Ava DuVernay
Also Known As: Ava Marie DuVernay, AvA, Eve
Biography: Ava Marie DuVernay (born August 24, 1972) is an American director, screenwriter, producer, and former rapper. In the 1990s, DuVernay was active in the Los Angeles underground hip hop scene, performing under the names AvA and Eve, and as one half of the duo Figures of Speech with fellow female MC Ronda Ross (aka Jyant). DuVernay's debut film, music documentary "This Is the Life" (2008), chronicled the rise and enduring influence of the scene of which she had been a part, focusing on its epicenter at the famous open mic nights in the Good Life Cafe, where many major west coast underground hip hop artists got their starts. At the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, DuVernay won the Best Director Prize for her second feature film "Middle of Nowhere", becoming the first African-American woman to win the award. For her work on "Selma" (2014), DuVernay was the first black female director to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award and also the first to have her film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, though she was not nominated for Best Director. In 2017, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for her political documentary "13th" (2016).
Department: Directing
Place of Birth: Long Beach, California, USA
Birthday: August 24, 1972
Adult: No
Gender: Female
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Known For:
Adele One Night Only
Overview: A primetime special with performances from the superstar including Adele’s first new material in six years plus her chart-topping hits. The special will also feature an exclusive interview with Adele by Oprah Winfrey from her rose garden, in Adele’s first televised wide-ranging conversation.
Genres: Music Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2021-11-14
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Only in Theaters
Overview: ONLY IN THEATERS, a film by actor/director Raphael Sbarge, is an intimate and moving journey taken with the Laemmle family, spanning nearly three years of challenges, losses, and personal triumphs. Laemmle Theatres, the beloved 84-year-old arthouse cinema chain 3rd generation family business in Los Angeles, is facing seismic change and financial pressure. Yet the family behind this multigenerational business – whose sole mission has been to support the art of film – is determined to survive.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2022-11-18
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Life Itself
Overview: The surprising and entertaining life of renowned film critic and social commentator Roger Ebert (1942-2013): his early days as a freewheeling bachelor and Pulitzer Prize winner, his famously contentious partnership with Gene Siskel, his life-altering marriage, and his brave and transcendent battle with cancer.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2014-07-04
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Becoming King
Overview: An emotional portrait of David Oyelowo’s journey to play legendary civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Featuring behind-the-scenes footage and intimate home videos, Becoming King is a story of faith, friendship and a destiny fulfilled.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2024-02-19
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The Female Lead - A Selection of Portraits
Overview: The interviews show these extraordinary women sharing their diverse journeys, personal stories, and perspectives, and the effect is both inspiring and empowering. The Female Lead is an initiative founded by data pioneer and entrepreneur Edwina Dunn to make women’s stories more visible, offering alternative role models with the goal of fostering ambition and self-belief in young women.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2017-03-05
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13th: A Conversation with Oprah Winfrey & Ava DuVernay
Overview: In this 30-minute interview, Oprah Winfrey sits down with director Ava DuVernay to discuss her Oscar-nominated film, historical cycles of oppression and the broken prison system.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2017-01-26
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Girls Trip
Overview: Four girlfriends take a trip to New Orleans for an annual festival and, along the way, rediscover their wild sides and strengthen the bonds of sisterhood.
Genres: Comedy Romance Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2017-07-21
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Half the Picture
Overview: At a pivotal moment for gender equality in Hollywood, successful women directors talk about their art, lives and careers.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2018-01-23
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This Is the Life
Overview: In 1989, a collective of young hip hop artists gathered at a health food café in South Central Los Angeles. Their mandate? To reject gang culture and expand the musical boundaries of hip hop. DuVernay's documentary chronicles the historic legacy of the Good Life Cafe — the open mic nights that became an L.A. institution, the eclectic array of talented young MCs that emerged there, the alternative hip hop movement they developed, and their worldwide influence on the artform.
Genres: Documentary Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2008-02-08
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Oprah Winfrey Presents: When They See Us Now
Overview: Oprah Winfrey talks with the exonerated men once known as the Central Park Five, plus the cast and producers who tell their story in "When They See Us."
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2019-06-13
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Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché
Overview: The epic life story of Alice Guy-Blaché (1873–1968), a French screenwriter, director and producer, true pioneer of cinema, the first person who made a narrative fiction film; author of hundreds of movies, but banished from history books. Ignored and forgotten. At last remembered.
Genres: Documentary History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2018-12-07
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Aggie
Overview: An exploration of the nexus of art, race, and justice through the story of art collector and philanthropist Agnes Gund who sold Roy Lichtenstein’s painting “Masterpiece” in 2017 for $165 million to start the Art for Justice Fund to end mass incarceration.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2020-10-07
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Regard Noir
Overview:
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2021-03-21
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A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks
Overview: This documentary chronicles renaissance man Gordon Parks’ stellar career from staff photographer for LIFE magazine, through his artistic development photographing everyday Americans, through his evolution as a novelist and groundbreaking filmmaker.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2021-06-18
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