Director Ava DuVernay attends a photocall for “Origin” at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 06, 2023 in Venice, Italy.Photo:Daniele Venturelli/WireImage
Daniele Venturelli/WireImage
Ava DuVernayis making history at theVenice Film Festival.
As DuVernay, 51, appeared in Italy on Wednesday for the world premiere of her new movieOrigin, the filmmaker became the first female Black American director to have a film featured in the festival’s main competition.
At apress conferencefor the movie, DuVernay told reporters that in her experience, Black filmmakers in the United States are “told that people who love films in other parts of the world don’t care about our stories and don’t care about our films.”
“This is something that we are often told — you cannot play international film festivals, no one will come, people will not come to your press conference, people will not come to the [press and industry] screenings, they will not be interested in selling tickets, you may not even get into this festival, so don’t apply," DuVernay said, after she was asked about how she and producer Paul Garnes broughtOriginto fruition.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told not to apply to Venice, you won’t get in,” she added. “It won’t happen. And this year, it happened.”
Cinematographer Matthew J. Lloyd, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Paul Garnes, Director Ava DuVernay, Suraj Yengde and Spencer Averick attend a photocall for “Origin” at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 06, 2023 in Venice, Italy.Andreas Rentz/Getty
Andreas Rentz/Getty
DuVernay, whose previously films include 2014’sSelmaand the 2016 documentary13th, said during the conference thatOrigin’s arrival at the festival has created “a door opened that I trust and hope the festival will keep open.”
“It acknowledges an absence for 80 years that as intelligent people we should be able to say, ’this happened, and now what’s next,' " she said.
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Jon Bernthal (left) and Aunjanue Ellis (right) in ‘Origin’.Atsushi Nishijima Courtesy Array Filmworks
Atsushi Nishijima Courtesy Array Filmworks
When DuVernay was first asked about producingOrigin, she initially thanked the panel’s moderator for asking a question about filmmaking and not about being a Black female director at the festival.
“So often as a Black woman filmmaker, the questions that I’m asked are about race, or about being a woman, or everything but the filmmaker part,” she told reporters. “And so when I see interviews with my counterparts who are not Black and are not women, they have lots of questions about craft and about producing.”
Director Ava DuVernay attends a photocall for “Origin” at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 06, 2023 in Venice, Italy.Daniele Venturelli/WireImage
DuVernay’s new movie “chronicles the remarkable life and work of Pulitzer Prize winning author Isabel Wilkerson as she investigates the genesis of injustice and uncovers a hidden truth that affects us all,” according to an official synopsis for the film on the festival’swebsite.
Distribution company Neon purchasedOriginon Tuesday and plans to release the movie in the U.S. later this year, according toThe Hollywood Reporter. The movie will also screen at the upcomingToronto Film Festival.
source: people.com
