Nijla Mu'min is a writer and filmmaker from the East Bay Area. Her work is informed by poetry, photography, fiction, and dance. 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 across the country. Her filmmaking and screenwriting have been supported by the Sundance Institute, IFP, Film Independent, Women In Film LA, and the Princess Grace Foundation. In 2011, she worked as a Production Assistant on Ava DuVernay’s film, Middle of Nowhere. In 2014, she was selected for the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Intensive, and she was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Screenplay at the 2014 Urbanworld Film Festival, for her script Noor. Nijla attended the 2017 Sundance Institute Sound and Music Design Lab for Jinn. Her short film Dream was acquired by Issa Rae Productions for online streaming in 2017.
Her debut feature film, Jinn, starring Zoe Renee, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Simone Missick, premiered at the 2018 South By Southwest Film Festival, where she won the Special Jury Recognition Award for Screenwriting. In 2018, she directed an episode of Ava DuVernay's critically-acclaimed series "Queen Sugar.” Jinn, a New York Times Critic’s pick, was released in November 2018 by Orion Classics, and is currently streaming on Amazon. She’s also written for the upcoming Apple series, "Swagger," and the Starz show “Blindspotting”. In 2019, she received the Shadow & Act Rising Award, the MPAC Media Award for Courage and Conscience, and joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She directed an episode of HBO’s “Insecure” in 2019, and she recently directed the episode of “Swagger” that she wrote. She also wrote and directed a short film for Netflix, entitled Black Prom, which is currently streaming on Netflix’s Strong Black Lead Instagram page, and on Youtube. In 2021, she directed an episode of “Wu-Tang: An American Saga” for Hulu. She is currently developing her second feature film, Mosswood Park. She is a 2013 graduate of CalArts MFA Film Directing and Creative Writing Programs, and a 2007 graduate of UC Berkeley, where studied in June Jordan’s Poetry for the People Program.
Long Bio:
Nijla Baseema Mu’min is an award-winning writer and filmmaker from the East Bay Area. Her work is informed by poetry, photography, fiction, and dance. 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 2011 short film Two Bodies has screened at festivals across the country, including the Pan African Film Festival, Outfest, Frameline and Newfest. Her writing appears in the critically acclaimed book, Love InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women, and she's also written film and cultural criticism for VICE, Shadow and Act on the Indiewire Network, Bitch Media, Gawker, and The Los Angeles Times. In 2011, she worked as a Production Assistant on Ava DuVernay’s film, Middle of Nowhere.
She is a recipient of the 2012 Princess Grace Foundation- Cary Grant Film Award for her graduate thesis film, Deluge, which has screened at BAMcinematek in Brooklyn, Blackstar Film Festival in Philadelphia and The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA). 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. In 2015, she was selected for the prestigious New York Film Festival's Artist Academy.
Her script for Jinn received several good ratings on the industry script database The Black List. Her 2015 short film, Dream has screened at the the Pan African Film Festival, Urbanworld Film Festival, and the first annual Black Bottom Film Festival, honoring the legacy of famed playwright August Wilson. It was later acquired by Issa Rae Productions ("Insecure," HBO) for the #ShortFilmSundays series on Youtube, where it has amassed over 500,000 views. In 2016, she raised over $25,000 through Kickstarter for Jinn, and was selected for Film Independent’s Fast Track program and Panavision's New Filmmaker Program. She was selected as the first-prize winner of the Islamic Scholarship Fund's Film Grant, and was selected as a resident for the San Francisco Film Society's FilmHouse Residency program. 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 debut feature film, Jinn, starring Zoe Renee and Simone Missick (Netflix’s “Luke Cage” and “All Rise”), premiered in narrative competition at the 2018 South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival, where she won the Special Jury Recognition Award for Screenwriting. In 2018, she directed an episode of Ava DuVernay's critically-acclaimed television series "Queen Sugar.” In June 2018, she won the Best Screenplay award for Jinn at the American Black Film Festival (ABFF) and later won Best Feature at Blackstar Film Festival, among other honors. Jinn, a New York Times Critic’s pick, was released in November 2018 by Orion Classics, and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. She recently wrote for the upcoming Apple series, "Swagger," executive-produced by Reggie Rock Bythewood and Kevin Durant. In 2019, she received the Shadow & Act Rising Creator Award, the MPAC Media Award for Courage and Conscience, and was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She directed an episode of HBO’s “Insecure” season four in October 2019. She is currently in pre-production on her second feature film, Mosswood Park.
Mu'min is a graduate of UC Berkeley, and also attended Howard University's MFA Film Program, where she was the recipient of the 2009 Paul Robeson Award for Best Feature Screenplay. She is a 2013 dual-degree graduate of CalArts' MFA Film Directing and Writing programs.
