EXCLUSIVE: American filmmaker Minhal Baig made waves with her 2019 breakout Sundance title Hala, and she’s back this year with the TIFF Centerpiece title We Grown Now, which Deadline can share a first-look clip from above.
The pic is set in 1992 Chicago. Synopsis reads: As Michael Jordan solidifies himself as a champion, a story of two young legends in their own right begins. As wide-eyed and imaginative best friends Malik and Eric traverse the city, looking to escape the mundaneness of school and the hardships of growing up in public housing, their unbreakable bond is challenged when tragedy shakes their community just as they are learning to fly.
Baig produced the film alongside Joe Pirro from a screenplay she also wrote. Executive producers are Jurnee Smollett, Jeff Skoll, Anikah McLaren, James Schamus, and Carrie Holt de Lama. Cast features Smollett, Blake Cameron James, Gian Knight Ramirez, S. Epatha Merkerson, and Lil Rel Howery. Participant is handling world sales.
Baig is a Chicago native. Her directorial credits include the shorts After Sophie and Pretext and the feature film Hala, starring Geraldine Viswanathan, which was picked up by Apple following its Sundance debut. She also had an overall writing-producing TV deal with Amazon and worked on the first season of Hulu’s Ramy and the final season of Netflix’s Bojack Horseman.
Baig began work on We Grown Now after completing post-production work on Hala.
“After filming We Grown Now, I moved back home to Chicago after sixteen years apart,” she said. “The place I had been grieving since my father’s death had irrevocably changed, but I also felt at home. I no longer saw a place defined by what I had lost but what remained: community. For many people, home can hold so many meanings; it cannot be simply defined.”
Check out the full clip above.
