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.
Andrea Absolonová, known by the world as Lea De Mae, was a woman ahead of her time—navigating the often-conflicting worlds of sports, fame, and personal freedom. The film begins with Andrea’s rise as a promising high diver on the Czech national team. Trained for perfection, Andrea’s dedication to her sport propels her to incredible heights, with her graceful dives symbolizing her deep yearning to transcend societal expectations. But as her diving career slows, Andrea’s quest for self-expression leads her into the adult entertainment industry, where she adopts the pseudonym Lea De Mae. The film explores the challenges and contradictions she faces in this new life. Through her transformation into an adult model and actress, Lea embraces her sexuality as a source of empowerment, yet also contends with the stigma and judgment surrounding her choices. But Andrea's story takes an unexpected turn when she is diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of 27. Her strength and resilience are tested in her final months, as she battles a devastating illness while reflecting on her legacy. Lea: Beyond the Dive delves into the emotional and philosophical complexities of a life lived in the public eye, examining the tension between fame, freedom, and vulnerability.
