Nigerian-American filmmaker Chinonye Chukwu recently received the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Her U.S. Dramatic entry “Clemency” earned her the biggest prize of the festival. This makes her the first black woman in history to receive the prize. She also joins the exclusive group of filmmaker legends such as Desiree Akhavan, Ryan Coogler, and all the other previous winners.
“Clemency” by Chinonye Chukwu – Inspired by True Events
“Clemency” by Chinonye Chukwu was inspired by the Troy Davis tragedy of 2011 which she spent four years researching. She reached out to many people with different experiences to build up her work. Both retired and active wardens, lawyers, men and women who had been incarcerated were interviewed during the research process.
The drama is based on the story of death row inmates and a female prison warden struggling with the cruelty that comes with her kind of job. “Clemency” stars the likes of Aldis Hodge, Alfre Woodard and Danielle Brooks.
“Clemency” by Chinonye still seeks U.S. distribution so that the rest of the world can see the powerful story. Chukwu will also be directing the film adaptation of former Black Panther leader Elaine Brown’s memoir, “A Taste of Power”.
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