Nijla Mu'min is a writer and filmmaker from the East Bay Area. Her work is informed by poetry, photography, fiction, and dance. Named one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine in 2017, she tells stories about Black girls and women who find themselves between worlds and identities.
Her short films have screened at festivals across the country. Her filmmaking and screenwriting have been supported by the Sundance Institute, IFP, Film Independent, Women In Film LA, and the Princess Grace Foundation. In 2011, she worked as a Production Assistant on Ava DuVernay’s film, Middle of Nowhere. In 2014, she was selected for the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Intensive, and she was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Screenplay at the 2014 Urbanworld Film Festival, for her script Noor. Nijla attended the 2017 Sundance Institute Sound and Music Design Lab for Jinn. Her short film Dream was acquired by Issa Rae Productions for online streaming in 2017.
Her debut feature film, Jinn, starring Zoe Renee, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Simone Missick, premiered at the 2018 South By Southwest Film Festival, where she won the Special Jury Recognition Award for Screenwriting. In 2018, she directed an episode of Ava DuVernay's critically-acclaimed series "Queen Sugar.” Jinn, a New York Times Critic’s pick, was released in November 2018 by Orion Classics, and is currently streaming on Amazon. In 2021, she directed an episode of “Wu-Tang: An American Saga” for Hulu. She is currently developing her second feature film, Mosswood Park. She is a 2013 graduate of CalArts MFA Film Directing and Creative Writing Programs, and a 2007 graduate of UC Berkeley, where studied in June Jordan’s Poetry for the People Program.