Miss Juneteenth

Turquoise won the Miss Juneteenth pageant years ago; the prize was a college scholarship and she never used it. Now she works two jobs in Fort Worth, raises her daughter alone, and wants Kai to enter the same pageant. Kai wants to dance, does not care about the contest, and can see her mother making up for something through her. This is Channing Godfrey Peoples's first film. Juneteenth marks 19 June 1865, when word of emancipation reached Texas, and the film uses that date not as background but as community memory. The pageant itself is questioned as a tradition: who it lifts up and what it promises to whom. Nicole Beharie plays Turquoise and carries the film's weight. Alexis Chikaeze plays the daughter. Who it's for: Viewers who like American independent cinema, mother and daughter drama, and community stories. Who it's not for: The plot is small and the pace is slow. The pageant structure also gives the narrative a predictable direction.