Life Lessons from Ava DuVernay

Ava DuVernay is a film director, screenwriter and founder of distribution company Array. Her 2014 film Selma, about Martin Luther King, was nominated for a best picture Academy AwardI didn’t grow up around artists, and I don’t come from a family of artists. When I graduated from college I got into film publicity, but I never thought I could be the film-maker. Then I found myself on many sets, and started to believe I could do it, too.I like that independence that comes from doing things for yourself, and doing them well. Editing, directing, producing, financing, distributing and publicising my own first films gave me a grasp of the process.As a black woman film-maker there isn’t a lot of support – there aren’t many of us aroundIn the early parts of making Selma, I didn’t believe it was going to happen, even as I was making it. My father is from Montgomery, Alabama, which is very close to Selma, so I knew the place and had a handle on that time in history. I started telling the story and, before I knew it, it was in movie theatres. It was so fast, I never had a chance to think, “Oh my gosh, can I do this?” I just thought, “I’m going to keep going until someone tells me to stop.”As a black woman film-maker there isn’t a lot of support – there aren’t many of us around – so instead of not doing something, I figure out a way to do it without support. As you start to create your own work, you attract help from like-minded people; you can never attract it if you’re sitting still.The landscape has changed since I started my distribution company in 2010; we have Netflix, Amazon, all these streaming platforms. It’s an incredible time to be an artist, especially for those who had been left behind. I find it very exciting to think, “I’m not going to continue knocking on that old door that doesn’t open for me; I’m going to create my own door and walk through that.”I always say: work without permission. So many of us work from a permission-based place, waiting for someone to say it’s OK. So often I hear people asking, “How do I get started?” You just start. It won’t be perfect. It’ll be messy and it’ll be hard, but you’re on your way.Source: Guardian