Shubhabrata Dutta
The City of Angels will play host to singer-songwriter/actress Janelle Monáe soon. This is because the filming of her next feature, an indie titled ‘The Incredible Heist Of Hallelujah Jones,’ will take place in Los Angeles between June 1 and June 29 this year. Victor K. Gabriel wrote the screenplay and will also direct.
Set during a season of extreme gun violence in Compton, California, the story follows a precocious book thief who hears the voices of his dead parents and finds out that his family’s long-lost novel is being auctioned off. With the help of the neighborhood matriarch, a 100-year-old Black woman, he concocts a plan to steal it back.
Janelle Monáe’s popular acting credits include Andi Brand in Rian Johnson’s ‘Glass Onion,’ the second installment in the ‘Knives Out’ franchise; Mary Jackson in Theodore Melfi’s biographical drama ‘Hidden Figures,’ Teresa in Barry Jenkins’s ‘Moonlight,’ and Veronica / Eden in Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz’s horror movie ‘Antebellum.’ We also saw her as Jackie/Alex in Season 2 of the Prime Video mystery thriller series ‘Homecoming.’ Monáe’s latest acting role was as Angie in Aleshea Harris’s Western drama ‘Is God Is,’ which follows two sisters who embark on an epic quest for revenge, confronting a charged family history that pushes them to extraordinary lengths.
Victor K. Gabriel will be making his feature directorial debut with ‘The Incredible Heist Of Hallelujah Jones.’ He has directed several short films, including ‘I Got My Brother,’ which won the Audience Award at the 2026 SXSW Film Festival; ‘Hallelujah,’ which won the Best Short Film award at the 2022 HollyShorts Film Festival, and ‘SPACESHIP,’ which won the Best Short Film award at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival and received the Grand Jury Prize for the Best Short Film at the 2023 Urbanworld Film Festival.
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