Jahina Noël is a Guadeloupean screenwriter and director based in Seine-Saint-Denis, near Paris. Her debut short, Bon Profil… Jusqu’à preuve du contraire, explores racial discrimination in hiring through a fictional story shaped partly by her own experience. Available on the JahinaLand YouTube channel, the film marks her move from writing privately to bringing her characters to the screen.
The most revealing detail about Jahina Noël’s first film may be this: she had to shoot it twice. Having financed the project herself, she returned to the set, brought a team together and started again. The second shoot became a warm, shared experience, with her two sons helping and meals she cooked for the crew.
That mix of resolve and hospitality runs through the story she tells about becoming a filmmaker. Before cinema, there was a career in sports coaching. Before a public audience, there were years of writing. Bon Profil brought those experiences together and gave her a reason to keep going.
How a sports coach became a filmmaker
Noël worked for many years as a sports coach, holding France’s BPJEPS professional qualification. Training taught her to prepare, stay disciplined and recover from setbacks. Those habits would prove useful on a film set.
Her move towards directing began during recovery from knee surgery. With her sporting activities interrupted, she gave more time to a longstanding interest: writing stories. Screenplays that had remained private began to look like projects she could bring to life.
In the written responses she shared for this portrait, she describes a small but decisive question: why not her? An association then offered an opportunity to make a short for a festival. That invitation helped turn the idea of directing into the practical work of making Bon Profil.
Production difficulties meant she missed the intended festival opportunity. Once the film was finished, she chose to release it on YouTube, giving viewers direct access to her debut.
What is Bon Profil about?
Bon Profil… Jusqu’à preuve du contraire is a fictional short about discrimination in hiring. Its central figures, Sofia and the recruiter Monsieur Laurent, provide a way to consider how prejudice can influence the judgement of a candidate.
The story grew partly from a memory Noël describes from the 1980s. While seeking a work-study placement, she had a positive telephone conversation with a prospective employer. When she arrived in person, she recalls being told that she should have mentioned she was Black. She left without continuing the interview.
Noël drew on that memory alongside other situations and observations. She is clear that the film is fiction rather than a reconstruction of her life. Sofia carries something of her younger self, but the screenplay gives the experience its own characters and direction.
Her intention is to make room for reflection: what does Sofia experience, how does the recruiter justify his behaviour, and what might challenge those assumptions? Noël wants viewers to consider their own responses rather than arrive at a single prescribed interpretation.
Watch the full short on JahinaLand
The full film is available on JahinaLand’s official YouTube channel. The upload runs for approximately 21 minutes. For international readers discovering Noël for the first time, it offers a direct introduction to her work and a place to join the conversation.
Watch Bon Profil on YouTube · Explore and subscribe to JahinaLand
A debut made twice, with a different spirit on set
Making the film meant more than completing a screenplay. Noël funded her debut herself and says production setbacks led her to reshoot it in full. Starting over increased the demands on her time, energy and budget.
Yet her account of the second shoot is full of affection. It took place over three days, from Friday to Sunday. Roles were clearer, the organisation was stronger and the atmosphere felt more relaxed. She cooked rice and chicken for the team one day and pastels the next.
Her two sons supported her throughout the shoot and took an active part in the experience. There were conversations over food and plenty of laughter. Noël says some of those moments appear in the making-of material she added at the end of the film.
For her, organisation and enjoyment belong together. A set needs a clear artistic direction and the conditions for everyone to do their job. It also needs trust and the pleasure of building something together. That is the working atmosphere she hopes to carry into her next production.
Black characters with room for every kind of story
Noël wants to create space for people whose stories receive too little attention, particularly within communities of African descent. She also wants the freedom to work across genres. Her interest in representation sits alongside an appetite for comedy, psychological thrillers, horror, crime stories and drama.
“I want to be able to tell a moving story today, make people laugh tomorrow and give them chills the day after.”
Jahina Noël, translated from her written responses in French
Among the screenplays she describes are a family comedy about an Ivorian household adapting to a change in circumstances, and a psychological and legal thriller set in Seine-Saint-Denis. She also hopes to make a story inspired by the behind-the-scenes experience of her first production.
Writing for other people is another part of her work. One idea, proposed by a collaborator based in London, centres on hip-hop and dance. She sees it as an opportunity to build a full fictional world, with relationships and dramatic stakes as well as the energy of the culture.
Guadeloupe, Seine-Saint-Denis and the wider JahinaLand world
With roots in Guadeloupe and a home in the Paris region, Noël describes a strong attachment to Africa. Her stays in Côte d’Ivoire have encouraged her to imagine artistic and entrepreneurial projects there. Nigeria is another country she hopes to visit.
JahinaLand brings together her creative and cultural ambitions. It is the name under which viewers can find her films and follow the development of her work. The wider ambition is to build an ongoing creative practice, with space for both her own stories and collaborations.
For readers interested in Caribbean creators, her journey adds a filmmaking perspective: a Guadeloupean writer working in France, drawing on personal experience while developing stories across settings and genres.
Bon Profil 2 is written, with production partners still needed
Noël is developing a sequel titled Bon Profil 2 · Le prix du silence. In the materials supplied in October 2026, she says the screenplay is finished and preparations include assembling the team, finding locations and filling some background roles.
Funding is the central next step. After paying for the first film herself, she is seeking producers, patrons and partners to help make the sequel possible. She hopes to shoot in spring 2027, ideally in April. This remains a target dependent on financing and preparation, rather than a confirmed production date.
She says requests from viewers helped persuade her to return to the characters. A reversal is planned, but she is keeping the details under wraps. For now, the practical goal is to move the completed screenplay towards a supported production.
Start with Bon Profil on YouTube, then follow JahinaLand for more of her work. Potential collaborators can find her through the JahinaLand Instagram account.
Quick answers about Jahina Noël and Bon Profil
Who is Jahina Noël?
Jahina Noël is a screenwriter and director originally from Guadeloupe and based in Seine-Saint-Denis, France. A former sports coach, she wrote and directed the short film Bon Profil… Jusqu’à preuve du contraire.
Where can I watch Bon Profil?
The film is on the JahinaLand YouTube channel, in the upload titled “BON PROFIL film 2026 JAHINA LAND HD mp4”.
Does Bon Profil 2 have a release date?
No release date is announced in the supplied materials. As of October 2026, Noël hopes to shoot the sequel in spring 2027, subject to funding and production arrangements.
Based on Jahina Noël’s written responses supplied on 23 October 2026, her press kit and the JahinaLand YouTube channel. The English quotation is translated from her French responses. Portraits, poster and behind-the-scenes image supplied by Jahina Noël / JahinaLand. Future project information checked against her materials on 24 October 2026.