Nia DaCosta

Nia DaCosta (November 8, 1990) is an American screenwriter and director. She is known for her breakout film Little Woods (2019). Her other credits include the British television series Top Boy (2011-), and she is currently directing the Candyman (2020) reboot.

DaCosta was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Harlem. She always knew she wanted to be a writer, but it wasn't until she watched Apocalypse Now (1979) that she became enamoured with film making. This fuelled DaCosta to discover films of the 1970's, where she became inspired by the like of Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola. Due to her newfound love of film, DaCosta followed the footsteps of her inspiration Scorsese and enrolled in New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she would eventually meet Scorsese while working as a TV production assistant.

After finishing school and working as a TV production assistant, DaCosta's script for Little Woods was one of the 12 projects chosen for the 2015 Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Labs. DaCosta herself helped fund the film through Kickstarter with the help of 72 backers who eventually raised $5,100.

Little Woods

Little Woods tells the story of Ollie (Tessa Thompson) a reformed drug runner in rural North Dakota and her estranged sister Deb (Lily James). When their mother dies, Deb shows up on Ollie's doorstep with her young son, and reveals she is pregnant. This pushes Ollie to seek out a way to quickly raise money to pay back the bank and keep their mother’s home, and pushes Deb to decide whether or not she wants to go through with getting an abortion.

The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018, and was awarded the Nora Ephron award for "excellence in storytelling by a female writer or director." It was then bought by Neon and distributed through North America in April of 2019. DaCosta cites Debrah Granik'sWinter's Bone and Courtney Hunt's Frozen River as being her main sources of inspiration for the script, as she feels that their films relay amazing performances and tense drama, yet tackle real issues in America.

Candyman

It was announced in late 2018 that DaCosta was chosen to helm what has been described as a spiritual sequel of the original Candyman (1992) The film is said to return to the Chicago neighborhood where the legend began, yet it is now gentrified. The film is begin produced by Jordan Peele through Monkeypaw productions, with Peele citing the original as "a landmark film for black representation in the horror genre." Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is set to star in the film, with Tony Todd returning as the film's titular villain, with Teyonah Parris and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett set to star alongside him. Universal Pictures plans to release the film theatrically on June 12, 2020, with production beginning in the spring of 2019, and wrapping in September.