Ava DuVernay names her four favourite movies
As a true visionary of American cinema, Ava DuVernay made history with Selma, her 2014 biopic on Martin Luther King Jr, becoming the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe, and she rightfully followed up with a further nomination for ‘Best Pictures’ at the Academy Awards. 2012’s Middle of Nowhere had already seen the California-born director become the first black woman to win the director’s award at the Sundance Film Festival, and her other films, including I Will Follow, the documentary 13th, A Wrinkle in Time and Origin, have drawn widespread acclaim.
Like any director worth their salt, DuVernay possesses a deep love for and a knowledge of the history of modern and classic cinema and in a feature with Letterboxd, she once named her four favourite movies of all time, giving clues as to her deepest inspirations and influences. DuVernay begins with Robert Wise’s 1961 musical romantic drama West Side Story, based on the 1957 Broadway stage musical of the same name. She proudly called the iconic movie “the film that changed my life”, adding, “I saw it when I was nine years old on television and never forgot it to this day; it’s inside of me.”
Up next is John Berry’s 1974 romantic comedy-drama Claudine, telling of a single black Harlem mother of six who falls in love with a refuse collector. “A beautiful film,” DuVernay said. “They’re young, they’re in love, they’re in the hood, they’re battling systemic oppression, and yet they’re beautiful and taking baths together. It’s just fantastic.”
Béla Tarr’s 2011 drama The Turin Horse also find its way onto DuVernay’s list of favourite movies. It tells of the whipping of a horse that took place in Turin and was said to have caused the mental breakdown of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It occurs over 30 long takes in black and white.
Finally, DuVernay completes her list with Gil Junger’s 2001 fantasy comedy Black Knight, which tells of a theme park worker transported back to medieval England. “I do believe that I’m the first filmmaker proudly to have The Turin Horse side by side with Black Knight,” DuVernay admitted. “It is a guilty pleasure, but I feel no guilt. The whole family gathers around at Christmas, and we watch Black Knight.”
DuVernay’s list is made up of widely varying films, from classic musicals to wacky comedies and proves that she can find the quality in a given movie regardless of its style or genre, which is undoubtedly a marker of a director utterly in love with their artistic craft.
Ava DuVernay’s favourite movies:
- West Side Story (Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, 1961)
- Claudine (John Berry, 1974)
- The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr, 2011)
- Black Knight (Gil Junger, 2001)
