Ava DuVernay

Ava DuVernay (born August 24, 1972) is an American film director, producer, writer and marketer. She is the president and founder of DVA Media + Marketing (formerly The DuVernay Agency). She owns and operates the nation's largest urban retail promotional network, Urban Beauty Collective. She also created the African-American blog center, UrbanThoughtCollective.com.

In 2006, she made her screenwriting and directorial debut with the festival award-winning short, "Saturday Night Life." The film was selected for national broadcast by Showtime in February 2007 through the network's Black Filmmaker Showcase.

Her feature script "The Middle of Nowhere" was a semifinalist for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Nicholls Fellowship, and was selected for IFP’s No Borders program in 2006.

In 2007, she made her feature directorial debut with the self-financed documentary, THIS IS THE LIFE, which offered a rare insider’s view of the underground urban music movement in Los Angeles. The film won the Audience Award at the 2008 Pan-African Film Festival in Los Angeles, as well as garnered the festival’s Special Jury Mention for documentary excellence.

DuVernay has worked in the world of film as a marketer and publicist for more than 14 years, forming The DuVernay Agency in 1999. Her award-winning firm has provided strategy and execution for more than 100 film and television campaigns by directors such as Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, Robert Rodriguez, Bill Condon, Raoul Peck, Gurinder Chadha and Reggie & Gina Bythewood.

External links

• DVA Media + Marketing website
• Internet Movie Database
• LOS ANGELES TIMES "Next in Line"
• BLACK ENTERPRISE "Cinema offers International Perspective"
• UGS MAGAZINE "This is The Life"
• VARIETY MAGAZINE "IFP slates projects for feature market"
• AAPRC Weekly Spotlight on Ava DuVernay
• LOS ANGELES TIMES "Style videos could start a new wave of good hair days"
• REUTERS "Urban Thought Collective"
• This is the Life on YOUTUBE