Teyana Taylor is a mother going to extreme lengths to protect her son in the new movie, A Thousand and One.

The Sundance-celebrated project is a debut feature from filmmaker A.V. Rockwell, according to IndieWire. Described as a “heartbreak letter to New York,” the film spans the 20-year “winds of gentrification” impacting Black residents during administrations from mayors Giuliani to Bloomberg.

“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,” Rockwell told IndieWire.

“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.”

Alongside Taylor, A Thousand and One also stars Aaron Kingsley Adetola, Will Catlett, Josiah Cross and Aven Courtney. 

Lena Waithe, Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani and Brad Weston produced the film. Oren Moverman and Jamin OBrien served as executive producers.

Teyana Taylor In New Movie A Thousand and One

Taylor gives a dramatic performance as the “unapologetic and free-spirted” Inez in the film’s riveting trailer. The mother hustles in Harlem to provide for her son, Terry, who was neglected in the foster care system while she was incarcerated at Rikers Island. The film portrays the mother-son duo after Inez kidnaps Terry to “reclaim their sense of home, identity, and stability.”

Underneath the pressure of their heavy secret, the two fight against each other and their individual set of obstacles to gain a better life. 

“I’d go to war for you, you know that? Against anybody, against this whole city — they not breaking us up this time,” Inez tells Terry.

“It’s here 🌹🌹🌹🌹. A love letter to mothers, sons, and hustlers of NYC,” Taylor announced on Instagram Feb. 24.

Watch the trailer below and see A Thousand an One in theaters March 31.

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