Clemency

About

How do you salvage your marriage when you are struggling to salvage your soul, your sense of self, and your sense of right and wrong? Bernadine Williams (Alfre Woodard) is a prison warden who, over the years, has been drifting away from her husband while dutifully carrying out executions in a maximum security prison. When she strikes up a unique bond with death-row inmate Anthony Woods (Aldis Hodge), a layer of emotional skin is peeled back, forcing Bernadine to confront the complex—and often contradictory—relationship between good intentions, unrequited desires, and what it means to be sanctioned to kill.

Clemency is an absorbing and penetrating character study that pulls into deep focus the various ways in which people facing impossible ethical circumstances strive to achieve some state of grace. Director Chinonye Chukwu crafts a dense, emotional film through masterful restraint and precision, drawing forth radiant performances that illuminate the internal grapplings of people searching for redemption and self-recognition. A rare, sensitive, and deeply observant prison drama, Clemency offers a fresh and meaningful contribution to the genre.

YEAR 2019

CATEGORY U.S. Dramatic Competition

COUNTRY U.S.A.

RUN TIME 113 min

COMPANY PARADIGM TALENT AGENCY

EMAIL filmsales@paradigmagency.com

PHONE (310) 288-8000

Credits

Director
Screenwriter
Producers
Co Producer
Line Producer
Director Of Photography
Editor
Production Designer
Music By
Costume Designer
Casting
Original Song Written & Performed By
Actor

Artist Bio

Chinonye Chukwu

Chinonye Chukwu is a screenwriter and director. Clemency, her second feature film, won a place on the 2017 Athena List, a designation that recognizes excellent scripts featuring female protagonists. Chukwu has also received the prestigious Princess Grace Award Film Graduate Scholarship and Princeton University’s Hodder Fellowship. Her debut feature film, Alaskaland, has screened globally and been released on several digital and video-on-demand platforms.