Spencer (Pablo Larraín) Language Lessons (Natalie Morales) Hive (Blerta Basholli) Holler (Nicole Riegel) The Novice (Lauren Hadaway) Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (Lili Horvát) Wildfire (Cathy Brady) Sisterhood (Dina Duma) Nomadland (Chloé Zhao) Beans (Tracey Deer) Saint Maud (Rose Glass) Charter (Amanda Kernell) Minari (Lee Isaac Chung) Dune: Part One (Denis Villeneuve) Luzzu (Alex Camilleri) Boiling Point (Philip Barantini) Old Henry (Potsy Ponciroli) The Power (Corinna Faith) Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond) Pig (Michael Sarnoski) Kindred (Joe Marcantonio)
Ava DuVernay is a force in Hollywood, having made a name for herself not only as a director, producer and screenwriter, but as a champion of change. Now, more than ever, media representations that we see daily in print, on television, and in films are being called into question. But, for the past decade, Ava DuVernay’s mission has been to push for more inclusivity on sets and on screen. “Diversity is not just a box to check. It’s a reality that should be deeply felt and held and valued by all of us,” DuVernay said in an interview with Fast Company.
How did DuVernay become a Hollywood game changer?
Her story isn’t a straight line — it’s a series of pivots based on strong determination and the willingness to take chances to forge her own path. Born in Long Beach, California, DuVernay was raised in a matriarchal environment with lots of women who always encouraged her to follow her heart. She grew up near the Compton neighborhood of Los Angeles and was the first African American student body president at her high school. Film wasn’t her dream from the get-go. As an undergrad at UCLA, she pursued a major in African American studies, then shifted into the world of public relations after spending time as a journalist.
Ava DuVernay gave the commencement speech at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in 2017. Photo credit: UCLA
At 27, she started her own public relations firm, The DuVernay Agency. As a film publicist, she was able to get close to different filmmakers, seeing how movies were made firsthand. This proximity to the world of film enamored her. While on a film set in East Los Angeles for the 2004 crime thriller, “Collateral,” DuVernay had an aha! moment when she realized that she wanted to be the one telling the stories, the one making the movies. “Javier Bardem was on set, and something about the scene with Javier and Jamie, this brown man and this black man: It was this gritty place in East L.A. at night, with a digital camera, and I just loved it,” she shared with Rolling Stone. “I started writing a script that weekend.“
In 2011, she self-financed “I Will Follow,” her first feature film she wrote and directed, after a few years of learning the film trade while working on shorts and documentaries. Just three years later, she directed the acclaimed “Selma,” a film about Martin Luther King Jr. and the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march. Following the release of “Selma,”DuVernay was the first African American female director to be nominated for an Academy Award for best picture. With the upcoming release of “A Wrinkle in Time,” boasting a budget exceeding $100 million, DuVernay is now the first African American woman to direct a live-action film with a budget of that size.
Ava DuVernay on her journey to become the first black woman to direct an Oscar nominated film. Credit: TIME
Beyond her notable accomplishments and series of “firsts,” she’s hoping to create a larger shift in Hollywood, one with varied voices and stories in cinema. Just three years ago, she expanded her film distribution company to become ARRAY, where female filmmakers and people of color are at the forefront. “It comes down to who gets to tell the story? If the dominant images that we have seen throughout our lifetime, our mother’s lifetime, our grandmother’s lifetime, have been dominated by one kind of person, and we take that, we internalize it, we drink it in as true, as fact. It’s tragic,” DuVernay wrote in Timemagazine. “It goes beyond the film industry. These are the images of ourselves we consume. It affects the way we see ourselves and the way other people see us.”
The world of film in the United States has been built and defined by the predominately white patriarchy. But with her courageous streak and fearless creativity, DuVernay is opening doors for women, people of color and those who have been underrepresented in the film industry for so long. By advocating for a diverse set of at least 50 percent people of color and women, DuVernay has put her own politics in action: “Inclusion is really half — half of the cast, half of the directors, half of the writers are women or girls, half of the room, more than half of the room is of color,” she shared with Ellemagazine. “I think we get really satisfied with less.” And she’s just getting started. For “A Wrinkle in Time,” DuVernay warned the each of the department heads on her crew not to submit the same list of hires unless they could prove they had considered others. In making inclusion a key nonnegotiable in her creative process, DuVernay is changing the narrative for how stories are told and who gets to tell them.
Our director, Cate Carson, is working on another bad-ass project with the Alliance of Women Directors, premiering in October at Disney Studios. We can’t wait to share more about it, and will definitely release more info as it develops.
In the meantime, Cate, and the rest of the core team and department heads of PURE are still plugging away at pre-production for our pilot episode. Locations are locked, costumes are being made, and we are meeting with weapons masters to begin creating the prop weapons for our fight sequence. More to come!
We’d like to extend a very special thank you shout-out to Stefanie Davis - @gypsyfilmmaker - of Bouncy Boxer Media for supporting our project and also being a bad-ass female filmmaker and content creator.
Stefanie is the founder of Bouncy Boxer Media, a female-ran production company known for award-winning projects such as “Migraine Hell” and “Speed Dating.” Learn more about them at www.bouncyboxermedia.com.
We’d also like to give shout-outs to our other supporters who may not be on tumblr but have given us so much inspiration. Thank you to:
WE DID IT! Thank you so much to everyone who supported us throughout our campaign. It was a challenging but exciting journey and we can’t wait to share this project with you.
Our campaign ended on Thursday, August 16 at an exciting 101% which totaled $35,557! We honestly couldn’t be more shocked and happy at the results. We will continue posting updates on our Seed & Spark page and on social media as we finish up pre-production, and start shooting the final 2 days on our pilot episode in October.
Welp. We’re here already. We have LESS THAN 48 HOURS until the end of our crowdfunding campaign on Thursday, August 16, at 10:00 AM PST.
Please follow/support/share at www.journeytotheannex.com. Seriously, EVERY LITTLE BIT, and every share and every follow helps in a huge way!
We must reach at least 80% of our goal, or else we receive zero funding and cannot complete production on our pilot episode. That means: - We need $5,670 in order to be Greenlit - We need $12,670 in order to be fully funded - We need 41 more followers in order to unlock our next level of filmmaker perks, such as discounts on rental equipment, professional consultations, and waived festival fees. (Followers do NOT need to contribute financially).
And just a reminder, our 24-HOUR LIVESTREAM will start tomorrow, Wednesday, at 10:00 AM. Find us on Facebook.
Thank you!
We’re coming up on the FINAL DAY! If you can, please support. If you can’t, please share! Every pledge, follow, share goes a long way! Thank you!
For the final day of our campaign, we will be hosting a 24-HOUR LIVESTREAM. Yep, you read that right. 24-hours. Of us. On camera. On the internet. The livestream will run from Wednesday, August 15 at 10:00 AM PST through Thursday, August 16 at 10:00 AM PST. We’ll be sharing the links via email and on social media. And don’t worry, it won’t just be us. We have some awesome guests lined up! Here’s a peek at some of our friends who will be joining us:
Lauren Shippen (creator of “The Bright Sessions”)
Justin McLachlan (creator of “Eos10”)
J.T. Tepnapa (filmmaker w/ Blue Seraph Prods.) & husband Adam Browne will be mixing us PURE-inspired cocktails
Richard Cardenas w/ the podcast “Interview with a Nerd” will be recording an episode of his show with us
Shaina Vorspan will join Julia Morizawa for a sneak peek into their new audio drama “American Comedy Horror Story”
Brian K. Hillard and Sage Porter visit from Crusades 22 to discuss their work in VR therapy for veterans.
And more!
Be sure to follow us atwww.journeytotheannex.com to receive the details, links, and updated schedule for the livestream as it develops.
Thank you to everyone who contributed this past weekend to make our Dollar4Dollar Rush a HUGE SUCCESS! We received 63 new pledges totaling $2,056.00 in 3 days. And our generous anonymous donor has promised to matched that amount before the campaign is over.
We are nearing the end. We are approaching the FINAL 72 HOURS. Our campaign MUST end on Thursday, August 16, at 10:00 AM PST. And here’s what needs to happen (at the time of writing this update):
We need $7,624 to be Greenlit. Seed & Spark requires us to reach at least 80% of our goal or else we receive zero funding.
We need $14,624 to be fully funded. Although we are fully prepared to finish shooting our pilot episode in the event that we only make 80% of our goal, this is the ideal amount to cover our production budget and the campaign costs.
We need 64 more followers in order to unlock the next level of filmmaker perks, which include equipment rental discounts and professional consultations.
In the distant future where genetic modification has divided society, a warrior and her captive become unlikely allies as they journey to the Annex, escape the Dissension, and learn what it means to sacrifice for the future of their people.
PURE is a high-quality, independently produced digital series exploring freedom, sacrifice, and morality from an inclusive perspective.
Watch our lead actress, Julia Morizawa, discuss training and getting into shape for the role of Red; as well as her experiences training at the National Wushu Training Center, as Lucy Liu’s gymnast stunt double in “Charlie’s Angels 2,” and growing up as a competitive gymnast.
