Spotlight: Conversation with Ava DuVernay: Art is Activism
About this Spotlight
Spotlight Events feature conversations with high-profile film and television industry professionals who share helpful advice and insights on their career experiences and creative processes. Check out some of our inspiring chats with Patty Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Brit Marling, Jason Blum and more.
Join visionary filmmaker Ava DuVernay in an exclusive online conversation with Justin Simien. "Her eye for American history puts her in the vanguard. Her passion for justice makes her a hero". Director, producer, screenwriter, film marketer, film distributor, Ava has made the award-winning films MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, SELMA, A WRINKLE IN TIME, the documentary 13TH and the TV series QUEEN SUGAR. Ava has consistently leveraged her success to launch the careers of numerous women of color and her philanthropic and activist work has extended way beyond the screen to meaningful impact globally. With her distribution company Array, Ava will be opening a new movie theatre in LA which will also be an incubator for new talent. Her newest four-part series WHEN THEY SEE US premiered on Netflix on May 31st.
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Ava DuVernay
Winner of the Emmy, BAFTA and Peabody Awards, Academy award nominee Ava DuVernay is a writer, director, producer and film distributor. Her directorial work includes the historical drama Selma, the criminal justice documentary 13th and Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time, which made her the highest grossing black woman director in American box office history. Based on the infamous case of The Central Park Five, her next project is entitled When They See Us and will be released worldwide on Netflix in May 2019. Currently, she is overseeing production on her critically-acclaimed TV series Queen Sugar, her new CBS limited series The Red Line and her upcoming OWN series Cherish the Day. Winner of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival's Best Director Prize for her micro-budget film Middle of Nowhere, DuVernay amplifies the work of people of color and women of all kinds through her non-profit film collective ARRAY, named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies. DuVernay sits on the advisory board of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and chairs the Prada Diversity Council. She is based in Los Angeles, California.
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Ava DuVernay