Filmmaker Ava DuVernay reflects on attending UCLA during the 1991 Rodney King beating and the subsequent 1992 Los Angeles riots following the officers' acquittals.
Opinion
DuVernay: White male directors often lack know-how but succeed via confidence
“I see white guys all the time don't know what they're, the hell they're doing, but you know what they do have? Confidence. They're gonna get out there and say, I want to figure it out, and I'm sure I'll be okay. I'm sure I can figure this out.”
Insight
DuVernay: Great filmmaking relies on story and performance over technical mastery
“That the core of what made a great filmmaker was, did you know the story? Not did you know the lens, did you know, the technical aspects, but there are a lot of filmmakers out there who are story and performance focused and less technically focused.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
DuVernay: As of 2012, no Black female filmmaker made a sustainable living
“There was no precedent for Sustainable livelihood as a black woman filmmaker as recently as 2012.”
Assertion Supported
DuVernay: AFFRM used Black film festivals to distribute indie movies
“And so I started to put together a coalition of black film festivals that Not only supported my work outside of their festival, because they had lists of film lovers, black film lovers, they had relationships with theaters where they showed their festivals, th…”
Insight
DuVernay: A film director operates like the mayor of a small town
“Yeah, I think of the CA, I think of the director as the mayor of a small town, because a film has every element of a small town. I mean, a fire department, a hospital, that's the medic, you know what I mean? There's some people working construction, there's so…”
Assertion Partly supported
DuVernay: A Sundance peer landed a Jurassic Park sequel within six months
“One of my fellow filmmakers at Sundance who won the Screenwriting Award that year, who within six months had a deal to direct the sequel to Jurassic Park.”