“This goes beyond scholarship. This is a lived life for me,” said Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor of playing journalist Isabel Wilkerson in “Origin,” Ava DuVernay’s latest film that both brings the ideas from Pulitzer Prize winner’s 2020 book “Caste,” and the behind the scenes hardships Wilkerson faced while writing it, to movie theaters nationwide on January 19.
Speaking to IndieWire over Zoom, Ellis-Taylor used a moment over the holidays in her native Mississippi to describe the ways in which she challenges the pillars of caste Wilkerson writes about in her book, like terror and cruelty, in her everyday life. “I’ll put it like this: I wanted some catfish,” said the Oscar-nominated “King Richard” actress. However, upon entering the Hattiesburg establishment best known for the southern delicacy, she noticed the state flag on display was the pre-2020 one that still had the Confederate flag incorporated into its design.
Going up to the counter,...
Speaking to IndieWire over Zoom, Ellis-Taylor used a moment over the holidays in her native Mississippi to describe the ways in which she challenges the pillars of caste Wilkerson writes about in her book, like terror and cruelty, in her everyday life. “I’ll put it like this: I wanted some catfish,” said the Oscar-nominated “King Richard” actress. However, upon entering the Hattiesburg establishment best known for the southern delicacy, she noticed the state flag on display was the pre-2020 one that still had the Confederate flag incorporated into its design.
Going up to the counter,...
- 1/12/2024
- by Marcus Jones
- Indiewire
Many books have been called unfilmable, but in the case of Isabel Wilkerson’s 2020 best-seller Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, that label would hardly be an exaggeration. To start, it’s a nearly 500-page nonfiction dissertation with a heady, ambitious thesis about the foundations of social hierarchies across human history. As such, it pulls in anecdotes from sources as diverse as the Jim Crow South, 1930s Nazi Germany and an anthrax outbreak in the Siberian tundra in 2016.
But what captivated director Ava DuVernay in the pages was the abundance of intimate human relationships woven throughout. Her last documentary (2016’s 13th) garnered an Emmy and an Oscar nomination, yet as she read Caste, she began envisioning a narrative feature, especially after learning about Wilkerson’s personal journey of love and loss as she researched and wrote the book.
“It’s the life and work of Isabel Wilkerson, and it’s...
But what captivated director Ava DuVernay in the pages was the abundance of intimate human relationships woven throughout. Her last documentary (2016’s 13th) garnered an Emmy and an Oscar nomination, yet as she read Caste, she began envisioning a narrative feature, especially after learning about Wilkerson’s personal journey of love and loss as she researched and wrote the book.
“It’s the life and work of Isabel Wilkerson, and it’s...
- 1/5/2024
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Urbanworld Film Festival is set to mark its 25th anniversary with a star-studded hybrid event featuring Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay; “Wu-Tang: An American Saga’s” RZA and Shameik Moore; “King Richard” director Reinaldo Marcus Green and star Aunjanue Ellis; “Power Book III: Raising Kanan’s” Patina Miller; “Sankofa” filmmaker Haile Gerima and more.
The 2021 edition of the film festival will be presented virtually with on urbanworld.org, running from Sept. 29-Oct. 3, with select in-person events held at Cinepolis Luxury Cinemas, Chelsea at 260 West 23rd Street in New York. Presented by founding partner HBO and prestige partners WarnerMedia and Ally, the festival officially unveiled its slate of more than 88 official selections, panels and conversations.
A longtime supporter of and participant in the Urbanworld lineup, DuVernay will be on hand for multiple special events with the Netflix series “Colin in Black & White” featured among the virtual spotlight presentations at the fest.
The 2021 edition of the film festival will be presented virtually with on urbanworld.org, running from Sept. 29-Oct. 3, with select in-person events held at Cinepolis Luxury Cinemas, Chelsea at 260 West 23rd Street in New York. Presented by founding partner HBO and prestige partners WarnerMedia and Ally, the festival officially unveiled its slate of more than 88 official selections, panels and conversations.
A longtime supporter of and participant in the Urbanworld lineup, DuVernay will be on hand for multiple special events with the Netflix series “Colin in Black & White” featured among the virtual spotlight presentations at the fest.
- 9/21/2021
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
At last year’s Ves Summit, indie-minded filmmaker Ava DuVernay (“Selma”) described how, as a black woman from Compton, she learned to overcome her fear of VFX and incorporate it into her storytelling arsenal for “A Wrinkle in Time.” This was crucial as the first woman of color to tackle a $100-million studio tentpole: “I pride myself as the queen of the scene in a room…I know how to make the past and the present,” said DuVernay. “I don’t know how to make the future — until now.”
But when Industrial Light & Magic’s Rich McBride (the Oscar-nominated supervisor for “The Revenant”) broke the process down into layers, the experience became a transformation. “There are pieces of the puzzle that I didn’t need to see or comment on,” added DuVernay. “I’ve been able to learn and speak to [visual effects] in a robust manner. You can create as an artist with these tools.
But when Industrial Light & Magic’s Rich McBride (the Oscar-nominated supervisor for “The Revenant”) broke the process down into layers, the experience became a transformation. “There are pieces of the puzzle that I didn’t need to see or comment on,” added DuVernay. “I’ve been able to learn and speak to [visual effects] in a robust manner. You can create as an artist with these tools.
- 3/19/2018
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
This year, controversy over the repeated snubbing of African-American actors from the Oscars has once again dominated headlines.Twenty years ago, a special report in People examined diversity in the movie industry and labeled Hollywood's "continued exclusion of African-Americans" as "a national disgrace".The report was reexamined five years later in a follow up exposé, and while People uncovered encouraging signs of improvement, the African-American actors interviewed made it clear they felt the industry still had a long way to go.Now, another fifteen years later, and with calls to boycott the award show gaining traction, the original article appears...
- 1/22/2016
- by Michael Miller, @write_miller
- PEOPLE.com
This year, controversy over the repeated snubbing of African-American actors from the Oscars has once again dominated headlines.Twenty years ago, a special report in People examined diversity in the movie industry and labeled Hollywood's "continued exclusion of African-Americans" as "a national disgrace".The report was reexamined five years later in a follow up exposé, and while People uncovered encouraging signs of improvement, the African-American actors interviewed made it clear they felt the industry still had a long way to go.Now, another fifteen years later, and with calls to boycott the award show gaining traction, the original article appears...
- 1/22/2016
- by Michael Miller, @write_miller
- PEOPLE.com
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