The Dailies - Life In The 'Wood. Adventures In Tinseltown, Daily

Monday, January 30, 2012

Photo by Omar P.L. Moore / PopcornReel.com

The Dailies: LIFE IN THE 'WOOD (MORE OR LESS)
January 30, 2012


Sunday                                                    Tuesday                Wednesday           Thursday

Friday                    Saturday


Ava DuVernay In The Directing Spotlight At Sundance
By Omar P.L. Moore / PopcornReel.com      FOLLOW                                            TWEET

Ava DuVernay, director, writer, producer, film distributor, publicist. Liz O. Baylen/Los Angeles Times; (Contour/Getty)

The recently-concluded Sundance Film Festival was very fruitful for filmmaker-distributor Ava DuVernay and her new film "Middle Of Nowhere", about a woman who re-evaluates her marriage and relationship with her husband after he is incarcerated.

Ms. DuVernay, who has made such films as the critically-acclaimed "I Will Follow" (starring Salli Richardson-Whitfield) and "This Is The Life", and whose own AFFRM film distributing company released "Follow" and Alrick Brown's "Kinyarwanda", became the only black woman to be awarded a best director prize in the nearly-30 year-history of the Sundance festival. The award, for directing "Middle Of Nowhere", which screened at the Festival as part of Sundance's U.S. Dramatic Competition this year, was announced on Saturday evening in Park City, Utah, the main stage of Robert Redford's annual two-week film festival.

The day before, AFFRM and Participant Films announced that they would be distributing "Middle Of Nowhere" in the U.S. later this year. The film stars newcomer Emayatzy Corinealdi, Omari Hardwick ("I Will Follow") and David Oyelowo ("Red Tails").

A visibly stunned and shaken but very happy Ms. DuVernay accepted her award yesterday at Sundance. From the podium with a shaking voice she thanked her producing and filmmaking team, including "Pariah" cinematographer and friend Bradford Young, who also lensed "Middle Of Nowhere".

"Thanks to my mom and my sisters and my aunt and my grandmother who always made sure I saw the beauty in where we lived in Compton and Lynwood. And I tried to just put that in this film and share it with folks," Ms. DuVernay said.

Commenting on the distribution of the film beyond Park City via the joint venture between AFFRM and Participant, the director added, "... [It's] really important for women filmmakers and filmmakers of color for us to see each other and encourage each other."

COPYRIGHT 2012. POPCORNREEL.COM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.