NeoBlackCinema

Ava DuVernay

By Kam Williams

Ava DuVernay has worked in the world of film as a marketer and publicist for more than 14 years, forming DVA Media + Marketing in 1999. Her award-winning firm has provided strategy and execution for more than 80 film and television campaigns for acclaimed directors such as Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Michael Mann, Robert Rodriguez, Bill Condon, Raoul Peck, Gurinder Chadha and Reggie & Gina Bythewood.

Yet, in 2008, Ava stepped behind the camera to make her feature film directorial debut with the critically-acclaimed hip-hop documentary, “This is The Life.” DuVernay, a graduate of UCLA and a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, is based in L.A.

Here, she talks about her skyrocketing second career.

Kam Williams: Hi, Ava, thanks for another interview. How have you been?

Ava DuVernay: Thanks, Kam. I always love talking to you. I’ve been good and busy!

KW: Congrats on having three new productions going at the same time. Looks like you’ve really arrived!

AD: Appreciate that. It feels wonderful. I’ve wanted to direct for a long time, so working full-time as a filmmaker this year has been a dream come true.

KW: Tell me a little about each of them.

AD: Well, the first is a network project called “My Mic Sounds Nice.” It was commissioned by BET as their first original music documentary and explores the art and issues around women rappers. I interviewed 35 people, half of whom were female emcees like MC Lyte, Salt n Pepa, Roxanne Shante, Trina, Eve, YoYo, the list goes on. Commercially available music created by female hip-hop artists is a bit of a lost art form at the moment, and there are many theories as to why that’s the case. We attempt to explore the history and current state of this issue in “My Mic Sounds Nice,” which premieres on BET on August 30 at 10PM. The second project is a concert film I directed for Essence and Time, Inc Studios chronicling the 2010 Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. Did you know Essence Music Fest is the largest annual African-American gathering in the country? This year’s three day fest was absolutely amazing, with everyone from Janet Jackson to Alicia Keys to Mary J. Blige to Jill Scott, to Earth Wind & Fire to Trey Songz! It was so much fun to direct. “TV One Night Only: Live from Essence Music Festival 2010” airs on August 28 on TV One.

Salt and Pepa in "My Mic Sounds Nice"

And finally, the third film is another documentary that I’m directing for Essence about two New Orleans women who have overcome tragedy and adversity after Hurricane Katrina and its tragic aftermath. These women are truly breathtaking in their strength and faith. Look for that doc, currently entitled Essence Presents: Faith the Storm in October on TV One.

KW: Which one has been your favorite to shoot?

AD: Oh wow. That’s like asking me to pick between my children. I’d say “My Mic Sounds Nice.” Sitting down and interviewing all those talented women artists, plus the excellent panel of experts, academics and journalists, was a rare treat.

KW: Which one was the most challenging?

AD: I’d say the Essence Music Festival, only because the Louisiana Superdome, where the concerts take place, is so massive. There are so many moving parts. So many acts and artists. The logistics were challenging, but the experience I wouldn’t trade.

KW: What’s up next for you?

AD: Next, I’m putting the finished touches on a narrative film I wrote and directed called “I Will Follow.” It’s an indie drama, starring Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Omari Hardwick, Michole White, Tracie Thoms, Dijon Talton and Beverly Todd. The film makes its world premiere as the official Closing Night selection of the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York this September.

KW: You are among a small group of working black women filmmakers in Hollywood. What are your thoughts on the dearth of black female directors?

AD: I think it’s a wonderful time to be a black woman who makes films. It’s a good time to be an artist period. Traditional models of making and consuming art are breaking down and being rebuilt. I find that to be incredibly exciting as a filmmaker and film marketer. Then, you add being a black woman to that? And to be among all the amazing sisters who are telling stories right now is phenomenal. You have the vets like Cheryl Dunye, Kasi Lemmons, Julie Dash and Gina Prince-Bythewood. Plus now, I’m happy to be amongst a new crop of sisters who are all making their first feature films independently right now. Dee Rees, Tina Mabry, Tanya Hamilton, Nzingha Stewart and Victoria Mahoney. It’s a beautiful time for us, in my opinion. I prefer to embrace this moment as a moment of empowerment, instead of moaning about the lack of this or problems with that. I’m making and marketing my films, by any means necessary, and enjoying life while I do so.

KW: You have a rare skill set, being an experienced marketer who has worked on major studio campaigns for movies like Dreamgirls and Invictus. How are you applying those skills to your own films?

AD: 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. It’s pretty simple really. I just dive in and start digging. Yes, I’m fortunate to know the in’s and out’s of a true studio-level marketing campaign. But really, anyone who is diligent and well-researched can pull it off too. Its easier for me, but it doesn’t make it impossible for others. Filmmakers need to realize that their job isn’t done when they lock picture. We must see our films through. Studios no longer do this for a large percentage of films. The odds that your film will get a major campaign are dim these days. So you must find and nurture your own audience and make sure your film has a life. Filmmakers must learn this now, just as they learn to work with the camera or the actors. I find the marketing part of the process fun and fascinating. But I realize it’s a challenge for others, so I’m actually building a business model to assist black independent filmmakers get their films into theaters, identify and speak to their audience. I’ll be talking more about that in a few months and I’m very excited about the possibilities.

KW: We’ll look forward to hearing all about that. Is there any question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?

AD: Hmmm. I always find it fascinating to ask people, why they’ve chosen to live their life as an artist? Why be an actor, a singer, an author, a filmmaker? I’ve heard such inspiring answers to that question.

KW: If you could have one wish instantly granted, what would that be for?

AD: Good health and safety for my loved ones.

KW: When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

AD: Wow! Good question. I see a woman who is happy. Truly, it’s a very happy season for me at the moment.

KW: The Flex Alexander question: How do you get through the tough times?

AD: I remind myself that whatever is happening was meant to happen to me, at that particular time, for a specific reason. That it is meant to be, and that all will be well.

KW: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to follow in your footsteps?

AD: Be passionate and move forward with gusto every single hour of every single day until you reach your goal.

KW: Anything else you’d like to add?

AD: Just that people can follow what’s happening with the films I’m working on via Twitter @AVADVA.

KW: Thanks again, Ava, and all the best!

AD: Thank you, Kam, for the interview. I appreciate it a lot.

Neema Barnette talks about ‘decoding and recoding’ the images of Black America

by Crystyn C. Wright

When I met Neema the first time, I knew I was going to need more than a pen and paper, and more than an hour or two to get the 411 on her life as a premiere Black woman director in Hollywood. By the time we were done, I had a lesson in film, a link to the past and a boost in spirit, I hadn’t anticipated. Her resume in film goes on for pages and her awards speak for themselves, but Neema Barnette is in a league of her own. She’s a trailblazer who speaks her mind and makes no apologies, will not compromise her integrity and chooses her battles, but when she picks them, fights till the end.

She is a woman who loves herself and uplifts other Black women any chance she gets. It’s no wonder she ended up behind the lens rather than in front of it. She says she can show you better than she can teach you, and so just like on the set, I’m gonna let Neema do her thing.

Crystyn: Why did you decide to be behind the camera?

More control. As far as images go, you have control. It’s your eyes that create the vision and the image, and you know, I like doing that. Cause I like representing myself and my people.

I went to the High School of Performing Arts, and you learn restoration comedy, Shakespeare, everything. But when you go out in to the real world, it was only two things you could play and I was young and skinny at the time so it was either a prostitute, or a maid.

When I was in high school I had one Black teacher, Vinnette Carroll, who did “Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope.” And she was a Black woman and she was directing, and she had picked myself and Glynn Turman and Chip Fields and put us in a group called Urban Artists Corp. And when I was in college we would act and go around performing at the prisons. And so I got a job at the Harlem Y on 135^th Street and I took the plays that I was doing with Vinette and I reenacted them with the kids, and I said, “Oh, this is directing, this is cool because I can be involved in the story, I can be involved in the production design and the music and the pacing and the overall look.” And I liked it.

Coming up in Harlem

I heard of the New Lafayette theater. That’s where Ed Bullins and Ritchie (Richard) West and Ntazake Shange was there and we would all go down there. It was called the Frank Silvero writer’s workshop.

When I went down there, the guy said, “Who wants to be in the directors’ group?” So I raised my hand. And he said, “Aren’t you an actress? You look like you should be an actress.” And I said, “Yeah, but I’m a director.” And he said,  “What have you directed?” And I said, “I’m the artistic director at the Harlem Y.“

Well this gentlemen, Townsend Brewster, who was an instructor at NYU, had this play called, “Girl Beneath the Tulip Tree.” And he asked, “Who wants to direct my play?” And I raised my hand, I got picked to direct it, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

After Vinnette Carroll saw the play she came to me and said, “My darling I didn’t know you had the ability to direct. Now you have to get a taste of the real world.” What she meant is, I had been an artist. And when you’re covered in art from high school on up, you have an art sense, but you don’t have a sense of what’s happening in the real world. Because they figure you’re talented and they put you in this hole like a jazz musician and they cover you up and let you grow as an artist, so I went out in the real world.

“It was my time”

Somebody told me about Third World Cinema, and I remember Cliff (Fraizer) telling me, “You’re too young and pretty to be a director.” At that time people like Spike and I were just coming up and directors were old and crinkly and you were supposed to have a vast of experience to be a director. I was teaching for the creative arts in the South Bronx. And so I started working with them and that’s how I got involved with Cliff and Warrington (Hudlin).

It wasn’t that many girls down there and so we formed a family. I had no personal relationships with any of them. They taught me so much. It was just a whole different world. I started dressing differently and looking differently and reading different kind of plays and got really interested in the new revolution of Black theater and Black movies. It was about my time and people I grew up with. It was about poetic theater, a combination of poetry and jazz and hip-hop in theater, revolving sets and no black outs.

The images I was seeing were not the images that I grew up with. I grew up in Harlem. My father was a jazz musician, I had Willie Bea Lionel Smith, Trevor Woods, Adam Clayton Powell lived in my building. They used to go up there and play music on the roof. Paul Johnson who was a famous Black choir leader lived across the hall. And so I grew up all that and I didn’t see that. And then came the new Black renaissance and it was great.  I was able to grow with my directing with theater and work in film so I was doing it simultaneously.

Crystyn: When did you make the transition from theater to film?

I never did make the transition from film to theater. That’s what I did when I taught at UCLA. Now more colleges are doing it, combining film and theater.

When I directed Richard West’s play, “The Talented Tenth,” the original cast had Sunny Jenkins, Tanya Richardson, Richard Gant, Elain Grand*. He also wrote the Let’s Do It Again, Uptown Saturday Night’s and The Mighty Gents. Ritche Wesley came out of that theater film program too, and he started writing movies, so he asked me to direct his play. Because I was young and sassy and said, “I wanna do it my way.” And I did it my way, and I had no black outs and I had revolvers, so it was very cinematic, and it was a big hit. We got nominated for 10 Audelcos and we won 10.

By that time I had already been out to L.A. and I had gotten accepted to AFI (American Film Institute). I had experience in both. I did my movie Sky Captain and that was from my experiences in the South Bronx. After I did that I was able to get a job directing “What’s Happening Now?”

Crystyn: How do you feel about making history as the first Black woman to direct a sitcom?

I feel good. But when you’re young you don’t think about it. It’s always the next thing, and then the next thing.  Sometimes I look at my resume, I look at the long list over 20 years. The good years were the Cosby years and the sitcom years cause I got residuals. With movies, which I love doing more, and I did 10 of them for TV and three features – you don’t get that residual money. But it was better for me. It was my cup of tea.

I came at a time, when I a novelty. I was with the CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and I did Frank’s Place, Reggie (Hudlin) did Boomerang, Spike was doing his movies Julie (Dash) did “Daughters of the Dusk,” Euzhan Pacly did “Dry White Season” and “Sugar Cane Alley,” – the Black filmmaker was in. Debbie Allen was on Fame, the Cosby Show images were good, and there was a Different World. I happened to be at the right place at the right time. And I happened to do the work that got me multiple episodes.

I wrote on my AFI application what my father told me: “Success comes when you least expect it and most prepared for it.” I had done all these plays in New York for nothing and so when I did “What’s Happening Now” I was getting $500 for one week’s work. My husband and I looked at each other like, “Oh My God.” But when I started doing the Cosby Show I was making like $16,500 a week per episode.

It was fun. Politics didn’t bother me cause I was the street girl, and I was like ok, whatever.

Crystyn: How was it working with Mr. Cosby?

Mr. C was great. Everybody was great on that show. He’s great if you’re creative. If you have something to bring to the table, cause he is a creative person. And I began to work with a lot of shows like that, people who carried the show, like Dick Van Dyke. I did a lot of Diagnosis Murders. I worked with Robert Guillaume, did the Red Foxx Show and he was having trouble with the directors and he called Bill, and Bill said,  “I’m gonna send my director out there.” And I went out to do an episode with him. I was young and working with all these great comedians and I realized there is only one of them.

These people were red, black and green, they were pro Black and they wanted to hire a Black woman. They wanted to fight the images with positive. But all of the people behind the scenes were white, and they had that constant battle. I’m the type of director that sided with the artist – most of the time.