Interview (Part 5): Ava DuVernay
It is criminal that Ava DuVernay was not nominated for a Best Director Oscar for her work on the remarkable movie Selma. I am running an interview I conducted with Ava eighteen months ago just as she was about to take on the Selma project.
In addition to making history as the first African-American woman to win the Best Director Prize at Sundance, DuVernay was honored with the 2013 John Cassavetes Spirit Award and the Tribeca Film Institute’s Affinity Award for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere.
In 2010, she wrote, produced and directed her first narrative feature, I Will Follow. Released theatrically in 2011, the family drama was hailed by critic Roger Ebert as “… one of the best films I’ve seen about the loss of a loved one.”
I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak recently with Ava for what turned out to be a terrific conversation about her background, movies, and independent cinema.
Today in Part 5, Ava shares what it was like to win the Best Director Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and AFFRM: The African American Film Festival Releasing Movement she co-founded:
Scott: You won the 2012 Sundance Film Festival Award for Best Director. Being a woman and the first African‑American to win the award, what does that mean?
Ava: It’s lovely. Really what it meant was more spot light on our film. It’s such a small film. The biggest thing that it did was boost that film. For me, career‑wise, it hasn’t done much other than create more awareness of what I’m doing. But I can’t say it’s translated into the kind of career opportunities that it has for my white male counterparts who won it before me. That’s fine. I never thought that it would. I never expected to even win it in the first place. It was a lovely thing to commemorate this film. We definitely benefited from the Sundance light that was shown on the film. It helped us get to the finish line and get it out there. Ultimately, what it means? Any award means a lot for that particular project. When you take it out of that context and start to internalize it, you get into a dangerous place. But with that said, I know it’s been a source of pride within parts of my community. There was a huge wave of press and love and support. Social media and…I just went to a Q&A the other day, two Sundances later, I’m still introduced as the 2012 Best Director Sundance winner.[laughs] I don’t know long that will last. But it’s lovely. I don’t make it bigger than it is. It was a great thing that happened for our little movie. Hopefully, we can continue making more. That’s my bottom line. It’s about a canon of material. I really can’t stop at one film or two films, can’t stop at one award, can’t stop. It’s about sustaining these images and creating architecture around them. But the Sundance experience was wonderful. For sure.
Scott: That last point, I think I remember seeing something with you where you said you aspire to something like Woody Allen does, where he makes a movie a year. Is that right?
Ava: Since the first film, I’ve been able to make a film a year, whether it be doc or narrative. Spike made 20 films in 20 years. If we’re filmmakers, I think we should be making films. Everyone has a different process. Some people’s process is seven years in between. Some people go, go, go. For me, I feel in the thick of things right now. I feel like I want to make them back to back. As long as I have that desire, I don’t want to be held back from doing that. I certainly know that I’m not going to be given $50 million scripts. I’m not going to have the opportunity to make everything that I want to make. But I need to be making something. I need to be moving it forward. So that’s definitely a huge goal for me.
Scott: You’re in the editing room, not literally, but as in the process of post-production. Is that a scripted project?
Ava: No, this is a documentary project. I’m making a documentary on Venus Williams for ESPN films. After I won Sundance, they approached me about these “30 For 30” documentaries that they commission and asked if I had any ideas. I had an idea about this very specific time in Venus Williams’ career where she fought for equal pay at Wimbledon and was the spearhead for this whole fair pay fight. UNESCO got involved. Tony Blair got involved. It was very little known in the United States. It was a big deal in the UK, but it never really made it here. The documentary is about her evolution as an activist around this feminist issue. In addition to her just being a badass on the court. I’m in my second cut right now and that’ll be debuting on ESPN in July.
Scott: That may have had some special resonance for you. Because aren’t the Williams sisters from LA?
Ava: Yeah, from Compton.
Scott: You co-founded AFFRM, The African American Film Festival Releasing Movement. What is that, and what are your long‑term goals with that?
Ava: AFFRM is a distribution collaborative of like‑minded black arts organizations around the country that come together to distribute black films, black independent films. We’re right now in the midst of our fifth theatrical release, a beautiful Jamaican gem called, “Better Mus’ Come.” We’ve announced our sixth release, a cool Slamdamce acquisition we made called “Big Words.” AFFRM released both of my films, I Will Follow and Middle of Nowhere. Released the Sundance 2011 Audience Award Winner ‘Kinyarwanda.” We also release Andrew Dosunmu’s beautiful Sundance favorite “Restless City.” This is the beginning of our third year. Small releases but films that we feel should be seen in a theatrical space, and that shouldn’t be in the drawers of their creators just because they may not be on the nose for what big distributors want. We are distributing films that we feel need to see the light of day, and we open them simultaneously on big screens in LA and New York and then do platform releases around the country in between. My goal for it is for it to just continue. I’d love to be five years from now saying we released 20 black independent films that otherwise wouldn’t have been released. That’s a big goal and something we’re proud to be working towards.
Scott: That’s a terrific goal. Are you working on another scripted project, another feature length film?
Ava: The next script is finished and on target to be shooting this year. I don’t like to announce until I’m, like, practically on the set because so many things change. [laughs] I keep a good thought and keep moving towards it. But yes, I pray that everything goes as it should be and I will be on the set this year shooting the third feature.
Tomorrow in Part 6, Ava talks about the craft of storytelling.
For Part 1, go here.
For Part 2, go here.
For Part 3, go here.
For Part 4, go here.
Ava is repped by Paradigm.
Twitter: @AVAETC