The standing ovation that greeted acclaimed film-maker Ava DuVernay at the CARIFESTA XV Fireside Chat in Barbados was more than a welcome —it was recognition of a woman who has built an international reputation not only for her artistry but also for her advocacy for stories too often silenced.
Sitting across from Festival Director Carol Roberts in a living-room style exchange, DuVernay was candid, reflective, and often humorous as she retraced her unlikely journey from Hollywood publicist to one of the most influential directors in the world.
“I didn’t pick up a camera until I was 32 years old,” DuVernay told the audience, noting that in Hollywood terms, she was a late starter. “Most kids start making films in high school, or they go to film school. I studied English and African American Studies. I just loved movies.”
Her entry point was through publicity. “When you see a red carpet premiere, do you ever wonder who rolled out that carpet on their hands and knees? That was me,” she said to laughter. On those sets — often surrounded by predominantly white male crews — her desire to tell her own stories began to bloom.
One turning point came while visiting the set of Collateral, the Michael Mann thriller filmed in her Compton neighbourhood. “I thought, wow, they are shooting in my area. I want to do what he’s doing. And I just picked up a camera and started to tinker on the weekends.”
Her breakthrough arrived with Selma, the 2014 drama about Dr Martin Luther King Jr.’s march from Selma to Montgomery. Though seven directors had cycled through the project before her, DuVernay insisted she was destined for it. “My father is from Montgomery, Alabama. I studied African American history. I grew up steeped in this story,” she said. “When it landed in my lap, I felt very much that it was mine to do.”
Asked about recurring themes in her work, DuVernay was unequivocal. “Justice and dignity are sexy. They’re provocative, adventurous, exciting,” she said. “When I travel, people don’t want to talk about Marvel or rom-coms. They want to talk about their neighbourhood, their mother, their history.”
Her films, she argued, are not simply painful: “To triumph, you have to overcome obstacles. Yes, my films show hard things. But in the end, the hope is that you feel a sense of triumph. That’s what nourishes us.”
For DuVernay, the Fireside Chat was also an opportunity to speak directly to women in the audience and to extend an offer of solidarity: “Such a small tribe, but a mighty tribe,” she said. “I always like to make sure women know what the possibilities are, and that they’re part of a small but powerful global family.”
She acknowledged the particular challenges women face in the industry, recalling her own experiences navigating spaces dominated by men. Yet she insisted that Caribbean and Barbadian women filmmakers could claim their place by telling stories with authenticity and passion.
“The best story is the one you will do even if you aren’t being paid. You can tell when a film was loved into existence,” she said.
When a young filmmaker from the Cayman Islands asked DuVernay about navigating financiers while staying true to her voice and telling her own story, DuVernay’s answer was blunt: make it leaner, but don’t wait. “The American film industry is collapsing. Independent is the way forward,” she said. “If you have half your budget, go. Figure it out. Make it smaller but make it yours.”
Asked about her collaborations on set, DuVernay highlighted those whose work often goes unnoticed — makeup and hair artists.
“If an actor doesn’t feel like a character, we don’t have a movie. The makeup artist is the last person the actor sees before they see me. They hype them up, they transform them. That’s not trivial — that’s everything,” she noted.
Her reflection was not simply about cosmetics but about validation: women in every creative role are crucial to authentic storytelling. “Every person on a film set plays a role. It’s like a little town,” she said, adding that Barbados and the wider Caribbean must prepare to build industries that value the full spectrum of creative talent, not just the director’s chair.
When asked when she felt she had truly “arrived,” DuVernay rejected Hollywood’s traditional benchmarks. “I feel [I have] arrived when someone comes up to me and tells me what a film meant to them,” she said. For her, success was not about awards or premieres but about resonance — the bond between creator and audience.
She urged women not to measure themselves against an industry designed to exclude them. “The best story is the one you will do even if you aren’t being paid,” she insisted. “You can tell when a film was loved into existence.”
Through her independent collective Array, DuVernay is working to build networks beyond Hollywood. The initiative includes Array Crew, a database to diversify film hiring, and a community cinema in Los Angeles.
But her vision, she stressed, is global. “Our next step is really connecting — filmmakers in Barbados, Nigeria, Brazil, the US. We’re vibrant, but we’re disconnected. Once we connect, the art we create will be dynamic and outside corporate interests.”
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