Director Ava Duvernay has already achieved some enviable honors – she is the first African-American woman to achieve Best Director honors at the Sundance Film Festival. The Compton-born publicist turned filmmaker began her career as a moviemaker with her acclaimed debut “I Will Follow” (now available on DVD) starring Salli Richardson and Omari Hardwick. Her second film “Middle of Nowhere” released in 2012, is the one that earned her Sundance honors. But it’s her current film, made as part of Italian designer Miu Miu’s “Women’s Tales,” that showcase the work of female directors around the world that has the internets buzzing.
A silent (except for some hot music) short film, “The Door” stars Gabrielle Union, Alfre Woodard, singer Goapele and exotically named actresses Adepero Oduye and Emayatzy Corinealdi, who also starred in “Middle of Nowhere.” Miu Miu’s guidelines for the movie were that all the characters had to be female and all had to wear Miu Miu. For Duvernay, the project was an amazing opportunity to create with a a world-renowned design firm while showcasing the beauty and sisterhood of black women. The door in the movie is the one all the women must enter to provide support to their friend who is going through love blues after a failed relationship. “All the films I do, I write the scripts, I direct,” says Duvernay. “So I have never done a project for a client that has a structure. Which is why I say that I am spoiled, because as my first job like this to work with people who are so open to this and do whatever I wanted. They never said no once. I was really happy because there are not too many women of color in this space so I thought it was really great for Miu Miu to extend this project to me.”
(Photo: Retna)
