#duvernay

Ava Duvernay is one of the most celebrated Black creatives of our time, but over the weekend the award-winning director found herself in the crosshairs of overzealous Bernie Sanders supporters who took issue with her for critiquing their candidate.

Friday evening, the Vermont Senator tweeted out, “I’ve got news for the Republican establishment. I’ve got news for the Democratic establishment. They can’t stop us.”

The next day, Sanders would go on to win the second caucus of the primary season, and the first nominating contest in the West, in Nevada. While this emboldened his die-hard fans and allies, Duvernay wasn’t entirely sold.

“I’m undecided. But I know this isn’t what I want,” she wrote in response to Sanders’ tweet Saturday.

But aside from some initial support, Sanders’ supporters quickly caught wind of DuVernay’s apparent apathy toward’s their fave and very soon she was being bombarded with messages that ran the gamut from disappointment to anger.

“Ava what is it that you want then? A little surprised with your tweet. Since I have always seen you as a progressive woman,” wrote one woman to which the filmmaker responded, “So you’re saying if I disagree with his statement that I’m not a progressive woman? Is that what you’ve just written here?”

“People on here getting emotional about one man without keeping their eye on the real ball,” she elaborated, then added, “I understand exactly what he’s saying here and I don’t agree with it. He can’t win that way. And he surely cannot govern that way. How’s he gonna get anything passed? How’s he gonna move anything forward?”

However, once the discussion became ugly and violent, DuVernay tapped out, posting, “Bernie supporters terrroizing my mentions while I’m off enjoying my Saturday.”

sansa stark, margaery tyrell, brienne of tarth, jaime lannister, jorah mormont

We're spotlighting great performances by beloved and underappreciated black actresses every single day of Black History Month and the following Women’s History Month. Seek these films out. Watch them. And discover a future favorite.

As a torn med student and her gruff-loving mom, the exquisite Emayatzy Corinealdi and the masterful Lorraine Toussaint make Ava DuVernay's everyday drama Middle of Nowhere (2012) feel utterly monumental. In a just world, these two would have been Oscar shoo-ins.

Bless the indie gods for Ava DuVernay. Here’s why you need to catch up with her breakthrough film.

One morning earlier this month, a group of 10 men and teenage boys gathered for a photo shoot in a small studio on the Lower East Side. The overall mood was chill; as the music of Nipsey Hussle, 50 Cent and Wale filled the room, they chatted amiably in between shots, laughing, joking and moving along to the beats.

The occasion for this gathering was bittersweet: Five of the subjects were Korey Wise, 46; Kevin Richardson, 44; Raymond Santana, 44; Antron McCray, 45; and Yusef Salaam, 45, known collectively as the Central Park Five. Their stories are being retold in “When They See Us,” a new Netflix mini-series created and directed by Ava DuVernay.

In 1989 the men — then teenagers — were arrested in connection with the rape and assault of a white female jogger, and eventually convicted in a case that came to symbolize the stark injustices black and brown people experience within the legal system and in media coverage. They were convicted based partly on police-coerced confessions, and each spent between six and 13-plus years in prison for charges including attempted murder, rape and assault.

The men maintained their innocence throughout the case, trial and prison terms, and all were exonerated after Matias Reyes, a convicted murderer and serial rapist, confessed to the crime in 2002. In 2014, they were awarded a $41 million settlement, though the City of New York denied any wrongdoing.

Dozens of actors and filmmakers including Sterling K. Brown, Jane Fonda, Ava DuVernay, Don Cheadle and Mandy Moore signed an open letter to Hollywood this past weekend, urging the industry to pay women in production what they’re worth. In the era of Me Too and the recent Time’s Up movement, the letter reminds the industry that women behind the camera, such as female production coordinators and art department coordinators, have been left out of the conversation.

“It’s time for the Entertainment Industry to take a hard look at its pay and compensation practices above and below the line to make sure all productions meet the legal ― and moral ― requirement to pay fairly without discrimination,” the letter, published Saturday, reads.

There’s “an egregious wage gap for historically female-majority crafts,” according to the letter.