Chinonye Chukwu Emerges First Black Woman to win Sundance’s Biggest Prize

It was a massive year for women at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. All four of the Grand Jury Prizes given to competition films were either directed or co-directed by women.

Filmmaker Chinonye Chukwu, though, broke new grounds. Her film “Clemency,” a moving death row drama, won the festival’s biggest prize, the Grand Jury Prize for her US Dramatic entry.

According to IndieWire, she wrote and directed “Clemency,” and has been directing short films since 2009.