'Premature'/Screenshot

Film / TVSex & Gender

black womanhood blossoms in the trailer for ‘premature’

January 28, 2020
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We’ve had Thirteen, Mean Girls, Ladybird, on the most special of occasions, we get something like Tangerine or Girlhood. But oh-so rarely are we treated to a coming-of-age movie that centers on Black girl-to-womanhood. This is why I am so thrilled to talk about Rashaad Ernesto Green’s Premature. Co-written by Zora Howard, who also stars in the film, the movie premiered at last year’s Sundance before being acquired by IFC Films. In an utterly gut-wrenching new trailer, we find a group of older teenage Black girls enjoying their summer and neighborhood when seventeen-year-old poet Ayanna (Howard) meets Isaiah (Joshua Boone), a charming music producer who is new to the city.

According to the film’s description: “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.”

Black love without suffering first? We love to see it!

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