16/09/2023
Living Legend!
is making history this year as the first Black woman in the festival’s 80-year existence to have a film compete for the Golden Lion. Her film “Origin,” starring Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Jon Bernthal, received a nine-minute standing ovation.
“For Black filmmakers, we’re 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,” Ava shared. “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 P&I screenings, they will not be interested in selling tickets, you may not even get into this festival, so don’t apply.’ I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told not to apply to Venice, you won’t get in. It won’t happen. And this year, it happened.”
DuVernay previously made history as the first Black woman to direct a film nominated for the Academy Award for best picture with Selma. Here’s to continuing to break those glass ceilings 👏