The Reel Queer Film Series at Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center presents a free screening of Naz & Maalik on November 8, 2017 at 7pm. The screening is followed by a talkback with Amy Corbin, Assistant Professor of Media & Communications and Film Studies at Muhlenberg College.
In this riveting dramatic tale, gay teens Naz and Maalik are friends, classmates, business partners, and lovers. As the two closeted Muslim teens go about their regular daily routine on a Friday afternoon in Brooklyn, they arouse the suspicions of an undercover FBI agent who begins to track them. This complex tale of race, religion, and sexuality features a pair of tremendous performances from Kerwin Johnson Jr. as Naz and Curtiss Cook Jr. as Maalik. Intimate and meditative, Naz & Maalik examines the mysterious forces that animate teenage minds.
An exceptionally well-crafted drama, and an auspicious feature debut from writer/director Jay Dockendorf.
Watch the trailer:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCuUqTeZIoY
Awards & Accolades for Naz & Maalik
WINNER, Jury Award, Best Feature Film, Seattle Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
WINNER, Jury Award, Best First Feature, Atlanta Out on Film
WINNER, IWC Filmmaker Award, Tribeca Film Institute
WINNER, Best LGBT Film, Nashville Film Festival
WINNER, Jury Award for Best Actors in a U.S. Dramatic Feature, Los Angeles Film Festival
“A day-in-the-life look at the unique experience of being young, gay, black, and Muslim in Brooklyn … writer-director Jay Dockendorf’s film is intimate, authentic, and feels decidedly relevant in today’s current context … Naz & Maalik is an impressive debut.” —Indiewire
“A powerful treatise on what it is to be young and disenfranchised in New York City.” — Austin Chronicle
“Unfolds with a youthful vitality, bolstered by the charm of its lead actors.” — The Hollywood Reporter
“Not your typical coming-of-age tale involving gay teens.” — Shadow and Act
“The next great New York movie.” — New York Post
“ Naz & Maalik feels authentic, and Mr. Johnson and Mr. Cook bring their characters completely alive.” — The New York Times
This is a sober social event, no alcohol will be served.
The Reel Queer Film Series is supported in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
Sponsors:
522 W Maple St
Allentown, PA 18101
United States
Google map and directions