For no-nonsense prison warden Bernadine Williams (Alfre Woodard in a towering performance), the fight to hold onto the last threads of her humanity in a job where issues of life and death are a daily matter is an often losing battle. With her marriage to literature professor Jonathan (Wendell Pierce) stressed to its limit, and the bottle providing her only measure of solace, Bernadine reaches a breaking point after witnessing a botched execution. With the pending capital punishment of a possibly innocent death-row inmate (Aldis Hodge) next on her docket, the warden finds herself haunted by her position in a system where basic humanity is in short supply. With the clock ticking and only a call from the governor to decide the inmate’s fate, Bernadine feels the full weight of her role, leading to a devastating personal reckoning in this powerful drama from writer/director Chinonye Chukwu.

Winner: U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, Sundance