You probably have not heard of Minhal Baig...yet. If you check out her IMDB you’d see she’s written on the celebrated Hulu TV series “Ramy” and “BoJack Horseman.” But, Baig’s calling card will be “Hala,” a very personal drama that premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was released in theaters in November before debuting on Apple TV Plus earlier this month. To say she’s a talent is an understatement.
READ MORE: Geraldine Viswanathan delivers another impressive performance in “Hala” [Review]
Dismissing what she calls her “student film,” the romantic dramedy “1 Night” starring Anna Camp and Justin Chatwin, no less, the self-taught Baig went in a much different direction with “Hala.” The contemporary drama follows the title character (Geraldine Viswanathan, “Blockers”), a Muslim teenager in Chicago who finds herself torn by her parent’s wishes for her future and her own. It was based on a short that found life online and found funding when Jada Pinkett Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment decided to back it for its uniquely “authentic story.”
Baig is massively impressive in person and should be a force either in film or television in the years and decades to come. Listen to her describe her journey here in our conversation in the Soundcloud embed below or on iTunes. If you do listen on iTunes please rate, subscribe and share it with your friends!
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