Teyana Taylor Stuns In 'A Thousand and One Trailer'

Teyana Taylor stars as Inez in upcoming Focus Features drama A Thousand and One, directed by A.V. Rockwell.

Teyana Taylor brings her acting chops to upcoming Focus Features dramaA Thousand and One. A 3-minute trailer for the A.V. Rockwell trailer has released, with Taylor starring as Inez, a struggling mother who kidnaps her 6-year-old son, Terry, from the foster care system. The film debuted at 2023 Sundance Film Festival and won won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic.

“Never have I seen a life so similar to my own rendered with such nuance and tenderness," a jury citation for the film read. "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.”

Set in Taylor's hometown of Harlem, Rockwell told Collider that she was won over by the singer and actress' authenticity.

"I didn’t want it to feel like it was performative. Like, ‘Oh, let me be this urban woman, this ghetto woman,’ or whatever," Rockwell said. "You know what I’m saying? I needed somebody who’s just like, that’s my auntie or that was me at a particular age, and I think Teyana had that in her innately.”

Also in the film are Will Catlett, Josiah Cross, Aven Courtney, and Aaron Kingsley Adetola. A Thousand And One makes its nationwide theatrical premiere on March 31.

Watch the trailer below.