''Nanny'' is a 2022 American

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

written and directed by

Nikyatu Jusu Nikyatu Jusu () 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, i ...

, in her feature directorial debut. It stars

Anna Diop Mame-Anna Diop (born February 6, 1988) is a Senegalese-American actress and model. Since 2018, she has portrayed Kory Anders on the DC Universe / HBO Max series ''Titans''. Diop was also a series regular on The CW supernatural mystery '' The Messe ...

, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls,

Morgan Spector Morgan Michael Spector (born October 4, 1980) is an American actor. Spector has appeared in the TV series ''Allegiance'' (2015), '' The Mist'' (2017), ''Homeland'' (2018), and ''Pearson'' (2019), as well as the films '' The Drop'' (2014), ''Chris ...

, Rose Decker, and

Leslie Uggams Leslie Marian Uggams (born May 25, 1943) is an American actress and singer. Beginning her career as a child in the early 1950s, Uggams is recognized for portraying Kizzy Reynolds in the television miniseries ''Roots'' (1977), earning Golden Glob ...

. Jason Blum serves as an executive producer through his

Blumhouse Television Blumhouse Productions (; also known as BH Productions or simply BH) is an American film and television production company founded in 2000 by Jason Blum. It is known mainly for producing horror films, such as ''Paranormal Activity'', ''Insidio ...

banner. The film had its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

on January 22, 2022, where it won the

Grand Jury Prize A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

, making it the first horror film to ever win this award at Sundance. The film was given a limited theatrical release on November 23, 2022, by Amazon Studios, prior to streaming on

Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service prim ...

on December 16, 2022.

Plot

Aisha is an illegal Senegalese immigrant in New York City. She left her now six-year-old son, Lamine, in the care of her cousin, Mariatou, in Senegal a year earlier. She hopes to earn enough money to bring her son and cousin as immigrants to the United States to live with her. Aisha is hired as a nanny for Rose, the young daughter of Amy and Adam Hav, a wealthy

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

couple. She and Rose become very close, while Amy and Adam are distracted by their careers, often causing Aisha to have to stay lateor even overnightwhen neither parent returns home. Aisha attracts the attention of Malik, the doorman at the Havs' apartment building. They soon begin a relationship, to the approval of Kathleen, Malik's grandmother, and Bishop, his son, who is roughly Lamine's age. Kathleen and Aisha share an undercurrent of magical perception. The Havs are often remiss in paying Aisha, which delays her being able to cover airfare for Lamine and Mariatou. She begins having dreams of drowning, as well as waking visions of Lamine. Amy leaves the family with no notice, leaving Aisha to stay full time while Adam tries to sort things out. Alone with Rose one evening, Aisha begins having visions and Rose seemingly disappears from the apartment. When she hears voices, she grabs a knife from the kitchen and checks the bathroom, where she is mysteriously pulled into the full tub and almost drowns. She suddenly realizes Rose is in the tub, bathing. She begs Rose's forgiveness for scaring her with the knife, to which Rose replies that it is Lamine causing the visions, as he is jealous of Aisha's attention to Rose. Aisha finally raises the funds for airfare. Mariatou arrives alone, saying that during the long wait for the airfare, Lamine drowned in the ocean during a beach visit. Malik takes Aisha, now pregnant with their child, to stay with him, Bishop and Kathleen. Aisha goes for a walk, a ruse to go and drown herself in the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. Malik rescues her, and they move on with life, including their new baby.

Cast

as Aisha * Michelle Monaghan as Amy * Sinqua Walls as Malik *

as Adam * Rose Decker as Rose *

as Kathleen *

Zephani Idoko Zephani Idoko is a Nigerian-American actress best known for her starring role as Abena in Horror film ''The Unsettling'' and her supporting role as Sallay in Nikyatu Jusu's ''Nanny'', which won the top award (The Grand Jury Prize) at the 2022 Sun ...

as Sallay In addition, Olamide Candide-Johnson and Jahleel Kamara make brief appearances as Mariatou and Lamine, respectively.

Production

On April 13, 2021, it was announced that

would make her directorial debut with ''Nanny'', a film that she wrote and is part of the 2020 The Black List of screenplays that would not be released in theaters during that calendar year. In June 2021,

, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls,

and

Phylicia Rashad Phylicia Rashad ( ) (née Ayers-Allen; born June 19, 1948) is an American actress, singer and director who is dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University. She is best known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby S ...

joined the cast of the film. Phylicia Rashad was replaced by

before production began.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began in June 2021 in New York City, with

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

by Rina Yang.

Release

''Nanny'' had its world premiere at the

on January 22, 2022. In March 2022, Amazon Studios and Blumhouse Productions acquired distribution rights to the film in a deal around $7 million, winning them in a competitive situation that also included Sony Pictures Classics and

Neon Neon is a chemical element with the symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is a noble gas. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with about two-thirds the density of air. It was discovered (along with krypton ...

. Jason Blum, who joined the film as an executive producer post-acquisition, remarked: "We're proud to have writer/director

's ''Nanny'' as part of our slate for Amazon. It's a gem of a horror film that combines impressive filmmaking and powerful storytelling, and is worthy of the Grand Jury Prize it was awarded at Sundance." The studios plan to release the film both theatrically and on

. A special presentation of the film was screened at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

in September 2022, followed by one at the 2022 AFI Fest on November 3, 2022. ''Nanny'' was given a limited theatrical release on November 23, 2022, by Amazon Studios, prior to streaming on

starting December 16, 2022.

Reception

The film received positive reviews from critics.

Accolades

At the

2022 Sundance Film Festival The 2022 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 20 to 30, 2022. Due to COVID-19 pandemic protocol it was to have been a hybrid festival, but on January 5, 2022 it was announced that the in-person components would be scrapped in favor o ...

, ''Nanny'' won the

in the US Dramatic Competition, which made the film the first horror film, and Jusu the second Black female filmmaker, to ever win the top prize.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 10931784
Official screenplay
2022 horror films 2022 independent films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films Amazon Studios films American horror films Blumhouse Productions films Films about illegal immigration to the United States Films about nannies Films impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Sundance Film Festival award winners Topic Studios films African-American films