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Chinonye Chukwu
Chinonye Chukwu
	Chukwu in 2019
Born	May 19, 1985 (age 39); Nigeria
Nationality	Nigerian-American
Occupation	Film director
Years active	2010-present
Notable work	Clemency; Till

Chinonye Chukwu (/ˈtʃiːnoʊjə ˈtʃuːkuː/ CHEE-noh-yə CHOO-koo;^[1] born May 19, 1985^[2]) is a Nigerian-American film director best known for the drama films Clemency and Till. She is the first African-American woman to win the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.^[2]^[3]

Early life and education

Chukwu was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. When she was just over a year old, her family moved to Oklahoma, and moved again to Fairbanks, Alaska when she was six.^[2] They visited Nigeria often.^[2]

Growing up in Alaska, Chukwu was often the only African-American in her classes, and she struggled to fit in. Throughout her childhood she dealt with Seasonal affective disorder, which was exacerbated by limited wintertime daylight in Alaska. To cope, she read Maya Angelou and joined the weight-lifting club. Chukwu always wanted to make movies. In her teen years, she carried around a journal that she would write down ideas for films and music videos. She often wrote stories about Nigerian-American girls reconnecting with loves or lost siblings.^[2]

She received her bachelor's degree in English from DePauw University, where she joined Zeta Phi Beta.^[4] She then enrolled in film school at Temple University.^[2]

During the 2013-2014 academic year Chukwu received the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University.^[5]

Career

Chukwu directed The Dance Lesson in 2010, about a young black girl who struggles to become a ballerina in an increasingly gentrified community.^[6] Her first feature film, Alaska-Land (2012), told the story of an estranged Nigerian-American brother and sister who eventually reunite in their hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska.^[7]^[2]^[8] The film was rejected from every festival and lab program she applied to.^[7]^[9] In 2013 she directed A Long Walk (2013), a short film about a child who is publicly ridiculed by his father.^[10]

Clemency (2019) was written and directed by Chukwu. The death row drama stars Alfre Woodard as a prison warden coming to terms with the demands of her profession and Aldis Hodge as one of her inmates bound for execution.^[11] Her inspiration for the film came from the case of Troy Davis, a prisoner executed in 2011. She moved to Los Angeles in 2017 to shoot the film.^[2] She received the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at 2019 Sundance, the first black woman to do so.^[12]^[13]

In 2019, it was reported that Chukwu was slated to direct A Taste Of Power, a film based on the memoir of the same name by Elaine Brown.^[14]

Chukwu wrote and directed the 2022 film Till, a biographical film about Mamie Till-Mobley's pursuit of justice after the 1955 lynching of her 14-year-old son Emmett Louis Till.^[15]

Filmography

Short films

Chinonye Chukwu's short film credits
Year	Title	Writer	Director	Producer	Notes
2009	Igbo Kwenu!	Yes	Yes	Yes
2010	The Dance Lesson	Yes	Yes	Yes	Also editor
2011	5 Afternoons	No	No	No	Production manager
2012	Bottom	Yes	Yes	Yes	Also editor
2013	Dust	No	No	Yes
	Mud Lotus	No	No	Yes	Also first assistant director
	A Long Walk	Yes	Yes	Yes

Feature films

Chinonye Chukwu's feature film credits
Year	Title	Writer	Director	Producer	Notes
2008	Chronic Town	No	No	No	Production assistant
2012	alaskaLand	Yes	Yes	Yes
2013	A Historical Approach to the Positive Music: Jazz in Philadelphia!	No	No	No	Documentary; production manager
2019	Clemency	Yes	Yes	No
2022	Till	Yes	Yes	Yes	Also executive producer

Television

Chinonye Chukwu's television credits
Year	Title	Director	Notes
2019	Sorry for Your Loss	Yes	Episode: "I'm Here"

Awards and nominations

The Dance Lesson (2010)

Honorary Mention, Los Angeles International Film Festival^[16]

Clemency (2019)

Nominee, Black Reel Awards: Outstanding Screenplay, Outstanding Emerging Director, Outstanding First Screenplay, and Outstanding Independent Feature^[17]
Winner, Sundance Film Festival, U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize^[2]^[3]