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The Jones Twins: Bebop Souls in a Muzak™ World

This short memoir doc leans into original VHS archival footage combined with current-day interviews to dip into the family origins and performance career of the Jones Twins. Writer-performers who blended comedy, music, and spoken word into an afro-futuristic soup, The Jones Twins defied conventions while influencing the experimental performance scene of the 90s, a time of fertile Black creativity in Brooklyn.

  • Stephanie L Jones
    Director
  • Suzanne Y Jones
    Writer
  • Stephanie L Jones
    Producer
    Gullah Gullah Island (Supervising Producer, 1995-1998), Milan's First Day (2015, Associate Producer)
  • Suzanne Y Jones
    Producer
    Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell (2012-2013), People Magazine TV
  • Sonya Houston
    Producer
    Out of the Loop (2023), Andover (2017), The Stick Up Kids (2008), The Wiz (Broadway, Co-Producer)
  • Stephanie L Jones
    Key Cast
  • Suzanne Y Jones
    Key Cast
    Drop Squad (1994)
  • Kim Wayans
    Key Cast
    In Living Color (1990-1994), Pariah (2011), Poppa's House (2024-2025)
  • Alva Rogers
    Key Cast
    School Daze (1988), Daughters of the Dust (1991)
  • Gabriel Allan Tolliver
    Key Cast
    Fleecing Led Zeppelin (2014), Dolla Van (2023) and Duck Duck Goose! (2002)
  • Celina Davis
    Key Cast
  • Emerson Dudley
    Editor
    With Salt
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Genres:
    Documentary memoir, cultural history, musical theatre, performance art, African American History, jazz, spoken word, comedy
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 35 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 18, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    6,800 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • BRIC Doc Intensive 2025 Workshop Screening
    Brooklyn, NY
    United States
    May 22, 2025
  • Urbanworld Film Festival
    New York
    United States
    October 31, 2025
    Official Selection
  • Atlanta Short Film Festival - Best Documentary
    Atlanta
    United States
    March 23, 2026
    Southeast Premiere
    WINNER: BEST DOCUMENTARY
  • Big Apple Film Festival: First Time Directors & Writers Ed.
    New York
    United States
    March 25, 2026
    New York City
    Official Selection and Honorable Mention
  • Diversity in Cannes Short Film Showcase
    Cannes
    France
    June 12, 2026
    European
    Nominee - Best Documentary
  • San Francisco Black Film Festival
    San Francisco, CA
    United States
    June 21, 2026
    West Coast Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Stephanie L Jones

Stephanie Lynn Jones is a multi-disciplinary creator based in New York City. Stephanie began her film production career working on production teams for Spike Lee. She then honed her own creative voice, producing, creating and performing many downtown NYC (and beyond) stage performances with her twin Suzanne, and their band, as the Jones Twins. The JTs were seen and heard at Dixon Place, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, PS 122, NYSF/Public Theatre, Smithsonian African-American History Museum, and more. Stephanie earned an Emmy nomination as a Producer of the iconic kids musical TV program “Gullah Gullah Island” airing on Nickelodeon for four seasons. Her original musical Lil Budda (composer, Janice Lowe) was selected for development at the Eugene O’Neill National Musical Theatre Conference. She is a graduate of Howard University and holds an MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in music theatre writing. This is her first film.

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Director Statement

The mystery of creation has always fascinated me. How does creation get sparked? What makes a creation come to successful fruition? What makes it last? Whether a work of art or a human life, it all starts with creativity. Imagining how and why my own life was even created, and exploring my own origins with my identical twin and the unknown backstory of our birth, from the shaming around it, to the rich influences passed on from our adoptive family, has inspired my own creativity. Together, my identical twin sister and I found a unique way to tell our story of our search for belonging through music, comedy, and performance. We put our pain into our art, turned tragedy into joy and humor, and created entertainment onstage. Now, we share again, extending our story through archival images and footage, repurposed and reworked video of those long-ago performances, now a short memoir doc. We are excited to reach and hopefully inspire a new generation of audiences.