Fresh off a Grand Jury Prize win at Sundance, A.V. Rockwell's A Thousand and One has a trailer and a release date. Focus Features is distributing with a release at the end of this month on March 31st. The trailer is below.

The storyline is a mother kidnaps her own son after losing him to the foster care system when she was locked up. She flees back to Harlem where she grew up and raises him.  The story covers about a decade from 1993 to 2005.

The mother Inez is played Teyana Taylor (Coming 2 America), who is best known as an R&B performer and choreographer. The son Terry is played by Aaron Kingsley Adetola (Rise) as the six year old, Aven Courtney (The Last OG) as the thirteen year old, and Josiah Cross (King Richard) as the seventeen year old.

A Thousand and One was shot in 2021 in locations throughout New York including Brooklyn, Staten Island, lower Manhattan, but primarily in Harlem.

Because the film covers different times, it was shot with different lenses, filters, colors, and F-stop according to cinematographer Eric Yue. He explains, "For example, the 90s scenes were photographed with older vintage lenses wide open and a filter that adds a bit of glow, creating a warm, gauzy, 'dirty' image. The 2000's section was photographed with modern lenses without filtration at a deeper stop, which produces a sharper and crisper image. We also developed different color profiles for each time period, such as a warmer look for the summertime in the 90s, and a cooler look for the 2000's."

Costume designer Melissa Vargas speaking about the wardrobe of the mother character says, "when we first meet Inez, we understand that she is a bold person, making bold choices about her life and Terry's life. The same is true for her wardrobe—bold colors, choices made with a fearless attitude."  As time passes, however, and Inez relinquishes her dreams of focusing on hairstyling, taking a cleaning job at Jamaica Hospital to help support herself and Terry, her clothing becomes more sedate. "The boldness we see in the beginning fades," Vargas notes.

A Thousand and One will be in AMCs, Regals, and the Angelika on March 31st. Check out the trailer.