TIFF 2016 Preview: Jean of the JonesesPosted by Wilson Morales
August 25, 2016
After making its premiere at SXSW followed by a showing at the 2016 LA Film Festival, Canadian director/ writer Stella Meghie will be bringing her feature debut, Jean of the Joneses, home to the Toronto International Film Festival before being shown on TV One in October 23rd.
The film stars Taylour Paige, Sherri Shepherd, Erica Ash, Gloria Reuben, Michelle Hurst, Mamoudou Athie, Francois Arnaud, Anna Hopkins, and Demore Barnes.
To say that twentysomething writer Jean (Taylour Paige) is at a crossroads would be putting it kindly — she really doesn’t know which way she’s headed. A vista of unenticing career prospects opens before her, and her latest relationship has just unceremoniously ended. Chronically self-analyzing, she often hangs out with her two aunts, mother, and grandmother Daphne (Michelle Hurst). The women constantly bicker and judge each other’s life choices, a routine that’s interrupted when the estranged patriarch of the family literally dies on their doorstep.
Ray (Mamoudou Athie), the paramedic who takes their 911 call, falls fast for the acerbic Jean. The feeling is more or less mutual, but their potential romance will have to take a back seat to the chaos leading up to the funeral. In a series of sometimes harsh, always-spirited discussions — fuelled by a complex family history, a few drinks, and the occasional toke — the women will do their best to figure themselves out, and to understand each other.
Jean of the Jonesesis directed and written by Stella Meghie, and was filmed on location in New York and Toronto, Canada. Amos Adetuyi, Stella Meghie and Floyd Kane serve as Producers, and the film is executive produced by Elizabeth Cullen and Sean Dwyer.
