| Jawal Nga | |
|---|---|
| Born | Arlington, Texas |
| Occupation | film producer and writer |
| Years active | 2003 - present |
| Spouse | none |
Jawal Nga is a Libyan-American film producer and founder of Tiny Dancer Films. He was raised in Tripoli, Libya and London, United Kingdom. He graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1996 and currently resides in New York City.[1]
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Jawal Nga founded Tiny Dancer Films in 2003, a New York-based production company.
In 2004, Nga produced director Ira Sachs' "Forty Shades of Blue," starring Rip Torn. An official entry in six international film festivals, Forty Shades of Blue won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. The film was also nominated for a special prize at the Deauville Film Festival, and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for actress Dina Korzun.[2] In 2006 Nga and Sachs again worked together on the period drama, "Married Life", which starred Pierce Brosnan, Rachel McAdams, Patricia Clarkson and Chris Cooper. It was released in September 2007. Nga produced the film along with Sidney Kimmel, Steven Golin and Ira Sachs who also directed the film for Sidney Kimmel Entertainment.
He is the executive producer of the Allen Ginsberg documentary "HOWL," for directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman through his production company, Tiny Dancer Films. Nga is developing adaptations of Sigrid Nunez's "The Last of Her Kind," Matthew Galkin's adaptation of Kevin Canty's "Into The Great Wide Open" and Justin Haythe's ("Revolutionary Road") adaptation of Michael Ignatieff's "Charlie Johnson In The Flames."
Nga served as an Executive Producer of writer/director Joel Hopkins's upcoming "Last Chance Harvey." Starring Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman, the film was shot in London in late 2007. On October 27, 2008 The Hollywood Reporter announced that Tiny Dancer Films has optioned best-selling cult author-illustrator Daniel Pinkwater's 1974 young-adult fantasy novel "Lizard Music" for the big screen. The movie version of the Random House novel will be produced by Jawal Nga.[3]
On June 20, 2007, Tiny Dancer Films announced they had optioned life rights from band the Heavenly States with the aim of developing a comedy feature-length film "Rock the Casbah," based on the band's attempt to tour Libya in 2005. Heavenly States’ vocalist Ted Nesseth declined to name specifics of the option, which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars in Hollywood, but said the option is three-tiered. The band gets paid again when a production contract is signed and gets points on the backend if and when the film comes out. However, many films never make it out from option to screen. Chronicled by award-winning Village Voice music journalist Rob Harvilla for the East Bay Express[4] the band journeyed and attempted to play a venue in Libya only to get denied by the government and threatened with arrest. Newsweek also did a story on the band.
“When I read the Newsweek article, I immediately realized that this had to be made into a film,” said Nga. “The Heavenly States attempted something that no Western band has done before, and having grown up in Libya, I have the ability to appreciate the great humor in this real situation of almost impossible culture clash.”[5]