Skip to main content
Nanny film image, director Nikyatu Jusu

Nanny

This event has passed

Aisha (Anna Diop), an undocumented Senegalese immigrant, is hired as a nanny by an affluent, self-absorbed Manhattan couple (Michelle Monaghan and Morgan Spector). Recognizing that this may be her best opportunity to bring her son to America, this stranger in a strange land is willing to deflect the upper crust’s micro-aggressions, objectifications, and inept attempts at wokeness. What she’s less equipped to deal with are the predatory mermaids and trickster spirits that have manifested in both her dreams and waking world.

Equally inspired by West African folklore and North American socioeconomics, Nikyatu Jusu’s beguiling psychological drama ensnares you in its uncanny atmosphere, much like a spider might entrap a fly. Jusu’s deftness as a director is complemented by Diop, who evinces Aisha’s fierce survival instincts while also lending her a compelling vulnerability. The film’s ethereal elements are undeniably haunting, but it’s Nanny’s depictions of immigration’s dark realities that chill you to the bone.

 

U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, Sundance 2022

Director
Cast

Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls, Morgan Spector, Rose Decker, Leslie Uggams

Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

2022

Language

In English and Wolof with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+

At SFU Woodward’s

19+

At The Rio

99 min
Award Winners Drama Women Directors

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Frankenstein

Dir. Guillermo del Toro
149 min

Frankenstein and Guillermo del Toro might have been made for each other. The movie does not disappoint, a ripping yarn of grand adventure, spectacle, hubris, passion and XXL body parts, a tale of the fantastic that rings the imagination. Screening in 35mm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

James Whale's Frankenstein (1931)

Dir. James Whale
71 min

"It's alive!" Nearly a century later this iconic take on Mary Shelley's novel still kicks: the production design is impressive, Whale's lean, angular direction has plenty of snap, and Boris Karloff imbues the monster with no little pathos.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Bride of Frankenstein

Dir. James Whale
75 min

Funnier, more outrageous, and just as goth as the 1931 hit, this is a black comedy about mad scientists playing god, the monstrous craving for a mate, about the ultimate male-order bride, and her indelible response to being married off to a mouldier man.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

An Taibhse (The Ghost)

Dir. John Farrelly
92 min

A winter caretaker and his troubled teenage daughter take up residence in a remote country mansion in this harrowing mid-19th century Irish makeover of The Shining.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

You Are Not My Mother

Dir. Kate Dolan
93 min

One of the best horror films of recent years, from anywhere, Kate Dolan's film finds a chilling angle on a mother-daughter relationship.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

Checkpoint Zoo

Dir. Joshua Zeman
107 min

The amazing true story of the rescue of thousands of animals trapped on the frontline at an Ecopark when Russia invades Ukraine in 2022.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Executive Producer

Maria Zuckerman, Ryan Heller, Michael Bloom, Jason Blum, Rebecca Cammarata, Bill Benenson, Nnamdi Asomugha, Laurie Benenson, Grace Lay, Sumalee Montano, Nikyatu Jusu, Chris McCumber, Jeremy Gold

Producer

Nikkia Moulterie, Daniela Taplin Lundberg

Screenwriter

Nikyatu Jusu

Cinematography

Rina Yang

Editor

Robert Mead

Original Music

Tanerélle, Bartek Gliniak

Director

Nikyatu Jusu headshot, Nanny director

Nikyatu Jusu

Writer/Director Nikyatu Jusu’s short film Suicide by Sunlight made its debut at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, garnering a prolific festival run. Nanny is Jusu’s feature film debut and won the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Additionally, Nanny was one of 35 projects selected for the 2020 Creative Capital Awards, and shortlisted for The Black List 2020. In addition to filmmaking, Jusu is an Assistant Professor teaching directing and screenwriting.