ARRAY is about to have its 10th birthday and will celebrate by releasing two of Ava DuVernay’s earliest films on Netflix. A press release has announced that ARRAY’s distribution branch, ARRAY Releasing, will launch the Sundance award-winning “Middle of Nowhere” and DuVernay’s first doc “This Is the Life” on Netflix tomorrow, February 11.
In 2012, DuVernay became the first African-American person to win Best Director at Sundance for “Middle of Nowhere,” the story of a woman (Emayatzy Corinealdi) torn between sacrificing her time and dreams to her incarcerated husband and pursuing her own passions. DuVernay wrote, directed, and produced the film. Lorraine Toussaint (“Your Honor”), David Oyelowo (“Selma”), and Omari Hardwick (“Power”) also star.
“This Is the Life” “showcases the emerging voices, the emcees, that shaped the alternative hip hop movement that flourished in LA in the 1990s, centered around the legendary the Good Life Café,” the source synopsizes. It screened as a work-in-progress at the 2008 Pan African Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Documentary and a Special Jury mention.
Founded in 2011 by DuVernay, ARRAY is a collective focused on telling inclusive stories by and about women and people of color. DuVernay and the org received the inaugural Marian MacDowell Arts Advocacy Award this past fall and recently launched an inclusive database of below-the-line talent. “Middle of Nowhere” and “This Is the Life” marks ARRAY’s first releases this year. Its recent titles include Shaz Bennett’s “Alaska Is a Drag,” Deepa Mehta’s “Funny Boy” and Isabel Sandoval’s “Lingua Franca.”
“Selma” and “A Wrinkle in Time” are among DuVernay’s other film credits. She made history as the first woman of color to helm a $100 million-plus live-action film with the latter. She received an Oscar nod and two Emmys for “13th,” her documentary linking mass incarceration to slavery. Her packed slate includes HBO Max’s DC comics adaptation “DMZ,” “Sovereign,” a Native American family drama in the works at NBC, and original podcasts for Spotify. DuVernay’s OWN family drama, “Queen Sugar,” returns for its fifth season February 16.
Check out trailers for “Middle of Nowhere” and “This Is the Life” below.
