Deadline is reporting that Vertical Entertainment has picked up the North American rights to Channing Godfrey Peoples’ Miss Juneteenth, which had its world premiere earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. The film also won the Louis Black “Lone Star” Award at the SXSW in March. The film will have a digital release on June 19, the 155th anniversary of the Juneteenth holiday.
The site also states that Vertical is hoping for a theatrical release depending on the status of theaters amid the coronavirus pandemic, but it aims to bow the film on digital on the American holiday, which commemorates the abolition of slavery in Texas on June 19, 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation — a celebration that includes an annual beauty pageant.
Written and directed by Peoples, the cast includes Nicole Beharie, Kendrick Sampson, Alexis Chikaeze, Lori Hayes, and Marcus Maudlin.
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.
The film was produced by Ley Line Entertainment and Sailor Bear, with Neil Creque Williams, Jeanie Igoe, James M. Johnston, Toby Halbrooks, Tim Headington and Theresa Steele Page producing. David Lowery and Nate Kamiya are executive producers.
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