Chinonye Chukwu on Clemency | NDNF19

Writer-director Chinonye Chukwu discusses Clemency, her extensive research process, casting Alfre Woodard and Aldis Hodge, and more at the 48th edition of New Directors/New Films, taking place at Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art on March 27-April 7. Schedule tickets: https:/// Winner of the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Chinonye Chukwu’s sophomore feature is an enthralling drama anchored by a powerhouse performance from the great Alfre Woodard. Bernadine (Woodard) is a prison warden whose psychic toll has been wrought by years working on death row, and which has caused tensions with her husband Jonathan (Wendell Pierce). After a harrowing botched procedure, her growing investment in the inmate who is next to be executed, Anthony (a mesmerizing Aldis Hodge), encourages her to take a long overdue look in the mirror… Clemency is an immersive, atmospheric film as well as a haunting, tough-minded inqu