Many believe When They See Us is her greatest work to date.
As the old adage goes, what is a king to a god?
Indeed, the manner in which Ava DuVernay has was become something like a phenomenon is absolutely insane. However, what is even more insane is, for all of grand writing and direction, all of her regal bearing and her brilliant smile, Ava DuVernay started off as just a regular black girl trying to make her dreams come true in the big city.
This is why there is a virtual outpouring of altruistic goodwill and love every time Ava walks the red carpet. Her energy is so contagious that people simply cannot help but pour inordinate amounts of accolades in her direction because, in a very realistic way, they’re actually giving props to themselves.
DuVernay started as a PR rep right out of UCLA, and she still had the very same energy that made people fall madly in love with her enthusiasm and positive energy that seemed to warm the entire room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3F9n_smGWY
The first time I met her was at the Cruel Intentions press junket in Los Angeles. She was one of the youngest people, certainly one of the youngest African American women, to run a PR firm that dealt with mainstream clientele on a regular basis.
It was around 2001 that Ava would take it to the next level with several short films and documentaries, culminating in the critically acclaim My Mic Sounds Nice.
It was an honest film about the trials and tribulations of women in hip-hop.
It is with great joy that we’re able to celebrate the majesty that we’ve all witnessed over the span of her entire directing career thus far.
With When They See Us, DuVernay was tasked with telling a story that is full of pain and trauma. But doing so with such a precise creative blade that the pain of systematic racism seems to pale in comparison to her understated ability to shine a human light on black subject matter. That is her most underappreciated ability.
And the CRAZY part is she’s really only just getting started.
