Premature

On a summer night in Harlem during her last months at home before starting college, seventeen-year- old poet Ayanna (Zora Howard) meets Isaiah (Joshua Boone), a charming music producer who has just moved to the city. It’s not long before these two artistic souls are drawn together in a passionate summer romance. But as the highs of young love give way to jealousy, suspicion, and all-too-real consequences, Ayanna must confront the complexities of the adult world—whether she is ready or not. Emotionally raw, intimate, and honest, Premature is at once timeless and bracingly contemporary in its portrait of a young woman navigating the difficult choices that can shape a life.

About the Director/Writer:

Zora Howard is a Harlem-bred multidisciplinary creator and performer. Her work with filmmaker Lisa Russell to turn her original poem “Biracial Hair” into a short film won an Emmy for Outstanding Advanced Media Interactivity in 2009. Since then, her work, both as a performer and writer, has been showcased on HBO, TV One, PBS, and NBC. In 2010, she was named the inaugural New York City Youth Poet Laureate by the Office of the Mayor and released her first collection of poems, CLUTCH, under Penmanship Books. She has performed at such venues in New York as the Apollo Theater, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center as well as internationally. She holds a BA from Yale University and MFA in Acting from University of California, San Diego.

Cast & Crew:

Director: Rashaad Ernesto Green

Screenwriter: Rashaad Ernesto Green, Zora Howard

Cast: Zora Howard, Joshua Boone, Michelle Wilson, Alexis Marie Wint, Imani Lewis, Tashiana Washington

Producers: Joy Ganes, Rashaad Ernesto Green, Darren Dean

Executive Producers: Susan Kelechi Watson, Fred Bernstein, Dominique Telson, Barak Bar-Cohen, Shari Misher Stenzler, Nikki Silver, Eric Schultz, Chadd Harbold

Cinematographer: Laura Valladao

Editor: Justin Chan

Composer: Patrick Cannell, Stefan Swanson

Film info:

Section: US Narrative Feature Competition

Premiere: Arizona Premiere

Year: 2019

Length: 86 minutes

Language: English

Country: USA

US Distributor: IFC Films

International Sales Agent: Film Constellation