HONORING

Nijla Baseema 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.

Mu’min’s short films have screened at festivals and venues across the country, and her filmmaking and screenwriting have been supported by the Sundance Institute, IFP, Film Independent, the Islamic Scholarship Fund, Women In Film LA, and the Princess Grace Foundation. Mu’min worked as a Production Assistant on Ava DuVernay’s indie film Middle of Nowhere and was selected for the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Intensive in 2014. Later that year, she was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Screenplay at the Urbanworld Film Festival for her script Noor. Mu’min attended the 2017 Sundance Institute Sound and Music Design Lab at Skywalker Ranch for Jinn, her debut feature film. Her short film Dream was acquired by Issa Rae Productions (“Insecure,” HBO) for online streaming.

Jinn, starring Zoe Renee and Simone Missick (Netflix’s Luke Cage), premiered in narrative competition at the 2018 South By Southwest Film Festival, winning the Special Jury Recognition Award for screenwriting. Mu’min went on to win Best Screenplay at the 2018 American Black Film Festival (ABFF) and Best Feature at Blackstar Film Festival, among other honors. Jinn was released in November 2018 by Orion Classics and is currently available for streaming on iTunes and Amazon Prime.

A dual-degree graduate of CalArts MFA Film Directing and Writing Programs, Mu’min recently directed an episode of the critically-acclaimed television series Queen Sugar and currently writes for the upcoming Apple series Swagger.