Stay Gold Features and Topic Studios announced today they are teaming up to finance and produce the upcoming feature horror film Nanny, which will be directed and written by filmmaker Nikyatu Jusu (Two Sentence Horror Stories, Suicide By Sunlight). The film will be produced by Nikkia Moulterie (Random Acts of Flyness, Suicide By Sunlight) and Stay Gold Features’ Daniela Taplin Lundberg (Harriet, Honey Boy). LinLay will also finance. Production is set to begin in June in New York City.
Executive producing are Maria Zuckerman, Ryan Heller and Michael Bloom for Topic Studios (The Mauritanian, Luce, Leave No Trace) Rebecca Cammarata (Harriet, Honey Boy) of Stay Gold Features, Sumalee Montano (This is Us) and Grace Lay of LinLay. Jusu will also Executive Produce.
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A timely thriller that puts the immigrant horror story front and center, Nanny follows Aisha, an undocumented nanny caring for a privileged child on the Upper East Side of New York City. As she prepares for the arrival of the son she left behind in West Africa, a violent supernatural presence invades her reality, threatening the “American Dream” she’s painstakingly pieced together. The film uses West African folklore to illustrate ways in which this aspirational dream can torment one’s reality.
Selected as a screenplay for the 2019 Sundance Institute Creative Producing Lab & Summit, Nanny was also chosen for Sundance’s 2020 Writer’s Lab and the 2020 Director’s Lab. Nanny was featured on the 2020 Blacklist. The project has also been recognized as part of the 35 projects chosen for the 2020 Creative Capital Awards.
Said Jusu: “Somali-British poet Warsan Shire states, ‘no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.’ Nanny is my attempt to make sense of the displacement, the nostalgia immigrant women carry as they forge inexorably new lives in America. Our mothers sacrificed so much in order for us to essentially create ourselves, and though the real life horror of that sacrifice manifests in the form of living breathing monsters in Nanny, my goal is for audiences to leave our film with a sense of hopefulness. Women like my protagonist Aisha, my mother and perhaps your mothers, refused to succumb to a society never intended for their success but rather empowered themselves with a narrative of survival that equipped them to thrive, to fly, to survive.”
Said Nikkia Moulterie: “I am thrilled to be producing Nanny with visionary writer / director Nikyatu Jusu, and our circle of supportive Producing Partners.”
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“Nanny is a powerful, timely, and gripping film, and we are thrilled to be working with Nikkia, Topic Studios, and LinLay to bring Nikyatu’s unique vision to the screen,” said Taplin Lundberg. “From the moment we read the script, we knew Nanny was a project that needed to be told. We were floored by its critical examination of the “American Dream” through the lens of an immigrant domestic worker trying to build a life for her own family while taking care of a privileged family in modern day New York. This story feels deeply personal and timely, but also sensual and frightening. Nikyatu seems to have that rare ability to enlighten you, scare you, and allure you all at once. We can’t wait for audiences to discover her talent.”
“We at Topic Studios feel that this story, centering an often-unheard perspective, is essential and also electrifying,” said Maria Zuckerman, Head of Topic Studios. “Nikyatu’s vision is singular and visceral, and we are proud to support this film and along with our partners, deliver a thrilling, thought-provoking experience to audiences.”
Nanny marks the feature directorial debut for Jusu, who is repped by Granderson Des Rochers, CAA, and M88. Her short film Suicide By Sunlight, which was funded by THROUGH HER LENS and sponsored by the Tribeca Film Festival Institute and Channel, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019. Jusu has also worked in the television space, making her episodic directing debut in 2019 with CW’s anthology horror series Two Sentence Horror Stories. Nanny also marks Jusu’s second collaboration with Moulterie, who produced Suicide By Sunlight. Moulterie’s recent work includes the Peabody Award-winning Random Acts of Flyness, for which she produced the first season for MVMT/HBO.
Nanny is currently in pre-production with Emmy Award-winning Casting Director Kim Coleman (Blackkklansman, Harriet) on board. The film will begin principal photography this June.
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