IFC Films released the trailer for the Harlem-set indie coming-of-age drama Premature, the second feature film by Rashaad Ernesto Green (2011’s Gun Hill Road), that premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Headlined by a brave, breakout lead performance from actress Zora Howard, who co-wrote the screenplay with Green, Premature also stars Joshua Boone, Michelle Wilson, Alexis Marie Wint, Imani Lewis, and Tashiana Washington.

Premature is based on a 2008 short film of the same name, also written and directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green, and will open in select US theaters starting on February 21st, 2020.

Premature follows 17-year-old poet Ayanna (Zora Howard), who’s spending her last summer in Harlem before heading off to college. She meets handsome, 20-something music producer Isaiah (Joshua Boone), and soon the two are engaged in a passionate summer fling. But before long, the elation of first love gives way to conflict, and Ayanna is forced to contend with the anxieties of adulthood. Frank, moving, and beautifully nuanced, Premature is a timeless story of a young woman’s coming of age.

Director Green beautifully captures youthful inhibition through Ayanna’s world in flux: outbursts at home with her mother, deep and intimate encounters with Isaiah, and moments of unfiltered honesty with her girlfriends. The result is a bold portrait of a young woman at a crossroads, anchored by a phenomenal performance by Howard, who unforgettably inhabits Ayanna through her complex, achingly human journey of self-discovery.