Interview: Ava DuVernay

It wasn’t meant to actively promote anything, but I had a very brief conversation with Ava DuVernay at the Marrakech International Film Festival in 2024. I saved this moment to mark the start of a new year in moviemaking—because the challenges are real, and she is inspiring on so many levels, especially in the way she remains deeply involved with community. We discussed if 2011’s Middle of Nowhere selection into Sundance (it won the Directing prize) and if it was a reference point for her years later, we talked about the idea of community and the work involved at ARRAY (her incubator and distribution label) and we talked about giving yourself permission to fail and succeed with the effort it took to bring Origin to the big screen. From the filmmaker who gave us I Will Follow (2010), Middle of Nowhere (2012), Selma (2014), A Wrinkle in Time (2018), Origin (2023) and docu film items and produced ventures in between, with the recent great news that she is re-teaming with actor David Oyelowo for heist-thriller Heist of Benin.