Essential Viewing: Everything Ava DuVernay
In her Twitter bio, director Ava DuVernay (the strong, gracious, compassionate, and wise leader that America needs right now) has the following list:
When They See Us, 13th, Wrinkle in Time, Queen Sugar, Selma, Middle of Nowhere, Venus VS, I Will Follow, My Mic Sounds Nice, This is The Life
So — have you watched all her babies? If not, here’s each of these incredible projects in chronological order, and why you should start catching up TONIGHT. (Some are even streaming free right now, so no excuses!)
This is The Life (2008)
Ava’s first full length feature was a documentary called This Is the Life, a history lesson on the “Good Life” emcees of L.A., an alternative west coast hip hop movement in the 1990s. Aside from being totally crucial for the Ava 101 syllabus, it’s also essential viewing for any music lover.
My Mic Sounds Nice: The Truth About Women and Hip Hop (2010)
In her follow-up documentary, this music loving director (and musician herself) takes on hip-hop again, this time spotlighting incredible women rappers and artists of the past few decades. Her exploration into the work of these women is a unique and love-filled glimpse into a woman’s perspective of a genre all-too-often seen as hypermasculine.
I Will Follow (2010)
Watch it on: Netflix, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Vudu
As I wrote for Narrative Muse a few years back:
“On the surface, I Will Follow is a quiet story. It plays out in a single day, and the one-line abstract is essentially “a woman tries to empty a dead aunt’s possessions into a moving van.” But this is the narrative big-screen directorial debut for Ava DuVernay. It was bound to have depth, complexity, and compelling interactions — and it did not disappoint…
…[The movie is] about those precious few things in life that connect people of all ages, colors, and backgrounds. Sometimes it’s a love of music — perhaps embodied in a band that spans decades and creates a new generation of fans with each one. Sometimes it’s even more basic, though.
Grief connects. Memory connects. Sorrow, regret, and family connect. Love and selfless compassion connect us to each other, no matter our age or stage.”
Middle of Nowhere (2012)
Watch it on: Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, Youtube
This reflective, character-driven indy won the Directing Award for U.S. Dramatic Film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, and legendary critic Roger Ebert famously gave the film three stars out of four and praised its beauty.
Ava’s focus remains in her hometown of Los Angeles in this piece, which explores the life of a woman whose world has been turned upside down by her husband’s incarceration. As many of her pieces do, Middle of Nowhere shows off Ava’s heart for Black women, her deep love for the L.A. community, and her sharp critique of America’s criminal justice and policing systems.
Venus VS. (2013)
Watch it on: ESPN+, Youtube
As part of their 30 for 30 documentary project, ESPN and ESPN W produced the Nine for IX series, specially zeroing in on the stories of women in sports and told by women directors. The piece that kicked off the series was Ava’s Venus Vs., which highlights tennis legend Venus Williams and her fight for pay equality for women in professional tennis.
Selma (2014)
Watch it on: Amazon Prime, Youtube, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu
My review on Narrative Muse begins like this:
“On August 9th 2014, an unarmed black teenager named Michael Brown was shot and killed by a member of his police force in Ferguson, Missouri. Amidst conflicting reports on what exactly happened, and why, the people of Ferguson cried out in fury and desperation.
The world shook a little bit, and a desperate plea for justice and mercy, “Black lives matter,” echoed through living rooms and Facebook feeds. But Brown’s death wasn’t the last or the latest to evoke this cry. And he certainly wasn’t the first. The Christmas after Brown’s death, Ava DuVernay’s Selma released in theatres and introduced us to Jimmie Lee Jackson, who also died at the hands of white police fifty years earlier. His death provided even more fuel to a dynamic protest movement fighting for voting rights in the south, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
What makes Selma so powerful, right off the bat, is that it isn’t a biopic of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr; it only spans a few months of his life as he prepared to stage one of the most historic protest marches in history. But in zooming in on one moment, director DuVernay and writer Paul Webb really force us to live in the trial by fire that was the American South in 1965.”
Queen Sugar (2016 — Present)
Watch it on: OWN, Hulu
Based on a novel by Natalie Baszile about three siblings navigating life in the aftermath of their father’s death, the TV series Queen Sugar was created by DuVernay and is executive produced by DuVernay and media giant Oprah Winfrey. So far, it’s won two NAACP Image Awards and the directing, performing, and writing have been nominated for a slew of others.
The series is four seasons in, with a fifth about to start, and so far every episode has been directed by a woman (most by women of color). In an industry where it’s sadly still the default to assume a white guy sits in the director’s chair, this series is one of many ways that Ava continues to champion women, especially Black women, to shine behind the camera.
13TH (2016)
Watch it on: Netflix, Youtube
Seriously, if you still haven’t caught this documentary on mass incarceration, there’s never been a better time than now. It should be required watching for folks who want to get a better understanding of current racial relations in America.
From my Narrative Muse review:
“…Did you know that 97% of criminal cases never make it to a trial? The majestic doors of the courtroom, which promise justice to all who enter, are never opened to most people who are arrested and charged with crimes. The United States now imprisons an estimated 2.3 million inmates — the highest rate of incarceration of any country in the world. One reason for that is buried somewhere I found surprising: in the 13th amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
That’s right — the one that freed the slaves…
…DuVernay allows several wise, learned women to take the lead in walking us through the tough issues in this documentary. Women like Michelle Alexander, who has written one of the most important books in decades, The New Jim Crow. Her book takes a piercing look at mass incarceration, and her steady, consistent voice through 13TH is a gentle, dignified guiding star along the painful story. Another is Angela Davis, a whip smart political activist who grew up in the violence of Birmingham, Alabama…
Systems of oppression tend to reinvent themselves, according to 13TH. Is there a way to move past them? Will our slice of history truly bend toward justice? Ava DuVernay has some ideas. Watch 13TH and see what you think of them.”
A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
Watch it on: Disney+, Google Play, Amazon Prime, Youtube, Vudu, iTunes
A Wrinkle in Time was a major departure from Ava’s usual bread-and-butter — and admittedly isn’t her strongest work. But as a lover of the original novel, it really did charm me and might be the perfect intro Ava for a youngster. As I wrote on Narrative Muse,
“Truthfully, this movie would never have been created in another era. For the first time, a Black woman stands at the helm of a $100+ million live-action project. And as she always does, Ms. DuVernay ‘demand[ed] inclusiveness,’ according to [Reese] Witherspoon, leading to diversity in both the cast and the crew.
Today is a day to be excited as movies led by Black women become runaway box-office hits. 2018 is a year to be proud of the slow fade of girl-characters in movies who look to their male companions and ask (wide eyed) “What do we do now?” Not Meg. And not in Ava’s movies….
…There’s no doubt that the people who made A Wrinkle in Time had a deep tenderness for their project, and for the novel itself. So many lines and homages are straight from the book, and watching it actually gave me the same feeling I got from reading it. The same kind of laughs and squirms, the same magical, empowering goodness.
Take your kid, your buddy, your mom, or even just yourself to see this movie. Because this is one kids movie truly made with enough heart, wonder, and delight to rise above its faults. Just like Meg.”
When They See Us (2019)
Watch it on: Netflix
This heartbreaking four-part miniseries is a thoughtful, powerful, and chilling dramatization of what came to be known as the “Central Park Five,” five young Black and brown teens who were framed by the NYPD for the rape and assault of a jogger in 1989.
Now, after the men have served horrifying prison sentences, and eventually been exonerated and awarded damages by the city, Ava has worked alongside the men (who she triumphantly refers to as “The Exonerated Five”) to tell the truth of their story that was covered up and ignored when they were children.
There’s no sharper artistic dagger than When They See Us to interrogate the racism inherent in U.S. police departments and mass incarceration, and the desperate need for intersectional feminism that fights for racial justice alongside gender equality. It may be Ava’s most stirring work to date.
Bottom line? Whether you’re in the mood for a family drama or a documentary, a boost of endorphins or a much-needed history lesson, there’s something on the table to draw you in. Ms. DuVernay is one director it’s become absolutely bonkers to ignore. And judging from her momentum? The best and brightest may still be yet to come.
Want to discover more great books and movies by and about women and non-binary people? Head to narrativemuse.co for perfectly tailored recommendations just for you!
