Channing Godfrey Peoples

Writer/Director, Miss Juneteenth; Director, Generation | Landing the First Feature: How Shorts Can Lead to Opportunities

Channing Godfrey Peoples is a Writer/Director from Texas. She is a MFA graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and one of Filmmaker Magazine “25 New Faces of Independent Film“ for 2018. As a Black woman, her films are character-driven stories focusing on the resilience of the human spirit, often featuring Black women at a turning point in their lives.

She is a Sundance Fellow, Austin Film Society Fellow, SFFilm/Westridge Foundation Fellow, King Family Foundation Recipient, and has served as a Time Warner Artist-in-Residence at Howard University. Her short film, Red, is a DGA Student Jury Award Winner. She also wrote and directed a short film, Doretha’s Blues, made possible by the support of Refinery 29 and Level Forward for their Shatterbox Anthology series. Channing wrote two episodes on Season 3 of Queen Sugar for the OWN Network and recently directed an episode of the upcoming Generation for HBO Max.

Her feature film debut, Miss Juneteenth, premiered in U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. It won the Louis Black “Lone Star” Award at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival and Best Narrative Feature at the 2020 BlackStar Film Festival. Most recently, Miss Juneteenth was nominated for two Gotham Awards, including the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award for Channing Godfrey Peoples and Best Actress for Nicole Beharie.