Meet the first black female to win Sundance Grand Jury Prize

And if that is not enough reason to make you marvel, the women were up and about to make history as all four of the prizes given to competition films were either directed or co-directed by a woman, according to Kate Erbland reporting for Indie Wire. Chukwu becomes the first black female in the history of the Sundance Film Festival to win the US Grand Jury Prize for her US Dramatic entry, Clemency. The 35-year-old filmmaker and director of the film made history as it is now recorded that only nine women have so far won the Grand Jury prize in the festival’s history and none was black, except for Chinonye Chukwu who just broke the box, making black female filmmakers proud.

Clemency stars Aldis Hodge and Alfre Woodard. It follows Warden Bernadine Williams (Woodard) as she wars with the demons of executing death row inmates. It all comes to a head when she connects with a man (Hodge) she’s sanctioned to kill.

It was equally recorded that the Nigerian-American filmmaker both wrote and directed the film. “I am so thankful and can’t wait to share this film with the world!” Chukwu writes on Instagram.”

For her next project, she will be working on directing A Taste of Power, an adaptation of former Black Panther leader Elaine Brown’s memoir, the first and only female leader to lead the Black Panther Party.