Age: 53
female
Ava Marie DuVernay (/ˌdjuːvərˈneɪ/; born August 24, 1972) is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer. She is a recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, a BAFTA Film Award, and a BAFTA TV Award, as well as a nominee for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. In 2011, she founded her independent distribution company ARRAY. After making her directorial debut with I Will Follow (2010), DuVernay won the directing award in the U.S. dramatic competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film, Middle of Nowhere, becoming the first black woman to win the award. For her work on Selma (2014), a biopic about Martin Luther King Jr., DuVernay became the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director; the film went on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her other film credits include the Academy Award-nominated Netflix documentary 13th (2016) and the Disney fantasy film A Wrinkle in Time (2018), the latter making her the first African-American woman to direct a film with a $100 million budget. In 2023, she directed the biographical film Origin based on Isabel Wilkerson's book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (2020). DuVernay's television credits include the OWN drama series Queen Sugar (2016) and two Netflix drama limited series: When They See Us (2019), based on the 1989 Central Park jogger case, and Colin in Black & White (2021), based on the teenage years of NFL player Colin Kaepernick. In 2017, DuVernay was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In 2020, she was elected to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences board of governors as part of the directors branch. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ava DuVernay, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Ava DuVernay
Director
for Director in Above the Rim: The Reggie Lewis Story
Suggested by kamsismith
Above the Rim follows the untold story of Reggie Lewis, the Boston Celtics’ rising star whose talent, humility, and drive captured hearts on and off the court. In the early '90s, the NBA had no shortage of big personalities, but Reggie was different—an unassuming leader, a quiet force, and a rare role model to his teammates and fans. From his days growing up in Baltimore, where he used basketball to escape a life of poverty and violence, to his rise through Northeastern University and ultimately into the NBA, Reggie's journey is as much about character as it is about skill. Through personal triumphs, heartwarming relationships, and battles with the physical toll of professional sports, Above the Rim reveals a powerful story of perseverance and love for the game. But at its core, it also explores a shocking and tragic turn. Just as he reached his peak, Reggie was faced with a health crisis that no one saw coming—a heart condition that would ultimately take his life at the young age of 27. The film doesn’t just pay tribute to his achievements but sheds light on the fragility of dreams in the face of life’s uncertainties.
