Ava Duvernay: Enjoying Your Time in the Spotlight

KCRW’s The Business Podcast interviewed director Ava Duvernay about her documentary “13^th” and discussed the difficulty of being a woman of color in the film industry. One of the most interesting things discussed during the interview was the desire of filmmakers to gain a theatrical release, which “13^th” never received because it was always supposed to be a Netflix film. While most would think that Duvernay would be upset about the lack of a theatrical release, she makes an interesting claim she just intends to make movies and is happy that she as a woman of color can reach the number of people that she has. Duvernay is consistent throughout the interview that her goal is to make movies and keep making movies as long as she can, because she knows that there are a limited number of people who are able to maintain the spotlight for very long and faces even more challenges to remain a powerful and successful filmmaker stating that only three black filmmakers have been in the top one thousand films in the last three years. Duvernay is painfully aware of the statistics of success among black and female filmmakers, but it is refreshing to hear from a filmmaker who isn’t concerned with theatrical releases or Marvel films and instead is just interested in making films for as long as she can.