Teyana Taylor Inspires Awe In ‘A Thousand And One’ Trailer

DeMicia Inman
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Teyana Taylor shines as a mother on a mission in the trailer for A Thousand And One. The feature film is set in New York City and touches on themes including family, love, gentrification, and more.

“I was more trying to fill a gap,” explained writer and director A.V. Rockwell to IndieWire about her inspiration.

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“There weren’t other films prior to this. I was just thinking a lot about the people I grew up with and mourning the home we had — feeling pushed out. I wanted to speak to that experience, and also talk to New York’s relationship not only to the community I represent but also to itself. I feel like as a New Yorker I’m honored to be making a film about the city the way other filmmakers I admire did, like Spike Lee, Scorsese, Woody Allen. They’re just really known as New York people making New York films, but I was making a heartbreak letter more than a love letter. I didn’t really feel like I had a lot of examples of that to criticize in my own way. New York broke my heart.”

Teyana Taylor and Aaron Kingsley Adetola
(L to R) Teyana Taylor stars as “Inez de la Paz” and Aaron Kingsley Adetola stars as six year old “Terry” in writer/director A.V. Rockwell’s A THOUSAND AND ONE, released by Focus Features

Teyana Taylor, Jonathan Majors and Sanaa Lathan collage
Teyana Taylor, Jonathan Majors and Sanaa Lathan collage

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A Thousand And One debuted at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic. The jury citation reads as follows:

“Never have I seen a life so similar to my own rendered with such nuance and tenderness. I walked out of the theatre and wept in front of people I barely know because this film reached into my gut and pulled from it every emotion I’ve learned to mask in these spaces. As a jury we know how impossible it is to make work that is real, full of pain, and fearless in its rigorous commitment to emotional truth born of oppressive circumstances.”

Aaron Kingsley Adetola stars as six year old "Terry" and Will Catlett stars as "Lucky" in writer/director A.V. Rockwell's A THOUSAND AND ONE, released by Focus Features.
Aaron Kingsley Adetola stars as six year old "Terry" and Will Catlett stars as "Lucky" in writer/director A.V. Rockwell's A THOUSAND AND ONE, released by Focus Features.

Additionally, Will Catlett, Josiah Cross, Aven Courtney, and Aaron Kingsley Adetola star in the film. A Thousand And One is produced by Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, Lena Waithe, Rishi Rajani, and Brad Weston, and executive produced by Oren Moverman, and Jamin OBrien.

A Thousand And One debuts in theaters nationwide on March 31. Watch the trailer above.

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