Interview with Clemency film­mak­er Chinonye Chukwu

Discussions With DPI

Writer/​director Chinonye Chukwu speaks with DPIC Senior Director of Research and Special Projects Ngozi Ndulue about her award-win­ning new film, Clemency. Chukwu dis­cuss­es her inspi­ra­tion for the sto­ry, the years-long process of research and immer­sion that helped her shape the nar­ra­tive, and her hopes for how this film will be received.

Clemency stars Alfre Woodard as death-row prison war­den Bernadine Williams and Aldis Hodge as death-row pris­on­er Anthony Woods. The film focus­es on Bernadine, Chukwu explains, and ​“nav­i­gates her emo­tion­al and psy­cho­log­i­cal down spi­ral as she pre­pares to exe­cute … Woods.” Clemency won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Drama at the Sundance Film Festival in February 2019, the first time the award has been giv­en to a movie direct­ed by an African-American woman.