Yahoo Lifestyle Neon, UFO Select ‘Miss Juneteenth’ Director Channing Godfrey Peoples for Second Feature Development Residency (EXCLUSIVE)
Neon, the Oscar-winning studio behind “Parasite” and “Anatomy of a Fall,” and UFO, a nonprofit organization that supports filmmakers, are launching a new residency program to help artists making their sophomore features.
The first participant will be filmmaker Channing Godfrey Peoples, who garnered widespread acclaim for her 2020 debut feature “Miss Juneteenth.”
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Dubbed the Neon X UFO Second Feature Development Residency, the month-long program was designed to support underrepresented filmmakers and stories. It focuses on filmmakers who have yet to direct a second feature in the years following the release of their promising independent feature debut. It provides a living and work space at the Silver Sun Residence and culminates with a week in New York City this month. During her time in residence, Godfrey Peoples will continue developing the script for her next project and participate in curated meetings with industry professionals facilitated by Neon and UFO. This program will also engage the local community through a screening of “Miss Juneteenth” at Upstate Films’ Orpheum Theater in Saugerties, N.Y.
Godfrey Peoples was honored by the National Board of Review with the Best Directorial Debut Award for “Miss Juneteenth.” The film received both Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards nominations, winning a Best Actress Gotham for lead actor Nicole Beharie. The film follows a former beauty queen and single mom as she prepares her rebellious teenage daughter for the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant.
“All of UFO’s filmmaker support programs are made possible through meaningful partnerships, and we are proud to be partnering with Neon. Neon’s extensive industry expertise and their unparalleled eye for bold artistic promise in both films and filmmakers has been an invaluable asset in developing this program,” Martha Gregory, UFO’s co-director, said in a statement. “We love Channing’s work and we are delighted to welcome her to New York for this residency.”
Godfrey Peoples was selected through an invite-only application process. In collaboration with Neon, UFO identified filmmakers whose first feature films exhibited creative risk-taking. Their curation focused on filmmakers from historically underrepresented experiences and backgrounds who had not yet had a second feature project greenlit at the time of selection.
Neon recently released “Anora,” which won the Palme d’Or in Cannes, and the hit horror film “Longlegs.” UFO is a donor-supported organization that gives time, space and money to filmmakers at under-resourced career stages.
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