Ava DuVernay

Ava DuVernay

Film Director

Ava DuVernay is a filmmaker known for her impactful works like '13th' and 'Selma', which explore themes of justice and representation.

Thinking People Black Film Art Want
Born
August 24, 1972
Quotes
111
Rank
#5755

Quote collection

Ava DuVernay quotes (page 4 of 6)

111 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.

Ava DuVernay Film Director
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"By the end of the documentary [ '13th'], you really understand what prison is, what the prison industrial complex is, where this whole Black Lives Matter movement comes from, the history of resistance, the history of how politicians have used criminality over the decades for a particular political gain. It's to give people an understanding of it so they can make their own decisions about how they want to be in the world."

Giving People Decision
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Ava DuVernay Film Director
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"When you say cultural icon, I scrunch my nose."

Icons Noses
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Ava DuVernay Film Director
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"I'm not the most athletic gal, but because making a movie is very physical, I slow down on the Krispy Kreme and Ice Blendeds. I start to get leaner and more focused - like I'm going into a boxing match - because I'm about to really try to put this idea on its feet."

Ice Ideas Krispy Kreme
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"For film, you know, the Tarantinos and Nolans of the world who are very focused on a certain kind of film aesthetic and a certain kind of presentation, to be honest, that comes from a place of privilege. It comes from a place of always having access to such, but when you ain't never - you can't see it because you can't even get to it."

World Privilege Honest
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Ava DuVernay Film Director
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"I know when we were making the film [ Age Of Trump] that we knew that there was going to be some kind of radical change coming on the horizon. That's why it was important for us to get it out before the election."

Important Age Radical Change
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"It's very nourishing and collaborative - kind of the true essence of what one would want an artistic collaboration to be [the collaboration with Oprah Winfrey]."

Essence Want Collaboration
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"We're living based on laws and ideas that we, as a society, embraced back in the days of slavery."

Ideas Law Slavery
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"I was talking to Shonda Rhimes the other day and I said, "I. Do. Not. Know. How. You. Do. This." While we're writing episode 10, episode 6 is shooting, episode 3 is in the edit, and episode 2 is in its color session...You've got seven episodes in different parts! It's a wild, wild, wild ride, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was badass and amazing."

Badass Writing Color
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Ava DuVernay Film Director
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"I think it's a wonderful time to be a black woman who makes films. It's a good time to be an artist period. Traditional models of making and consuming art are breaking down and being rebuilt. I find that to be incredibly exciting as a filmmaker and film marketer."

Art Thinking Black
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"I'm making and marketing my films, by any means necessary, and enjoying life while I do so."

Mean Enjoy Life Marketing
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"Filmmakers need to realize that their job isn't done when they lock picture. We must see our films through. Studios no longer do this for a large percentage of films. The odds that your film will get a major campaign are dim these days. So you must find and nurture your own audience and make sure your film has a life."

Done Realizing Film
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Ava DuVernay Film Director
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"When I'm marketing a film, whether its mine or someone else's, I work with a great deal of strategy and elbow grease until the job is done. It's pretty simple really. I just dive in and start digging. Yes, I'm fortunate to know the in's and out's of a true studio-level marketing campaign. But really, anyone who is diligent and well-researched can pull it off too. Its easier for me, but it doesn't make it impossible for others."

Simple Grease Marketing
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"There's never been a film with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the center released in theaters. Ever! One does not exist. You've only seen tele-films and stage plays about him. Yet, we have big screens biopics about all kinds of people. So, I think it's only right that there be a full-length feature about Dr. King. I don't think there could be enough of them, but there should be at least one. So, here it is!"

Kings Thinking Play
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"I think that women definitely have a special bond as friends that is hard to describe to men, and we don't often see that portrayed narratively."

Thinking Men Special
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"You know, often films that are deemed positive, nobody wants to see them."

Want Film Knows
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"I've been to Sundance eight times as a publicist and thought I was very prepared. I mean, who could've been more prepared for me? A publicist who's been there eight times. Getting there as a filmmaker was a completely surreal, different, unexpected experience."

Mean Eight Different
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"As long as you're in an environment where the worth of the project isn't based on the project but what its predecessors did, it's not truly inclusive."

Long Environment Projects
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"Historically, you've had really muddy, unforgiving, unintentional images of black people."

People Black Muddy
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"The terrain of the face is the most dynamic thing you can point the camera at, to me. I love production design and bells and whistles and all of that. I love a technograin as much as the next gal, but a great actor's face? What else should we be looking at?"

Design Cameras Actors
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