The official trailer for A24‘s “Zola,” has been released and will be in theaters on June 30.
Based on A’Ziah Wells King’s notorious Twitter thread, the film follows Zola (Taylour Paige), a Detroit waitress who forms a new relationship with Stefani (Riley Keough), a customer who persuades her to join a weekend of dancing and partying in Florida. What appears to be a glamorous trip filled with “hoeism” quickly turns into a 48-hour adventure.
In January 2020, “Zola” had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Variety’s Peter Debruge described it as “an irreverent, sensibility-offending ride for viewers.” Director Janicza Bravo said at the premiere that the Twitter thread that was sent in a group text chain she’s in with her Los Angeles girlfriends became “immediately obsessed” with her.
Bravo said, “You’re like, this is not funny on paper.” She added, “Like it’s not funny. But [King] managed to extrapolate all of this humor and tension and stress and anxiety and it just like got me. … It was electric. I could feel the blood coursing through my veins and I wanted it and I thought that, like, only a Black girl could’ve experienced that and processed it and exorcised it. In that way, only a person who is innately adept at engaging with their trauma is able to take a step away from it, retell the story and take a hold of their narrative.”
