Ava DuVernay Quotes & Sayings

“If you're doing something outside of dominant culture, there's not an easy place for you. You will have to do it yourself.”

“Be passionate and move forward with gusto every single hour of every single day until you reach your goal.”

“When I'm marketing a film, whether its mine or someone else's, I work with a great deal of strategy and elbow grease until the job is done.”

“I don't understand the iPhone. I just don't get it. Don't ya'll have to write serious emails throughout the day? How can you possibly manage detailed missives on a phone with no keys?”

“Filmmakers need to realize that their job isn't done when they lock picture. We must see our films through.”

“Film school was a privilege I could not afford.”

“I wish I could be the black woman Soderbergh, and put the camera on my shoulder and shoot beautifully while I directed.”

“I didn't go to film school. I got my education on the set as a niche publicist in the film industry.”

“I'm a prison abolitionist because the prison system as it is set up is just not working. It's horrible.”

“All the traditional models for doing things are collapsing; from music to publishing to film, and it's a wide open door for people who are creative to do what they need to do without having institutions block their art.”