Imani Lewis and Laya DeLeon Hayes have officially signed on to star in Pure, the debut feature from writer-director Natalie Jasmine Harris—and this one is stepping into a world we rarely see on screen.
Expanding on Harris’ acclaimed short film of the same name, Pure is a coming-of-age story rooted in the elite and often underexplored tradition of Black cotillion culture in suburban Maryland.
The film follows Celeste (Lewis), a 17-year-old slam poetry prodigy whose life is turned upside down when she’s uprooted from her Bay Area home and relocated to Maryland’s affluent Black suburbs. There, she’s expected to participate in a prestigious cotillion season—an environment steeped in tradition, status, and expectation.
But as Celeste prepares to debut into high society, she’s also navigating something far more personal: her evolving queer identity. Caught between cultural expectations and self-discovery, she must decide what kind of coming-out story she wants to claim for herself.
The project already carries strong creative backing. Harris co-wrote the screenplay with Yoko Kohmoto, who also serves as producer. Avril Speaks and Britney Ngaw are executive producing.
Pure has also built serious momentum on the development circuit, earning support from top-tier labs and markets including Film Independent Fast Track, The Gotham Week Project Market, Outfest Screenwriting Lab, and the InsideOut LGBTQ+ Financing Forum. It was further selected for the Women In Film x Sundance Institute Financing Intensive and received the prestigious SFFILM Rainin Screenwriting Grant.
Harris, a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, continues to establish herself as a filmmaker to watch. Her short film Grace—executive produced by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor—premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to screen at major festivals including BlackStar, Palm Springs ShortFest, and Frameline.
As for the stars, Lewis continues to build a multifaceted career across music and film, with standout roles in First Kill, The Get Down, and Wu-Tang: An American Saga. Meanwhile, Hayes has grown up on screen—from voicing Doc McStuffins to starring alongside Queen Latifah in The Equalizer—making this pairing one to watch.
With its layered exploration of identity, class, tradition, and queerness within Black spaces, Pure is shaping up to be both culturally specific and universally resonant.