Deeply moved by Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, Nijla Mu’min sought a career that would capture audience’s imaginations and combine her interests in writing and visual art. She followed her passion, making her first film guerilla style in the wee hours of the morning in Oakland, California. Nijla earned her BA from the University of California, Berkeley in Mass Communications and attended Howard University’s MFA film program. Here she discusses her path to making films and starting her own production company, Sweet Potato Pie Productions–named after her grandmother’s “life-changing” delicacies. She also explains her latest project Salaam, gives her take on the creative process and shares practical advice for making films on a budget.
How did you become interested in film-making?
I’ve been drawn to cinema since I was a young girl. My father would take my siblings and I to matinees at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, which is something of a bay area landmark. We’d sneak in fried fish sandwiches and Hanson’s sodas and watch films. If I can single out one of those experiences that had the most impact on me, it’d be when he took us to see Malcolm X, by Spike Lee. As the audience cried, cheered, hollered, and fully engaged with the film, I realized the impact that movies could have on people.
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