Ava DuVernay on making a film her way
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 December 2023
⏱️ 22 minutes
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Summary
Some people said Isabel Wilkerson’s book “Caste” was unadaptable. The subject matter was too heavy and too academic. But Ava DuVernay had a vision – and she pursued an unusual funding model to get her new film “Origin” made.
Read more:
When filmmaker Ava DuVernay couldn’t get traditional financing to film “Origin,” the Ford Foundation, Melinda Gates and other philanthropists stepped in. National arts reporter Geoff Edgers says it might be cinema’s new business model.
Today’s show was produced by Peter Bresnan. It was mixed by Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was edited by Maggie Penman.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | All right. |
| 0:04.0 | This past fall, reporter Jeff Edgers visited Sky Walker Ranch, |
| 0:13.1 | George Lucas's movie mixing facility in California. |
| 0:17.0 | He was there to meet with acclaimed filmmaker Ava Duvernay. |
| 0:21.0 | Why are you up to the side like that? |
| 0:23.0 | I don't want to sit right in front of you. |
| 0:25.0 | It feels weird. |
| 0:26.0 | Okay, so they're right here. |
| 0:28.0 | You might know Ava Duverne from her |
| 0:35.0 | from her film Selma, which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture. Or you might know her from When They See Us, which was a Netflix series |
| 0:39.0 | Dramatizing the Arrest and Prosecution of the Central Park Five. |
| 0:43.2 | There are a lot of first in her life |
| 0:46.1 | as a black woman directing. |
| 0:49.3 | She was the first black woman director |
| 0:51.4 | to win the best director awarded Sundance for her |
| 0:53.9 | independent film Middle of Nowhere. She was the first black woman |
| 0:57.4 | director to get a hundred million dollars to make a movie which was |
| 1:00.4 | Disney's wrinkle in time and she's also made these films that are which was When Jeff interviewed Ava Duverne, she was putting the finishing touches on her newest film, |
| 1:15.8 | Origin, which will be in theaters nationwide in January. |
| 1:19.6 | And he got to see a nearly finished cut of the movie. |
| 1:23.4 | All right, here we go. |
| 1:27.5 | Hello, I know you want to see it. |
... |
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