Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty
Ava DuVernayis taking Hollywood to task for assuming she had directed two films about black people despite having nothing to do with either project.
DuVernay retweeted a since-deleted tweet that gave directing credit ofQueen and Slimto Melina Matsoukas. The film follows the story of Slim and Queen’s first date which ends in brutality when a cop pulls them over for a minor traffic violation.
The couple goes on the run after Slim shoots the officer in self-defense. Matsoukas directed the film from a Lena Waithe-written script.
Harrietchronicles the life of Harriet Tubman as she escapes from slavery and returns to the United States to create the Underground Railroad and liberate hundreds of slaves.
Kasi Lemmons co-wrote the screenplay with Gregory Allen Howard, an African-American screenwriter. Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou) also directed the film.
Queen and Slim.Andre D. Wagner/Universal Pictures
In November 2017, DuVernay was named one of PEOPLE’s 25 Women Changing the World andcalled out Hollywood’s discriminatory hiring practices.
“I would say that it’s quite intentional,” DuVernay said. “You’re basically saying, ‘This is what we want, and this is what we’re going to have.’ There’s no way you can tell me that there hasn’t been effort put into exclusion.”
DuVernay became thefirst black female directorto lead a $100 million film with the release of Disney’sA Wrinkle in Time.
Harriet.Glen Wilson / Focus Features
“Disney allowed me to open my imagination,” she said of the adaptation of the popular children’s sci-fi novel. “They believed in my vision in a way that was so nourishing to me as a filmmaker. It’s very rare to come across that.”
Harrietis now playing in theaters, whileQueen and Slimopens Friday.
source: people.com
