Vertigo Releasing has announced they will release critically acclaimed MISS JUNETEENTH in cinemas and digital platforms on 25 September 2020, in the UK and Ireland.
MISS JUNETEENTH is writer and director Channing Godfrey Peoples’ debut feature film, inspired by her upbringing in Fort Worth, Texas, where the Miss Juneteenth pageant takes place annually. Juneteenth is a holiday in recognition of slaves in Texas being freed, two whole years after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Peoples’ said of her film, “I want MISS JUNETEENTH to contribute to more diverse representations of African-American women on screen. Through exploring issues unique to black women and our identity and culture, my hope is the film will be a universal story about the resilience of the human condition.”
Nicole Beharie (Shame, 42, Black Mirror), plays protagonist Turquoise Jones, a struggling single mother and former Miss Juneteenth winner. The cast includes Alexis Chikaeze, in her first feature film, as Turquoise’s daughter Kai, and Kendrick Sampson (Insecure, The Vampire Diaries, How To Get Away With Murder), as Turquoise’s husband Ronnie.
Miss Juneteenth was produced and financed by Ley Line Entertainment’s Tim Headington and Theresa Steele Page, along with producers Neil Creque Williams, Jeanie Igoe, Toby Halbrooks and James M Johnston of Sailor Bear.
Synopsis: Turquoise Jones is a single mom who holds down a household, a rebellious teenager, and pretty much everything that goes down at Wayman’s BBQ & Lounge. Turquoise is also a bona fide beauty queen—she was once crowned Miss Juneteenth, a title commemorating the day slaves in Texas were freed – two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Life didn’t turn out as beautifully as the title promised, but Turquoise, determined to right her wrongs, is cultivating her daughter, Kai, to become Miss Juneteenth, even if Kai wants something else.
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