On social media and to film and TV audiences worldwide, Ava DuVernay needs very little introduction. The director of A Wrinkle in Time and Selma, and the Emmy-winning documentary 13th is simply Ava.
Ava and Justin met when they both worked in publicity long before pursued their place in the creative side of the entertainment industry. Justin recalls how he felt seen and valued simply because Ava remembered his name.
Ava tells us Hollywood will only make room for more voices and stories through systemic change, and how she is pursuing that change on set, at her company, Array, and in her mentorship of new members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. While she sees value in bringing more voices into the Oscar voting pool, the statuettes themselves have lost their gleam for Ava. The project is paramount, telling stories of black people and families for black audiences, as she does in Queen Sugar. That can be difficult to balance when studios wanted Selma and A Wrinkle in Time to play to so-called mainstream audiences.
We also get a brief glimpse into her upcoming project for Netflix, Central Park Five.