Ava DuVernay Becomes First African American Woman Nominated for Best Director Golden Globe

From my latest Forbes post on the importance of Ava DuVernay’s historic nomination:

One of the most important parts of seeing Ava DuVernay’s nomination is the visibility that she will get on a worldwide stage. This is a woman whose last film, Middle of Nowhere, cost $200,000 to make and won her the best director award at Sundance. But Selma is a whole different story. She rewrote the script (she hasn’t gotten credit for her work) and is on a team with producers Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt. And the budget for this was $20 million. Still an indie number (albeit a big one), but a huge jump.

What Ava DuVernay will do, as I have seen her do, is to open the minds of young women and young people of color out in the world who have stories to tell. We cannot underestimate the importance of role models. Seeing someone who looks like you doing what you want to do allows young people to dream that they too matter, and that their stories and aspirations are valid.