Just Mercy directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Academy Award® winner Jamie Foxx, Michael B. Jordan, Academy Award® winner Brie Larson, Tim Blake Nelson, Rob Morgan and Karan Kendrick is the winner of the Overall Audience Award at the Mill Valley Film Festival 2019.
Michael B. Jordan and Oscar winners Jamie Foxx and Brie Larson star in “Just Mercy,” an inspiring drama that brings one of the most important stories of our time to the big screen. Award-winning filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton (“The Glass Castle,” “Short Term 12”) directed the film from a screenplay he co-wrote, based on the award-winning nonfiction bestseller by Bryan Stevenson.
A powerful and thought-provoking true story, “Just Mercy” follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan had his pick of lucrative jobs. Instead, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or who were not afforded proper representation, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley (Larson). One of his first, and most incendiary, cases is that of Walter McMillian (Foxx), who, in 1987, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and the fact that the only testimony against him came from a criminal with a motive to lie. In the years that follow, Bryan becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter, and others like him, with the odds—and the system—stacked against them.
MVFF2019 Audience Award Winners
OVERALL FAVORITE
The MVFF Audience Favorite 2019
JUST MERCY
Destin Daniel Cretton
US CINEMA
Audience Favorite – US Cinema
THE TWO POPES
Fernando Meirelles
Audience Favorite – US Cinema Indie
BLACKBIRD
Roger Michell
WORLD CINEMA
Audience Favorite – World Cinema
PAIN AND GLORY
Pedro Almodóvar
Audience Favorite – World Cinema Indie
A GIRL FROM MOGADISHU
Mary McGuckian
VALLEY OF THE DOCS
Audience Favorite – Valley of the Docs
THE GREAT 14TH: TENZIN GYATSO, THE 14TH DALAI LAMA IN HIS OWN WORDS
Rosemary Rawcliffe
FAMILY FILMS
Audience Favorite – Family Films
TEAM MARCO
Julio Vincent Gambuto
ACTIVE CINEMA
Audience Favorite – Active Cinema
THE STORY OF PLASTIC
Deia Schlosberg
MIND THE GAP
Audience Favorite – Mind the Gap US Cinema
HARRIET
Kasi Lemmons
Audience Favorite – Mind the Gap World Cinema
37 SECONDS
HIKARI
¡VIVA EL CINE!
Audience Favorite – Viva el Cine
MARIGHELLA
Wagner Moura