Miss Juneteenth Movie Storyline. Turquoise Jones (Nicole Beharie), is a single mother in a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas. She is the former winner of the local Miss Juneteenth pageant which offers full scholarships to college. She enters her 15-year-old daughter, Kai (Alexis Chikaeze) in the same pageant despite her daughter’s obvious lack of enthusiasm.
While other former Miss Juneteenth winners have gone on to have successful careers Turquoise’s education was derailed by the birth of Kai, which forced her to drop out of college and for a time work as a stripper. To make ends meet she currently works at a bar and part time as a beautician at a mortuary where the owner is romantically interested in her. However Turquoise is still in love with Kai’s father Ronnie and the two continue sleeping together despite officially being separated.
Kai struggles with her preparations for the Miss Juneteenth pageant, wanting to pursue dance instead. When her father fails to come through with the money for her pageant dress she is forced to compete in her mother’s old gown.
The Miss Juneteenth pageant goes forward. To Turquoise’s surprise for Kai’s talent she performs Maya Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman, the poem that Turquoise performed herself and had been pushing Kai to perform, but set to dance. Turquoise is proud of her performance but nevertheless Kai fails to even place in the Miss Juneteenth pageant.
Miss Juneteenth is a 2020 American drama film written and directed by Channing Godfrey Peoples and starring Nicole Beharie, Kendrick Sampson, and Alexis Chikaeze. The plot follows a single mom and former teen beauty queen who enters her daughter into the local Miss Juneteenth pageant. The film premiered at Sundance in January 2020, and was released via video on demand on June 19, 2020, coinciding with the 155th anniversary of the titular holiday.
Miss Juneteenth (2020)
Directed by: Channing Godfrey Peoples
Starring: Nicole Beharie, Kendrick Sampson, Alexis Chikaeze, Lori Hayes, Marcus M. Mauldin, Liz Mikel, Akron Watson, Phyllis Cicero, Lisha Hackney, Margaret Sanchez, Arianna Lynn Coleman
Screenplay by: Channing Godfrey Peoples
Production Design by: Olivia Peebles
Cinematography by: Daniel Patterson
Film Editing by: Courtney Ware
Costume Design by: Rachel Dainer-Best
Set Decoration by: Dani Broom-Peltz
Art Direction by: Kaili Corcoran
Music by: Emily Rice
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Vertical Entertainment
Release Date: January 24, 2020 (Sundance), June 19, 2020 (United States)
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