| Brown Girl Begins | |
| Director: | Sharon Lewis |
| Based On: | Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson |
| Producer: | Vince Buda Sharon Lewis Floyd Kane Jenn Paul |
| Starring: | Mouna Traoré Nigel Shawn Williams Shakura S'Aida Rachael Crawford Measha Brueggergosman |
| Music: | Aaron Ferrera |
| Cinematography: | Marc Forand |
| Editing: | Ben Lawrence Richard Mandin |
| Studio: | Urbansoul |
| Runtime: | 95 minutes |
| Country: | Canada |
| Language: | English |
Brown Girl Begins is a 2017 Canadian science fiction film, directed by Sharon Lewis.[1] The film was inspired by Nalo Hopkinson's 1998 novel Brown Girl in the Ring, although for budgetary reasons Lewis opted to write and film a prequel story rather than literally adapting the novel itself.[2]
Set in a post-apocalyptic version of Toronto in 2049, the film focuses on a small group of survivors whose continued survival depends on Ti-Jeanne's (Mouna Traoré) response to a potentially life-altering decision.[3]
Alongside Traoré, the cast also includes Nigel Shawn Williams, Shakura S'Aida, Emmanuel Kabongo, Rachael Crawford, Andy McQueen and Measha Brueggergosman.
The film premiered at the Urbanworld Film Festival in 2017.[4] It had its general theatrical release in 2018 in conjunction with Black History Month, although due to the film's Afrofuturist themes its commercial opening was branded as a "Black Futures Month" event.[5]
The film received two Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019, for Best Adapted Screenplay (Lewis) and Best Makeup (Carla Hutchinson).[6]