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Dear White People filmmaker Justin Simien is set to write and direct BAD HAIR, a horror satire described as “a love letter to black women,” it was announced Tuesday.
Paralleling the rise of New Jack Swing in 1989, Bad Hair follows an ambitious young woman who gets a weave in order to survive the image-obsessed world of music television. Her professional success comes at a higher cost than anticipated, however, when she discovers that her new hair may have a mind of its own.
Filled with biting satirical commentary and genre-bending thrills, Bad Hair marks both an evolution and departure for Simien from his Dear White People film and the well-received Netflix series that followed.
The film will be produced by Sight Unseen, the newly-formed production company whose principals include Julia Lebedev, Eddie Vaisman and Oren Moverman. Angel Lopez, Sight Unseen’s VP of Development, will oversee the project for the company.
Lebedev and Lopez served as producers on Simien’s first feature, Dear White People, while Lebedev went on to serve as an executive producer on TV show of the same name.
“I’m so excited to be teaming up with Sight Unseen in order to create work that both entertains and holds a mirror up to society,” said Simien. “This will be both a love letter to black women and a critique of the cultural forces our society puts them through.”
Simien is in currently in pre-production on the 10-episode second season of Dear White People, which will premiere in 2018. The show currently boasts a rare and coveted 100 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes He’s represented by WME and Oasis Media Group.
The filmmaker has released a really weird, atmospheric teaser for Bad Hair, and while I’m not sure what the point of it is, I’ll let you be the judge. The premise certainly has potential, so take a look, if you dare…
Jeff Sneider | Editor in Chief
