Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

When we're talking about diversity, it's not a box to check. It is a reality that should be deeply felt and held and valued by all of us.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

Creativity is an energy. It's a precious energy, and it's something to be protected. A lot of people take for granted that they're a creative person, but I know from experience, feeling it in myself, it is a magic; it is an energy. And it can't be taken for granted.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

If your dream is only about you, it's too small.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

With the Black Lives Matter movement, a lot of the focus is on the protest and dissent. I'm hoping to dismantle the public notion - for folks outside of the community - of what Black Lives Matter means. It's really about saying that black lives matter: that humanity is the same when you go inside people's homes.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

'Selma' is a story about voice - the voice of a great leader; the voice of a community that triumphs despite turmoil; and the voice of a nation striving to grow into a better society. I hope the film reminds us that all voices are valuable and worthy of being heard.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

I love to see people just being regal in their own skin; it's just when they know who they are.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

Women have been trained in our culture and society to ask for what we want instead of taking what we want. We've been really indoctrinated with this culture of permission. I think it's true for women, and I think it's true for people of color. It's historic, and it's unfortunate and has somehow become part of our DNA. But that time has passed.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

I think any black woman is a queen. It's just, do you know it? Do you see it in yourself? Do you recognize it, do you abide by that, do you define yourself as that? Based on who we are and what we've been through and how we survive and where we stand, we are on kind of sacred ground. We stand on the backs of our ancestors.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

I'm a big people watcher and a people talker. The beautiful thing about being an artist and a creative person is that you can get an idea from anywhere, and I'm always on the hunt for them.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

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

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

Diversity is not one in the room. Diversity is not two in the room. Diversity is not three in the room. True diversity is half the room.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

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

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

Oprah Winfrey is a big role model for me from a business capacity and a creative capacity. She is an incredible interviewer who cultivated a certain style by inserting her own personhood into a show on national television at a time when no one was talking about empowerment, spirituality, or our inner lives.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

Nonviolence is pretty ballsy, pretty advanced weaponry.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

In documentaries, there's a truth that unfolds unnaturally, and you get to chronicle it. In narratives, you have to create the situations so that the truth will come out.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

I didn't start out thinking that I could ever make films. I started out being a film lover, loving films, and wanting to have a job that put me close to them and close to filmmakers and close to film sets.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

All black women aren't sassy, loud, difficult, or subservient. We are, in fact, very complex and very diverse, living very complex and diverse lives. That point cannot be made enough.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

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.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

I think that if we really want to break it down, that non-black filmmakers have had many, many years and many, many opportunities to tell many, many stories about themselves, and black filmmakers have not had as many years, as many opportunities, as many films to explore the nuances of our reality.

Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay

I want to be an old lady, with my cane, shouting, 'Action!' and 'Cut!'