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Jennifer Bynum was never a movie star. Until now.

In the filmed-in-Memphis "Hustle & Flow," her big-screen moment lasts only long enough for her to sing the old spiritual "Changed Mah Name" in riveting soprano. But it's a major part of the film since it is her song that causes the pimp DJay (played by Terrence Howard) to commit to reaching back to the hopes of his youth.

Paramount Classics (ENLARGE)
Soprano Jennifer Bynum is working on a CD.
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Bynum lives in Richmond, Calif., a few miles north of Oakland, but she had lived and sung classical songs and gospel in Memphis for a number of years. She also used to live in Atlanta and Marietta.

Her father was a tenor and her mother was a lyric soprano.

"I started off singing in church in the choir," Bynum said recently by phone from her home. "I always sang real soft. There was this woman who told me to 'Let go and let the Lord use you.' "

Later, she was classically trained at the University of Colorado. She got her part in "Hustle" when director Craig Brewer asked around Memphis, "If you were to die tonight and order up someone for your funeral, who would you hire?"

He called Bynum and she flew to Memphis. When she sang for him, "He said, 'Could you not sound so white?' "

On the set, she recorded "Changed Mah Name" about 24 times, and the plans called for her to lip-sync during filming. But when it came time to shoot the scene, she said Howard asked if she could sing the song live.

It's what she preferred anyway. "Every time I sing something, it's different," she said.

As they filmed the scene, she noticed Howard was crying.

"Within my spirit, I knew that this man was feeling this."

"Hustle," which debuted recently as the No. 1 film in metro Atlanta, ranked last weekend here at No. 6.

While her song isn't on the "Hustle & Flow" album, Bynum is working on a CD with Hal Sacks of Los Angeles' Fresh Start Music, and it may well be included there.

SPEAKING OF 'HUSTLE': The film's producer, John Singleton, will be in Atlanta this weekend pushing two of his films. He's planning to appear at the 7:30 p.m. showing Saturday of "Hustle" at the AMC Southlake Pavilion for a post-film Q&A. Earlier that day, he'll appear at a private screening of his new drama, "Four Brothers," in downtown Atlanta for the National Association of Black Journalists convention.

CHANGES AT IMAGE: Image Film & Video Center, which produces the annual Atlanta Film Festival, is undergoing large-scale staff changes.

Alison Fussell, who became Image executive director in December, will depart this month. Board Chairman Judy Tabb says that following a recent evaluation process, "Alison decided she wanted to resign and wanted to spend more time with her family."

Would Tabb categorize it as a mutual decision?

"In the end, yes," she says.

Longtime board member Jon Aaron has resigned that position and will serve as Image's president and chief executive officer at least until a new executive director can be hired.

Image will also be searching for a new film festival director and has recently filled vacated positions involving its educational arm and the annual Out on Film, featuring gay and lesbian films.

Though this year's Atlanta fest did claim record-matching attendance figures, there were programming oversights that could have prevented the fest from achieving high numbers. The festival had been increasing in audience and gaining more national attention under the leadership of Brian Newman, who left Image last year for another nonprofit position in New York.

"We knew it would be difficult to make the transition [after Newman left]," Aaron says. "We expected more out of it because we'd take our time and find the right person who'd be here for a long time. Obviously, that's not happened."

FOR LOVE OF BILL: Mojo is happy that there's another Bill Murray movie in metro Atlanta today — "Broken Flowers."And we can think of 10 other movies that would make for a marvelous Murray mini-festival weekend on DVD. Try "Lost in Translation," "Groundhog Day," "Ghost Busters," "Ed Wood," "Rushmore," "Caddyshack," "Tootsie," "Stripes," "Kingpin" and Michael Almereyda's "Hamlet."