I did not have any problem with speaking up because my mother, my family, my grandmother, my aunt - I grew up in a family dominated by women - always encouraged me to do so. And if a girl is unafraid, then the world is her oyster.
Ava DuVernayI just don't think there's a lot of support for the woman's voice in cinema, and it becomes really difficult to raise that money and start again every time.
Ava DuVernayIs there deeply embedded change within our industry? And I would say, as a black filmmaker, it's easy for me to focus my attention on black work, but true change would include brown work, and it would include work by Asian-Americans, and it would include natives, and it would include women, and it would include more LGBTQ voices.
Ava DuVernayWe've had these bursts of cool years here or there but that's not change. That's a trend. You only hope that this could be the beginning of true change.
Ava DuVernay