Origin (2023) with prerecorded filmmaker intro and Q&A
Director: Ava DuVernay Run Time: 149 min. Rating: PG-13 Release Year: 2023
Starring: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Emily Yancy, Finn Wittrock, Jon Bernthal, Niecy Nash
Country: United States
Language: English
About the film:
Competed for the Golden Lion at the 2023 Venice Film Festival
Written and directed by Academy Award nominee Ava DuVernay, Origin (2023) chronicles the tragedy and triumph of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson as she investigates a global phenomenon of epic proportions.
“Rich in thought, “Origin” is a dense, forceful masterwork, and, quite simply, the most radical film of DuVernay’s career.”
—Robert Daniels, Roger Ebert
Portrayed by Academy Award nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (2021’s King Richard), Isabel experiences unfathomable personal loss and love as she crosses continents and cultures to craft one of the defining American books of our time. Inspired by the New York Times best-seller Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Origin (2023) explores the mystery of history, the wonders of romance and a fight for the future of us all.
About the filmmaker:
Ava Marie DuVernay is an award-winning, history-making American filmmaker. After making her directorial debut with I Will Follow (2010), she won the Directing Award in the U.S. Dramatic competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere (2012), becoming the first black woman to win the award. With Selma (2014), she became the first African American woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her other film credits include the Academy Award-nominated Netflix documentary 13th (2016) and the Disney fantasy film A Wrinkle in Time (2018), the latter making her the first African American woman to direct a film with a budget of $100 million. Her television credits include the Netflix series When They See Us (2019), which was nominated for 16 Emmy awards, making her and Beyoncé the first African American women in Primetime Emmy history to receive multiple nominations in their careers for directing. With her latest film, Origin (2023), DuVernay became the first African American woman to have a film in competition at the Venice Film Festival.
In 2010, she started her own film distribution company called African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM) but rebranded the company in 2015 under the name ARRAY to focus on racial and gender inclusion in filmmaking.
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