The film-maker Ava DuVernay has said she was often discouraged from applying to film festivals because she “wouldn’t get in”.
This year, the director, who was Oscar-nominated for Selma, became the first African American woman to compete in the 91 year history of the Venice film festival.
DuVernay’s film, Origin, which explores the genesis of racism in the US and is adapted from Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste, premiered at the festival on Wednesday.
“For Black film-makers, we’re told that people who love films in other parts of the world don’t care about our stories and don’t care about our films,” DuVernay said at a press conference. “This is something that we are often told: you cannot play international film festivals, no one will come.”
She continued: “People will not come to the press conferences, people won’t come to the [press and industry] screenings. They will not be interested in selling tickets. You might not even get into this festival, don’t apply. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told, ‘Don’t apply to Venice, you won’t get in. It won’t happen.’
“And this year, something happened that hadn’t happened in eight decades before: an African American woman in competition. So now that’s a door open that I trust and hope the festival will keep open.”
In 2020, Regina King became the first Black woman with a film to play at Venice film with her drama One Night in Miami, but it was not in competition. The festival has previously premiered films by male Black film-makers including Spike Lee, Ousmane Sembène, John Singleton, Isaac Julien, Antoine Fuqua, John Akomfrah and Steve McQueen.
In 2013, McQueen’s film 12 Years a Slave premiered at the Toronto film festival, where it won the audience award before triumphing at the Oscars the following year.
A study conducted by Screen in 2021 found that films by Black directors accounted for just 1% of films in competition at film festivals over the previous three years.
