Ava Duvernay is First Black Female to Win Best Director at Sundance

Great news out of Utah!

Ava Duvernay is now the first black women to win best director at the Sundance Film Festival.

Her film Middle Of Nowhere won the prize, beating out some very stiff competition. It is Duvernay’s second film; her first, entitled I Will Follow, was released last year to rave reviews.

From the Huffington Post:

“In her acceptance speech, Duvernay said that it was important that Nowhere be seen beyond the film festival and for ‘filmmakers of color to see one another’s films and have them seen.’ Nowhere was picked up for distribution last week by Participant Media, which also distributed An Inconvenient Truth, The Help, and Waiting For Superman.

Her win came as a shock, as Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts Of The Southern Wild, a story inspired by the people who refused to leave New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, was considered the favorite. (Beasts took home the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize.)

‘Middle of Nowhere is a story about a woman named Ruby who has lost her husband to incarceration,’ DuVernay told Jason Scoggins of the Sundance Project 2012. ‘It touches on the prison wives’ tale, but really the story of a woman who’s living in a relationship that’s imbalanced.’”

Read more at HuffingtonPost.com

And check out the trailer for Duvernay’s award-winning film Middle of Nowhere below!

Will you see Middle Of Nowhere?

Why do you think it has taken so long for a person of color to win best director at Sundance?

Sound off below!