I intend to be making films until I’m an old lady. So, if God willing I get there, I need to create a paradigm for myself where I can make it regardless of whether or not they still like what I’m making. – Ava DuVernay
Be passionate and move forward with gusto every single hour of every single day until you reach your goal. – Ava DuVernay
Positive characterizations are complex characterizations. That’s all we need to know. They shouldn’t be saccharine. They shouldn’t feel like medicine. – Ava DuVernay
There was a time when I was knocking on doors and concerned with being recognized in dominant culture. I’ve found a space where the terrain is different, where I’m embraced by people like me, and where I’m building new ways of doing things, as opposed to trying to insert myself in a place that might not be welcoming. – Ava DuVernay
You gotta follow the white guys. Truly. They’ve got this thing wired. Too often, we live within their games, so why would you not study what works? Take away the bad stuff – because there’s a lot – and use the savvy interesting stuff and figure out how they can apply. It’s a good one for the ladies. – Ava DuVernay
I’m not signing on to direct ‘Black Panther.’ I think I’ll just say we had different ideas about what the story would be. Marvel has a certain way of doing things, and I think they’re fantastic, and a lot of people love what they do. I loved that they reached out to me. – Ava DuVernay
I think good publicists are just like good mommies – always looking out, making sure folks are comfortable and making sure that folks are on time and making sure that folks are getting what they need and know what they need to do. – Ava DuVernay
I didn’t go to film school. I got my education on the set as a niche publicist in the film industry. – Ava DuVernay
There can be a progression to the dream; there can be steps to it. When you dissect any successful person’s story, it’s really rare that it was all or nothing. It’s steps, and I just try to remind myself of that in terms of the things that I want; it’s like, everything is a step, leading you to where you need to go. – Ava DuVernay
I love community, I love to be around other people. I love to be around other people when everyone’s feeling good and doing their best. Not to just be the only one in the room that’s shining. – Ava DuVernay
Oprah Winfrey is a big role model for me from a business capacity and a creative capacity. She is an incredible interviewer who cultivated a certain style by inserting her own personhood into a show on national television at a time when no one was talking about empowerment, spirituality, or our inner lives. – Ava DuVernay
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. – Ava DuVernay
The consumer is deciding what they want to see and when and how, and filmmakers are more aware and accepting of the fact that success is not predicated on your movie showing in a traditional theater for a certain amount of time. – Ava DuVernay
It’s not enough even to have one black Barbie… because black women are not a monolith. – Ava DuVernay
I’d be absolutely happy to go back and make a smaller picture. I never want my choices to be dictated by budget. That’s one of the reasons why I take so much pride in being able to make films for $2 and a paper clip – because I can always get my hands on $2 and a paper clip. I never have to ask for permission for that. – Ava DuVernay
Filmmakers need to realize that their job isn’t done when they lock picture. We must see our films through. – Ava DuVernay
Many hated ‘Selma.’ Just because my voice and the voice of the people I come from is antithetical to so much of what Hollywood produces. I don’t think what I’m saying is in particular radical or anything; it’s just different from what they want to sell. – Ava DuVernay
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. – Ava DuVernay
I’m interested in seeing artists whom I respect who are very focused on the Black Lives Matter moment, bringing that into storytelling in a way that really amplifies the beauty and the humanity of people of color, and does it without having to wave a big sign that says, ‘This is what we’re doing.’ – Ava DuVernay
‘Diversity’ is like, ‘Ugh, I have to do diversity.’ I recognize and celebrate what it is, but that word, to me, is a disconnect. – Ava DuVernay
One of the reasons why I created the podcast called the ‘The Call-In’ that we do through Array – because as a black artist, every time I sit down with mainstream media, I’m asked about issues of race, identity and culture. No one asked what they ask my white male counterparts, which is: ‘Where do you like to put the camera?’ – Ava DuVernay
All black women aren’t sassy, loud, difficult, or subservient. We are, in fact, very complex and very diverse, living very complex and diverse lives. That point cannot be made enough. – Ava DuVernay
I didn’t have to learn Selma to make ‘Selma.’ I didn’t have to research what kind of place this is. The people I love most in the world live in that part of the country. – Ava DuVernay
I’m a big people watcher and a people talker. The beautiful thing about being an artist and a creative person is that you can get an idea from anywhere, and I’m always on the hunt for them. – Ava DuVernay
Artists should be free to create what we want. I believe there’s a special value in work that is a reflection of oneself as opposed to interpretation. When I see a film or a TV show about black people not written by someone who’s black, it’s an interpretation of that life. – Ava DuVernay
I’m a prison abolitionist because the prison system as it is set up is just not working. It’s horrible. – Ava DuVernay
