2019, Jusu debuted the short film Suicide by Sunlight starring Natalie Paul and executive produced by Terence Nance.[13] The film was one of the five films to be nominated to the Tribeca Film Institute's Through Her Lens program, where Jusu eventually won the award to receive full production funding.[17] Jusu is credited as director and co-writer of the film, alongside R. Shanea Williams.[18] Suicide by Sunlight is centered around a Black vampire protected from the sun because of her melanin. Battling to suppress her bloodlust to kill other humans, the vampire searches for a human mate to extend her lineage. The film touches on themes of sexual identity, racial identity, interracial relationships, and marginalized communities.[19] Suicide by Sunlight premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2019.[20]

She has taught at institutions such as Parsons School of Design, and Tribeca Film Institute.[21]

Awards

Nikyatu Jusu earned The Most Promising Filmmaker Award from Duke University.[2] Nikyatu’s short film African Booty Scratcher earned her many festival acceptances and awards, including a Director’s Guild Honorable Mention, HBO Short Film Award and JT3 Artist Award.[2] Say Grace Before Drowning is Nikyatu Jusu’s short film that won the Spike Lee Fellowship Award, Director's Guild of America Jury Award, and HBO Short Film Award. It also won the Panavision Equipment Grant, Princess Grace Foundation Grant, and Puffin Foundation Grant.[22] Jusu was the winner of the Shadow and Act Filmmaker Challenge for her short film Black Swan Theory.[23] Flowers is another one of her short films that won the HBO short film award and was her third film acquired by HBO.[24] Her screenplay Free The Town was selected for Africa’s most prestigious Film Market, the 2013 Durban Film Mart and one of 5 narrative films selected for Film Independent’s Fast Track. It was one of 12 projects invited to participate in Sundance Institute's inaugural Diverse Writers Workshop. Free the town was never shot because of the Ebola outbreak. Her narrative film Suicide by Sunlight was awarded a Rooftop Films/Adrienne Shelly Foundation Short Film Grant and was funded by the production grant Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program sponsored by the Tribeca Film Institute and Chanel. The film was one of the 5 to be nominated, and won the grand prize.[13] Nikyatu was nominated for and won a residency at Headlands Artist Residency, which she attended in July 2018 to work on her latest feature script. Nikyatu and her co-writer R. Shanea Williams were 2017 recipients of a full production grant as well as production support from the Tribeca CHANEL Women's Filmmaker Program, Through Her Lens.

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gollark: ``` Q: What are the mechanics of xenowyrm breeding?A: A pair with a xeno parent can breed: an egg of a non-xeno parent, a xeno like one of the xeno parent/s, a xeno based off the biome of a non-xeno parent (ie a volcanic parent can produce a pyro xenowyrm), or a random xenowyrm (when purebreeding or breeding to a dragon without a specific biome location, ie its biome is listed as "cave"). ```
gollark: https://forums.dragcave.net/topic/48-frequently-asked-questions/?tab=comments#comment-4319275
gollark: Please wait, getting citation...
gollark: Different xenowyrm types, too; they breed weirdly.

References
  1. Ellerson, Beti (2011-04-07). "AFRICAN WOMEN IN CINEMA BLOG: A Conversation with Nikyatu Jusu". AFRICAN WOMEN IN CINEMA BLOG. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  2. "Nikyatu Jusu – African Film Festival, Inc". www.africanfilmny.org. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  3. "Duke Event Calendar". calendar.duke.edu. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  4. "Highlights: Fall 2017". Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  5. "Nikyatu Jusu - IMDbPro". pro.imdb.com. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  6. "Nikyatu Jusu". IMDb. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  7. "Trailer for Short Film 'Flowers' By Rising Sierra Leonean-American Filmmaker Nikyatu Jusu Debuts". OkayAfrica. 2016-07-15. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  8. Jusu, Nikyatu (2010-06-24), Say Grace Before Drowning, Ebbe Bassey, Ellie Foumbi, Dennise Gregory, retrieved 2018-06-13
  9. NIKYATU (2011-02-21), || BLACK SWAN THEORY ||, retrieved 2018-06-13
  10. "Watch Nikyatu Jusu's Black Swan Theory Online Now!". Afrofusion Lounge. 2011-02-17. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  11. NIKYATU (2013-09-24), MICHAEL | FREE THE TOWN, a feature film, retrieved 2018-06-13
  12. "FREE THE TOWN". Indiegogo. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  13. "Nikyatu Jusu". IMDb. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  14. NIKYATU (2016-07-29), FLOWERS, retrieved 2018-06-13
  15. Wilder, Kali (2016-09-16). "How Two Filmmakers Are Taking On The Complexity Of Black Girlhood". Black Enterprise. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  16. "Short Film. 'Flowers.' A Revenge Plot Spirals Out of Control. | SUPERSELECTED - Black Fashion Magazine Black Models Black Contemporary Artists Art Black Musicians". superselected.com. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  17. "Nikyatu Jusu's 'Suicide by Sunlight' Selected by Tribeca's Through Her Lens Program for Funding". Hollywood's Black Renaissance. 2017-10-20. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  18. Jusu, Nikyatu, Suicide by Sunlight, Natalie Paul, Motell Gyn Foster, Souleymane Sy Savane, retrieved 2018-06-13
  19. "Nikyatu Jusu - Headlands Center for the Arts". Headlands Center for the Arts. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  20. "Nikyatu Jusu On Her Evocative Black Vampire Film 'Suicide By Sunlight' [Sundance Interview]". shadowandact.com. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  21. "This is the Future of Film: Here are the Recipients of Tribeca and CHANEL's Third Annual THROUGH HER LENS | Tribeca". Tribeca. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  22. NIKYATU (2010-09-01), SAY GRACE BEFORE DROWNING | short film | NIKYATU JUSU, retrieved 2018-06-12
  23. Martinez, Vanessa (2013-07-09). "Watch Teaser for Nikyatu Jusu's Upcoming Web Series 'Suicide by Sunlight'". IndieWire. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  24. "Rachel Weisz and Mira Nair Award "Suicide by Sunlight" at Through Her Lens Program - Women and Hollywood". womenandhollywood.com. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
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