Glitter Ain't Gold
2022 · 14m · USA
Directed by Christian Nolan Jones
In early-2000s East Atlanta, sixth-grader Jibril drags his reluctant best friend Tawanda to the local flea market to buy his first fake gold chain and win over his crush Marlana — a warm, nostalgic coming-of-age story rooted in the director's own childhood.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A fake-chain coming-of-age in early-2000s East Atlanta, produced by Common as a feature lead-in — the proof-of-concept smell is hard to scrub off. Specific details charm me; I just wish the comparisons weren't Moonlight and Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Jones operates in the warm Atlanta-nostalgia lineage that Barry Jenkins clarified — direct-address interstitials and spoken-word montage suggest a voice rather than a calling card. Common's executive producership is more than vanity; this is a feature in formation.
Common-produced 14:26 East Atlanta coming-of-age that interlaces direct-to-camera interstitials and spoken-word montages into the narrative — a structural hybrid that signals confidence in its own voice. 32K Vimeo views says the tonal blend is connecting.
Reviews
His loving recreation of the early-2000s Atlanta of his childhood is suffused with a warm fondness... an exceedingly pleasant trip in a filmmaking time machine.
This is a 'coming of age' story that explores a culture without celebrating anything at all about it... a retelling of the universal tale of love gone awry when it's not supposed to be.
Festivals
- SXSW Film Festival 2022, Special Jury Recognition Award for Directing and Community Filmmaking
- Atlanta Film Festival 2022, Georgia Short Award (Audience Award)
- BlackStar Film Festival 2022, Audience Award