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Filmmaker Ava DuVernay is making history at the Venice Film Festival.
According to Variety, DuVernay is the first Black woman to have a film compete for the Golden Lion in the festival's 80-year history.
During a press conference for her new film Origin, DuVernay revealed that she was advised not to apply to the festival because "you won't get in."
“For Black filmmakers, we’re told that people who love films in other parts of the world don’t care about our stories and don’t care about our films. This is something that we are often told: You cannot play international film festivals, no one will come,” DuVernay said on Wednesday (September 6). “People will not come to the press conferences, people won’t come to the P&I screenings. They will not be interested in selling tickets. You might not even get into this festival, don’t apply. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told, ‘Don’t apply to Venice, you won’t get in. It won’t happen.’ And this year, something happened that hadn’t happened in eight decades before an African American woman in competition. So now that’s a door open that I trust and hope the festival will keep open.”
According to the film's official synopsis, Origin “chronicles the remarkable life and work of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson as she investigates the genesis of injustice and uncovers a hidden truth that affects us all."
The film stars Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Niecy Nash-Betts, Vera Farmiga, Audra McDonald, Nick Offerman, Blair Underwood, Connie Nielsen, Emily Yancy, Jasmine Cephas-Jones, Finn Wittock, Victoria Pedretti, Isha Blaaker and Myles Frost.
“This cast is populated with actors who are not quote-unquote superstars in Hollywood,” DuVernay said. “It’s populated with meat-and-potatoes, blood, sweat, and tears working actors who are very respected. The whole cast is filled with them, and together you see how they shine like stars. So I think it gets into this idea of the value that we place on certain artists based on corporations saying who is more valuable and who’s not. And thank goodness we made this film independently and we were able to hand-pick everyone.”
The world premiere of Origin was Wednesday night.
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