“Miss Juneteenth” has secured distribution. Vertical Entertainment scored North American rights to Channing Godfrey Peoples’ award-winning feature directorial debut, Deadline reports.
Penned by Peoples, the pic centers on former beauty queen Turquoise Jones (Nicole Beharie), “now a hardworking single mom who is preparing her rebellious teenage daughter Kai (Alexis Chikaeze) for the pageant, hoping to keep her from repeating the same mistakes in life that she made.”
“I grew up going to the Miss Juneteenth pageant and always felt inspired by seeing those beautiful young African-American women on stage. It was part of the fabric of my childhood,” Peoples told us ahead of the film’s world premiere at Sundance. “I also grew up in the same tight-knit Texas community in which the film is set. It is in that community that women like Turquoise live who are hardworking, loving, and driven. Those are the women that inspired this story.”
“Miss Juneteenth” took home the Lone Star Award from SXSW Film Festival, which was held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for best film from the state of Texas.
Vertical Entertainment is aiming for a June 19 release, “that date marking the 155th anniversary of the Juneteenth holiday,” the source details. The company is “hoping for a theatrical release depending on the status of theaters amid the coronavirus [outbreak], but it aims to bow the film on digital on the American holiday, which commemorates the abolition of slavery in Texas on June 19, 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation — a celebration that includes an annual beauty pageant.”
“It’s not every day that you feel completely affected by a first-time filmmaker’s work, but Channing’s vision and the knockout performances from the entire cast had a resounding impact on the entire team here at Vertical,” Vertical co-president Rich Goldberg commented. “We couldn’t be prouder to be partnering with the entire ‘Miss Juneteenth’ team to bring this film to North American audiences.”
When we asked Peoples what she hopes audiences will think about after watching “Miss Juneteenth” she said, “I’d love for people to experience a world not often seen on screen. I’d love for people to see Turquoise’s strength and determination borne out of her love for her daughter and ultimately herself. I’d love for an audience to find some joy in this film.”
Peoples, who cited Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Gloria Naylor, and Maya Angelou among her inspirations, wrote two episodes of “Queen Sugar,” Ava DuVernay’s OWN drama. Her shorts include “Doretha’s Blues” and “Red.”
