She becomes the first African-American woman to receive the honor.
On Sunday, January 29, Ava Duvernay became the first Black woman to win Best Director at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Duvernay’s film Middle of Nowhere beat out festival favorite Beasts of the Southern Wild (directed by Benh Zeitlin), a story inspired by survivors of Hurricane Katrina who refused to leave New Orleans.
Nowhere is the story of a woman named Ruby who is forced to change her life after her husband is handed an eight year prison sentence. "It touches on the prison wives' tale, but really the story of a woman who's living in a relationship that's imbalanced," Duvernay said.
The movie was released by Forward Movement, who also produced the director's debut film, I Will Follow, released last March. Duvernay’s distribution company, African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement, (AFFRM), released Middle of Nowhere and the film was picked up by Participant Media, which also distributed An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting For Superman and The Help.
Watch the trailer for Middle of Nowhere above.
Check out other Black films at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.
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