Sony Pictures Classics will release Minhal Baig’s TIFF premiere We Grown Now from Stage 6 Films, Participant, and Symbolic Exchange in North America.
Baig received TIFF’s Changemaker Award for the coming of age drama, which stars Blake Cameron James, Gian Knight Ramirez, S. Epatha Merkerson, Avery Holliday and Ora Jones, with Lil Rel Howery and Jurnee Smollett.
We Grown Now marks the filmmaker’s follow-up to her 2019 debut Hala and screened in TIFF Centrepiece and Next Wave Selects.
Set in 1992 Chicago as Michael Jordan solidifies himself as a champion, the story follows wide-eyed and imaginative best friends Malik and Eric as they traverse the city, looking to escape the banality of school and the hardships of growing up in public housing.
Their unbreakable bond is challenged when tragedy shakes their community.
We Grown Now, presented by Stage 6 Films in association with Participant, is a Symbolic Exchange and Participant production. The film is produced by Joe Pirro and Baig, while the executive producer roster features Jeff Skoll and Anikah McLaren for Participant, James Schamus for Symbolic Exchange, Carrie Holt de Lama, and Smollett.
“I could not be more delighted to have found a home for We Grown Now with Sony Pictures Classics,” said Baig. “We Grown Now is a film that captures the tender moments of childhood resilience and the power of human connection in the face of adversity.
“Sony Pictures Classics and Participant recognize the significance of our story’s themes of community and the importance of bringing such a film to theaters. We are beyond grateful that they have recognized this film as part of their incredible canon.”
“We Grown Now is a poignant film that explores the universality of the challenges of growing up and the meaning of home,” added Participant CEO David Linde. “Sony Pictures Classics is an ideal partner to share this powerful film with viewers, and we cannot wait for audiences to see Minhal’s vision come to life.”
“The We Grown Now team is thrilled to join the Sony Pictures Classics family who have always been a home for visionary filmmakers like Minhal Baig and movies with, like ours, big hearts and soaring filmic ambitions,” said Joe Pirro, head of production at Symbolic Exchange.
Sony Pictures Classics is releasing the film in partnership with Stage 6 Films after negotiating the deal with Liesl Copland, Stacey Fong, and Adam Macy for Participant, and Virginia Longmuir for Stage 6 Films.
Sony Pictures Releasing International will release the film internationally.
Baig’s debut Hala premiered at Sundance in 2019 and was acquired for the world by Apple TV+.
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