Making its World Premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival was Miss Juneteenth, written and directed by Channing Godfrey Peoples and starring Nicole Beharie, Kendrick Sampson and newcomer Alexis Chikaeze.
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 slavery was abolished in Texas. 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.
For Peoples, this is not only her film debut but it’s also a personal story. As a filmmaker from Fort Worth, Texas, she has more insight to this history of the slaves story and pageant than most would get from reading it online. Named one of Filmmaker magazine’s 2018 “25 new faces of independent film,” she had written two episodes for season three of Queen Sugar before directing Miss Juneteenth.
Blackfilm.com caught up with Peoples while at Sundance to discuss her experience making this film.
When did this story come to you?
Channing Godfrey Peoples: I think this story has been with me all my life. Probably because it’s super personal. I grew up as a child and went to Miss Juneteenth every year and those were the women I aspire to be. For the first time I got to see young, African American women. It’s a beauty pageant, but it really is a scholastic pageant. So you’re judged not only on the way you look, but the way you present. They have an essay portion. You’ve seen it in the film now, but they actually take these women through a whole course to prepare them for the future. So I just feel like it’s just been something that’s been with me. Turquoise is a character who is that type of women that I’ve grown up with all my life. There’s so much of myself in Turquoise, those salt of the earth women who just get it done. This is just just comes from my experience and my life.
There are two stories in this film. One being about the Miss Juneteenth contest and the other being about the family dynamics with Nicole’s character. How did you mix in both?
Channing Godfrey Peoples: The Juneteenth itself and then Miss Juneteenth as the center piece of it as the backdrop. As a filmmaker, I always want to find a way to juxtapose history and the character. For Turquoise herself, she’s going through having had her dreams deferred. That’s also what slaves in Texas felt like. Their freedom was deferred for two years when they found out two years later. So automatically, like we’re playing with this idea of like, what happens when good things come too late and so for Turquoise, who had have had a difficult journey growing up, the success of Miss Juneteenth came too late for her and she couldn’t sustain it. So she’s been trying to build a life for her daughter that she can sustain.
How did you come to cast Nicole Beharie?
Channing Godfrey Peoples: I’ve admired Nicole’s work for many years. She is a brilliant actor and I knew that Nicole would be able to carry the ebb and flow of Turquoise’s emotional journey and I knew that I really wanted a nuanced performance for this and I’ve seen her deliver before and other projects and she delivers here. She’s brilliant.
You got a great performance from newcomer Alexis Chikaeze. Did you do a lot of tryouts before you found her?
Channing Godfrey Peoples: It wasn’t hundreds, but we auditioned a lot of young women for the role. Some of them ended up in other parts because they were just so wonderful. But with Alexis, she had that helpfulness. She also had an ability to have some of that world weariness that I was looking for as a team, just that wisdom because like in the film, like you see Turquoise and Kai changed roles a lot of times. Sometimes Kai shows up and she’s Turquoise’s mother, saying things like “Why didn’t you do this? Why did you do that?” We were looking for that combination, and it was tough, but she showed up, and I read her several times for the role. This is her first movie. I wanted to be sure and she was just amazing. Her work ethic blew my mind. This kid came in every day she was prepared. We went through everything before the movie and she just she jumped in and fell in with the tone. She’s jumping in not only on our first role, but she’s working with people she’s seen on TV and film before. It could be daunting. I can’t say enough good things about Alexis. I think she has a bright future ahead of her and I’m happy I got a chance to work with her now.
Kendrick Sampson also played a key role in the film.
Channing Godfrey Peoples: Kendrick is from Houston and he’s an amazing actor. I really feel that he lifted his role off the page. I was excited to be able to work with him. I had seen him in other projects like Insecure and How To Get Away With Murder. I love the fact that he’s been wonderful and an advocate for the film. He’s just someone I enjoy watching.
You wore a lot of hats on this film, from being the producer, writer, and director among the roles. Did you you find it too challenging to do this much at any given time?
Channing Godfrey Peoples: I’ve been living with this film forever. I’ve made short films before. This is my first feature, obviously, and it’s a different beast. It’s immersive. Also, at the same time, I was a new mom. I’m learning to parent myself. It’s changing my filmmaking. I think the passion and the drive and the determination to see the story go forth because at some point, yes, it’s my film but you just have this heart. You want to get the story in the world. I thought it was just so important to just have like Juneteenth and especially Miss Juneteenth on screen. I was just tunnel vision. I was just going and it’s it’s an emotional journey. It’s a psychological journey and it’s a physical journey. My body was tired.
What else can we expect from you?
Channing Godfrey Peoples: I’m working on another character based drama right now. I’ve been writing forever, so I have several projects. My mission and my goal has always to be be to see African American women, especially in these lead roles that they deserve. I want to continue along that trajectory. I want to keep telling intricate stories, like nuanced stories are important to me. We’ll see what comes next, but I want to continue making these films. I also am in love with the South. I’m from Texas, and so I write like I hear people talk. So a lot of my stories revolve around those areas. I just want to see us get all the things that we deserve.
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