NWFFest is proud to present
our 2019 VANGUARD AWARD recipients...

JORDANA SPIRO
&
ANGELICA NWANDU

for their critically acclaimed feature,
Night Comes On.

 

 

Spiro received the Sundance Innovator Award for this outstanding directorial debut.

Kenneth Turan of the L.A. Times notes:
“Like its determined heroine, Night Comes On burns with a smoldering fire,
a heat that is no less intense, no less effective, for remaining largely beneath the surface.”

 

 

 

 

Jordana Spiro is a director, writer and actor.  Her debut feature film, Night Comes On, which she directed, co-wrote and executive produced, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (2018), where she won the Innovator Award.  At the Deauville Film Festival in France, she was awarded the Jury Award.  Her short Skin also premiered at Sundance and won the Honorable Mention Award at SXSW, showed at Telluride, Palm Springs, and AFI among others. Jordana earned her MFA in Film from Columbia University (2015) and is a Sundance Labs Fellow for Screenwriting and Directing.  As an actor, she was most recently nominated for a SAG award (2019) for her acting work on Ozark (Netflix) and her latest film, To the Stars, premiered at Sundance (2019).

 

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Angelica Nwandu is the founder of The Shade Room, a site that covers celebrity news and celebrates black culture. She was named as one of Forbes "30 under 30" in 2016 and has created a media company that inspired Refinery 29 to dub Nwandu "the Oprah of our generation." Night Comes On is Angelica Nwandu’s feature film writing debut, drawing partly on her own experience.

According to Teo Bugbee of the New York Times:
“The actress Jordana Spiro directed Night Comes On and wrote the script with Angelica Nwandu, a spoken-word poet and creator of the incisive gossip website The Shade Room. Ms. Nwandu is also a graduate of the foster care system. The result of their partnership is a film that balances penetrating clarity with compassion.”

 

 

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A screening of Night Comes On will be followed by a discussion 
and Q&A session with these pioneering filmmakers,
hosted by Danette Tull.

Saturday, March 23, 2:00 PM - 5:30 PM at The Eclipse Theaters
co-sponsored by UNLV

 

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Angel LaMere is released from juvenile detention on the eve of her 18th birthday. Haunted by her past, she embarks on a journey with her 10 year-old sister that could destroy their future.

 

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