Filmmaker Nikyatu Jusu does Skype Interview with Afrofusion Lounge

Nikyatu Jusu has not even yet graduated with her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from New York University’s Film School, but three of her films have already won multiple awards. Her thesis film Say Grace Before Drowning, whose screenplay had already captured a Spike Lee Scholarship, recently won her a $50,000 Panavision equipment grant at the Bronze Lens Film Festival in Atlanta. Her second year short, African Booty Scratcher, won an HBO award, and her latest

Nikyatu Jusu (from her website, Nikyatu.com)

short film Black Swan Theory won the Shadow and Act Filmmaker Challenge Grant. When Afrofusion finally tracked down the Atlanta, Georgia native, who was born to Sierra Leonean parents, she was still busy, holed up in an edit suite in New York City working on her latest film. We’d been going back and forth for what seemed like months, trying to get an interview with this prolific young filmmaker. So we decided to settle for an interview via Skype, which would make life easier on us all. Nikyatu talked with Afrofusion TV’s Riziki about her background, her films, and her mission as a young filmmaker of color in a male-dominated industry. We are honored to feature filmmaker Nikyatu Jusu on Afrofusion Lounge. She is currently working on two feature-length films, one of them based on her Black Swan Theory short. You can catch Say Grace Before Drowning when it premieres on HBO in February 2011. For much more information on Nikyatu, and to support her films, check out her website here. Bless…

Related Articles

• Tribeca Film Institute announces new documentary fund, presented by HBO; TFI to distribute more than $500,000 in filmmaker grants in 2011 (countercultureprodco.com)
• How the web is changing film festivals (youtube-global.blogspot.com)