Nigeria-born writer and movie director, Chinonye Chukwu, recently announced a new independent drama called “Clemency” starring Alfre Woodard, Aldis Hodge, and “Orange Is The New Black”‘s Danielle Brooks.

“Clemency” tells the story of a prison warden played by Woodard as she develops an intimate relationship with an inmate she’s scheduled to execute. Bronwyn Cornelius and Julian Cautherley produce the film via ACE Pictures Entertainment. And in a statement following the announcement, The managing director of ACE Pictures Entertainment was quoted saying, “We were thrilled to discover the incredibly moving screenplay by writer/director Chinonye Chukwu, and with the participation of the outstanding lead actress Alfre Woodard”.

Chukwu, who, herself talks about deeply emotional times in her life has explored such themes in her films in the past. Her first feature film, “Alaska Land” released in 2012,  follows a young Nigerian-American man who is forced to reconnect with his sister and his roots after life gets difficult in his home in Alaska. She has also worked on a series of short films, one of which is BOTTOM, a film about sexual trauma and abuse. Chinonye Chukwu’s deep involvement in human rights activism may have inspired “Clemency” as she worked on the clemency campaign for Tyra Patterson a while ago after she was wrongfully accused of murder.

There’s no release date for “Clemency” yet, but you can peep Chukwu’s emotive short film, BOTTOM here while we wait:

https://vimeo.com/chinonye/bottom

Featured Image Credit: Vimeo/chinonye chukwu

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Watch the trailer for nadine ibrahim’s short film “tolu” here