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.
Blind Owl takes viewers deep into the raw, unfiltered world of Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson, the genius behind Canned Heat, whose haunting voice and soulful harmonica guided a generation "up the country" and onto the open road of the 1960s counterculture. With gritty, unforgettable performances, the biopic illuminates Wilson’s immense talent and complexity, shedding light on a man who was both fiercely dedicated to his music and tragically misunderstood. The film follows Wilson's journey from a shy, nature-loving child with severe myopia to a musical powerhouse, whose deep understanding of the blues resonated with legends like John Lee Hooker. Viewers will witness the electrifying chemistry of Canned Heat as they take on Monterey Pop, Woodstock, and the international stage, with Wilson at the heart of the movement. Through hit songs like “On the Road Again” and “Going Up the Country,” Blind Owl will draw audiences into the sounds and spirit of a generation craving change, freedom, and connection. But Blind Owl is more than just a rock biopic. It’s an intimate look at Wilson’s internal battles with self-doubt, drug abuse, loneliness, and depression. His love for the environment, his radical authenticity, and his intense connection to the blues gave him purpose but also isolated him from the world around him. The film culminates in his untimely death at 27, a haunting reminder of his fragility and the cost of greatness.
