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Ava DuVernay

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Filmmaker

The Resume

    (August 24, 1972- )
    Born in Los Angeles, California
    Director, producer, marketer and film distributor
    Directed feature films 'I Will Follow' (2011), 'Middle of Nowhere' (2012), and 'Selma' (2014)
    Directed television documentaries, 'Compton in C Minor' (2007), 'Faith through the Storm' (2008), 'My Mic Sounds Nice' (2010), and 'Venus vs.' (2010)
    Directed feature documentaries 'This is the Life' (2008), 'The Door for Prada' (2013), and 'Say Yes for Fashion Fair' (2013)
    Promoted/publicized films 'The Terminal,' 'Monster-in-Law,' 'Spider Man 2,' 'Madagascar,' 'I, Robot,' 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman,' 'Collateral,' 'The Island,' and 'The Help'

Why she might be annoying:

    She resembles Melissa Harris-Perry .
    She is yet another protégé of Oprah Winfrey.
    She is a movie director who started out as a film publicist.
    She came under fire for inaccurately depicting history by downplaying President Lyndon B. Johnson's role in the Civil Rights movement in 'Selma.'
    When confronted with the accusations in an interview with Rolling Stone, she stated 'I wasn't interested in making a white savior movie.'
    Her failure to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar topped off outcries of racism over the lack of any black nominees on the ballot, and also brought on accusations of sexism from feminists (with one CNN pundit venturing to suggest that she was passed over for not being 'a safe black woman').
    The outrage over perceived racism led Rev. Al Sharpton to call an 'emergency meeting' for his 'diversity task force,' eliciting a veiled threat to boycott/protest the Academy Awards (Jan. 18, 2015).
    She was not uncomfortable drawing the race/gender card, herself, to explain the snub, by claiming that she knew she would not be nominated because 'its in the math... I know not one person in my branch' (also claiming that her branch is 91% male and 90% white).
    She publicized 'Selma' by protesting in front of the New York Library wearing an 'I Can't Breathe' Shirt with her hands up (in reference to the Eric Garner verdict and the BlackLivesMatter protests), on the way to the film's premiere.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She directed an episode of Scandal
    She was so moved by Roger Ebert's positive review of her documentary, 'I Will Follow,' that she forwarded him a photo her aunt had taken of the two of them at the Academy Awards' rehearsal when she was 9 (touching him deeply).
    She originally wanted to be a journalist, but became disillusioned after working with Connie Chung and Dan Rather during national evening news coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial (she switched to a career in publicity).
    She became the first African American woman to win the Best Director Prize at Sundance Film Festival for 'Middle of Nowhere' (2012).
    She is only the second black woman to be invited to the director's branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
    She is the first black female director to be nominated for a Best Director Golden Globe Award, for 'Selma' (2014).
    She was named both 'Best Director' and 'Female Icon of the Year' by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists (2015).
    She marched in Selma, Alabama as a tribute to Civil Rights activists chronicled in 'Selma,' for Martin Luther King Day (2015).
    She said of the controversy around Selma 'this film is a celebration of people, a celebration of people who gathered to lift their voices — black, white, otherwise, all classes, nationalities, faiths — to do something amazing.'
    Like Clint Eastwood, she directed a Best Picture nominee, but was passed over for a Best Director Oscar nomination.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 8 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 23 Votes: 30.43% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 91 Votes: 43.96% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 26 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 40 Votes: 55.00% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 187 Votes: 80.21% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 11 Votes: 81.82% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 20 Votes: 65.00% Annoying