Nikyatu Jusu (/nɪkˈjɑːtuː ˈdʒuːsuː/)[1] is an American independent writer, director, producer, editor and assistant professor in film and video at George Mason University.
Jusu's works center on the complexities of Black female characters and in particular, displaced, immigrant women in the United States.
Her work includes African Booty Scratcher (2007), Flowers (2015), Suicide By Sunlight (2019), and Nanny, which received the Grand Jury Prize at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
[6] In 2008, Jusu wrote and directed African Booty Scratcher for her second-year graduate film project at NYU Tisch.
[8] With a bigger budget of $35,000, Jusu created a film that explains the relationship between a young girl and her African refugee mother.
[better source needed][10] The film follows three people in Freetown, Sierra Leone and was selected for inclusion in Sundance Institute's inaugural Diverse Writers Workshop.
[citation needed] She co-wrote and co-directed Flowers in 2015 with Yvonne Michelle Shirley, a classmate from film school.
[12] In 2017, Jusu joined the faculty of George Mason University as an assistant professor in the film and video studies department.