Minhal Baig, who garnered attention with her 2019 breakout film at Sundance, “Hala,” is making a return this year with “We Grown Now,” which is featured as the TIFF Centerpiece. Deadline has provided an exclusive first-look clip from the film.
Set in 1992 Chicago, the movie’s synopsis unfolds as Michael Jordan cements his status as a champion. Simultaneously, it tells the story of two young legends in their own right. Malik and Eric, best friends with wide-eyed and imaginative spirits, navigate the city in search of an escape from the monotony of school and the challenges of growing up in public housing. Their unshakable bond faces a test when tragedy strikes their community just as they are discovering their wings.
We Grown Now stars Jurnee Smollett, S. Epatha Merkerson, Blake Cameron James, Lil Rel Howery, and Gian Knight Ramirez.
Constructed over several decades beginning in the late 1940s, Chicago’s Cabrini-Green public housing complex embodied contemporary thought on housing and urban development. By 1992, however, the community — and the world — had changed significantly. Along with his mother Dolores (Jurnee Smollett) and grandmother Anita (S. Epatha Merkerson), 12-year-old Malik (Blake Cameron James) has lived in this community all his life. The same is true for his best friend Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez) and together the boys know every nook, stairway, and rooftop — all of these a playing field for their (sometimes forbidden) adventures. But change is intruding on their childhood idyll. Drugs and crime are seeping into the neighbourhood and, when a sudden tragic event further shakes the families, the children’s future becomes uncertain. As Dolores weighs a new job that would take them to the unfamiliar suburbs, Malik and Eric struggle with accepting that they may have to say goodbye to each other.
Baig not only directed the film but also produced it alongside Joe Pirro, and she penned the screenplay. The executive producers include Jurnee Smollett, Jeff Skoll, Anikah McLaren, James Schamus, and Carrie Holt de Lama. Participant is handling worldwide sales.
Minhal Baig hails from Chicago and boasts a portfolio of directorial credits, including the shorts “After Sophie” and “Pretext,” as well as the feature film “Hala,” starring Geraldine Viswanathan, which was acquired by Apple following its debut at Sundance. She also had an overall writing-producing TV deal with Amazon and contributed to the first season of Hulu’s “Ramy” and the final season of Netflix’s “Bojack Horseman.”
Baig embarked on the journey of creating “We Grown Now” after completing post-production work on “Hala.”
“After filming ‘We Grown Now,’ I returned to my hometown of Chicago after being away for sixteen years,” she shared. “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.”
You can watch the full clip click here.