fiction.wikisort.org - Director

Channing Godfrey Peoples is an American writer, director, and producer. Her feature film directorial debut Miss Juneteenth received critical acclaim.[1][2]

Channing Godfrey Peoples
Nationality	American
Education	Baylor University (BA) University of Southern California (MFA)
Occupation	Writer, director, producer
Years active	2013 ― present
Notable work	Miss Juneteenth
Spouse(s)	Neil Creque Williams
Children	1

Early life and education

Peoples was raised on the south side of Fort Worth in what she referred to as "Black Texas".[3][4][5] Her family regularly attended Black theatre performances, which influenced Peoples to read classic Black literature by writers such as Toni Morrison and Gloria Naylor.[6]

She received her bachelor's degree in theater from Baylor University and her master of fine arts degree from University of Southern California.[4][6]

Career

Miss Juneteenth

Peoples began writing Miss Juneteenth in 2013, shortly after completing film school.[7] She was inspired to write the film because she grew up attending Juneteenth celebrations and Miss Juneteenth pageants and the holiday holds great significance for her.[3] She attended the Sundance Creative Producing Summit and other writing workshops to continue to develop the screenplay.[1] When the film was in pre-production, Peoples was named one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film 2018.[2] Miss Juneteenth, also Peoples' directorial debut, premiered at Sundance 2020 and was released VOD on Juneteenth of that year.[3][8] The film received critical acclaim and holds a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[9]

She cites Julie Dash, Jonathan Demme, and her mentor Charles Burnett as influences.[7]

Other work

Peoples wrote two episodes of the third season of Queen Sugar.[6][10]

In January 2021 it was announced that Peoples signed a first look deal with Universal Content Productions.[11] Her first scheduled project is to create a television adaptation of Miss Juneteenth.[11]

Peoples' wrote and directed the short film Doretha's Blues, which debuted at SXSW in 2021.[12] The movie stars Tonea Stewart and follows "a former musician whose son was killed by police and who can no longer find it in her to sing."[13] She was inspired to write Doretha's Blues in the aftermath of Michael Brown's death, as she was interested in the lives of the family left behind.[12] Like Miss Juneteenth, the film is set in Fort Worth, Texas.[14]

Personal life

Peoples is married to producer Neil Creque Williams, whom she met in her graduate program at USC.[3] They have one daughter (b. 2018).[3]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Writer	Director	Producer
2020	Miss Juneteenth[12]	Yes	Yes	Yes
2021	Doretha's Blues[12]	Yes	Yes	No

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2020	Gotham Independent Film Awards	Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award	Miss Juneteenth	Nominated	[15]
2020	SXSW	Louis Black Lone Star Award		Won	[16]
2020	BlackStar Film Festival	Best Narrative Feature		Won	[17]
2020	Alliance of Women Film Journalists	Best Woman Director		Nominated	[18]
2020	National Board of Review	Best Directorial Debut		Won	[19]
2020	Satellite Awards	Best First Feature		Won	[20]
2020	Independent Spirit Awards	Best First Feature		Nominated	[21]
		Best First Screenplay		Nominated
2021	Black Reel Awards	Outstanding Independent Feature		Nominated	[22]
		Outstanding Director		Nominated
		Outstanding Emerging Director		Nominated
		Outstanding First Screenplay		Nominated
	Austin Film Festival	New Voice Award		Won	[23]

References

External links

• Official Instagram
• Channing Godfrey Peoples at IMDb

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