In 2015, a young woman named Aziah “Zola” Wells became a Twitter sensation, as she delivered a thread of 148 tweets detailing a trip to Florida with a stripper, a pimp, and her boyfriend that went horribly wrong. She then told the full story to Rolling Stone, and now there is a movie adaptation on the way – scored by Mica Levi.
The avant-garde composer is not necessarily the first person you might think of to score a film featuring exotic dancers road tripping to a tropical locale, but this is just set-up for a story featuring murder, sex work, and copious levels of tension. If Levi has proven anything with her previous scores it is that her work is chameleonic, and the production company behind Zola, A24, will have no doubt in her abilities given her mesmeric work for their films Under The Skin and Jackie.
Zola, which will premiere at Sundance in January, is set to star Taylor Paige in the titular role, while Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun, and Colman Domingo make up the rest of the ill-fated foursome. The film is directed by Janicza Bravo, who co-wrote the script with Jeremy O. Harris.