Nikyatu Jusu: Last News

Jamie Lang After a banner 2021 for high-end genre films, industry vets are hopeful that the fantastic can resurrect the corpse of pre-COVID theatrical distribution.As bolts of lightning reanimated the body of Frankenstein’s monster, Julia Ducournau’s “Titane,” which turned heads when it took the Palme d’Or at Cannes, and Sundance Grand Jury prize-winner “Nanny,” a supernatural tale from director Nikyatu Jusu, have revitalized the festival scene.While “Nanny” may have been the jewel in the genre crown at Sundance, the influence that genre cinema held over 2022’s first major festival was wide-ranging and undeniable. Chloe Okuno’s psychological thriller “Watcher” impressed — segueing into several sales deals — as did Hanna Bergholm’s psycho-horror feature “Hatching,” sold by Wild Bunch and Charades-sold Spanish standout “Piggy,” the follow-up to Carlota Pereda’s 2019 Spanish Academy Award-winner “Cerdita.” Among genre titles at Berlin this year are Dario Argento’s serial killer thriller “Dark Glasses” in the Berlinale Special section, while Bertrand Bonello’s subconscious voyage “Coma” and Peter Strickland’s gory “Flux Gourmet” (pictured above) feature in Encounters.

Angelique Jackson When “Nanny” writer-director Nikyatu Jusu got a message from the Sundance team in late January asking to jump on a call, the first time filmmaker realized that the project must’ve won an award, which would be presented publicly the next day.First, Jusu thought that the prize might go to the film’s star Anna Diop, who’d been earning rave reviews for her performance as Aisha, a Senegalese woman who recently immigrated to America and begins working for a wealth family on the Upper East Side in New York City. Then, she speculated the prize could be for cinematographer Rina Yang’s work lensing the film, which would be a win for the whole team.

EXCLUSIVE: Hot off the heels of her Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Universal and Monkeypaw have won the rights to Nikyatu Jusu’s next project which she will co-write with Fredrica Bailey. The untitled horror film is set up under Monkeypaw’s overall deal at Universal and the logline, based on an original idea by Jusu, is being kept under wraps

A drama about an undocumented nanny in New York City, a documentary about three exiled dissidents from Tiananmen Square and another doc about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny won top prizes at the Sundance Film Festival. Winners were announced Friday evening in a virtual ceremony.

Premiering in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at this year’s all-virtual Sundance Film Festival, Nikyatu Jusu’s unsettling “Nanny” is a supernatural thriller that weaves together strands of domestic drama and West African folklore.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticAisha didn’t move to New York City to raise some other mother’s kids. She moved there with the intention of bringing her young son over from Senegal.