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Ava DuVernay

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description Ava DuVernay Overview

Ava DuVernay is an American director, writer, and producer whose films and television projects frequently address race, civil rights, and institutions of criminal justice. She directed Selma, a historical drama about the 1965 voting-rights campaign, and 13th, a documentary examining race and mass incarceration in the United States. Her other work includes When They See Us, A Wrinkle in Time, and Origin.

help Ava DuVernay FAQ

What historical events does Ava DuVernay's Selma depict?

Selma, released in 2014, dramatizes the 1965 voting-rights campaign and the marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. David Oyelowo plays Martin Luther King Jr., and the film received a Best Picture nomination. [Television Academy biography](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/ava-duvernay)

What does Ava DuVernay's documentary 13th examine?

The 2016 Netflix documentary examines how the Thirteenth Amendment's exception for punishment after conviction connects to mass incarceration in the United States. DuVernay directed it and built the film around historians, activists, and political analysis. [Television Academy biography](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/ava-duvernay)

Is When They See Us a film or a TV series?

It is a four-part Netflix miniseries released in 2019, written and directed by DuVernay. It recounts the wrongful prosecution of Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise, known at the time as the Central Park Five. [Television Academy biography](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/ava-duvernay)

What book inspired Ava DuVernay's Origin?

Origin, released in 2023, is inspired by Isabel Wilkerson's nonfiction book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. The film follows Wilkerson as she researches links among caste systems, racism, and social hierarchy, with Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor playing her. [Time interview](https://time.com/6564660/ava-duvernay-origin-caste-interview/)