Amaria "Yaya" Jones, a combative adolescent with a love for dancing, has to convince her overly protective brother to al | dHNfb1Z5eEpoWndxZzQ
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00:00Hi, I'm Nzingha Stewart, director of Miwi.
00:07I have been a storyteller since I was eight and making my brothers be in my productions.
00:13Storytelling is my life and my joy, and I'm always really excited when I come across a
00:18story that I feel like I have to tell this.
00:21And when I read Rob and Kiana's script, that's how I felt.
00:24It has been a crazy time in our world as of late, and I've been asking myself, what is
00:29my role as an artist in speaking to the moment?
00:33And when I read this, it is so squarely on the side of good that I felt like, if nothing
00:40else, I'll at least get into heaven for making it.
00:43The premise of Miwi is to humanize and celebrate the lives of victims of systemic racism.
00:51And we did that by making this bright and sunny musical about a 13-year-old girl who
00:56has a family and girls she don't like at school and a boy she has a crush on.
01:01But it still had a great film structure, obstacle to the thing that she wanted.
01:06She overcame it and then had this big celebratory moment with all the characters in our story
01:11and a big Hollywood dance number at the end.
01:14I am so deeply grateful to have been a part of this, but one of the times I've been most
01:20moved on set was when the real YeYe's family showed up, and we saw their joy at having
01:26her back with them, even if it was only for the one day.
01:29And I hope that you are as moved watching this as we were making it.
01:35And if I don't get into heaven, at least I got into Sundance, which for a filmmaker is
01:40kind of the same thing.
01:42So thank you.