Prince William and Kate Middleton are still deeply angry with Prince Harry over one claim from his bombshell memoir Spare, according to reports.
05.09.2023 - 15:33 / deadline.com
Neon has acquired worldwide rights for Ava DuVernay’s Origin ahead of its world premiere in Competition at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday (September 6).
The studio said it had secured the rights with a competitive bid and is planning a release for late 2023.
DuVernay will make history in Venice as the first African-American woman director to premiere a film in competition in the festival’s 80-year history.
She wrote, produced and directed the biopic, which is inspired by the life and work of Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson, following her life as she pens her seminal book, Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents.
While grappling with tremendous personal tragedy, Isabel sets herself on a path of global investigation and discovery. Despite the colossal scope of her project, she finds beauty and bravery while crafting one of the defining American books of our time.
The cast features Oscar nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Niecy Nash-Betts, Vera Farmiga, Audra McDonald, Nick Offerman, Blair Underwood, Finn Wittrock, Jasmine Cephas-Jones and Connie Nielsen.
“I’ve known Ava for a long time and my love and admiration for her and her work goes back further, even before Middle of Nowhere,” said Neon CEO and Founder Tom Quinn.
“I’m truly humbled that it is this movie which has finally brought us together. She has always been a gifted storyteller, and her mastery of her craft shines through in this deeply personal and inspired adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson’s book, and dramatization of her remarkable life. Origin proves once again that Ava remains one of the most ground-breaking and essential filmmakers of her generation.”
Paul Garnes and DuVernay produced Origin under her ARRAY Filmworks banner.
In
Prince William and Kate Middleton are still deeply angry with Prince Harry over one claim from his bombshell memoir Spare, according to reports.
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Ava DuVernay touched down at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday evening with her new film Origin, which world premiered in Competition and received a more than eight-minute ovation in its debut screening.
Ellise Shafer Ava DuVernay’s latest film, “Origin,” premiered in competition at Venice Film Festival to a 5 minute and 46 second standing ovation. Based on Isabel Wilkerson’s book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” “Origin” chronicles “the remarkable life and work” of Wilkerson “as she investigates the genesis of injustice and uncovers a hidden truth that affects us all,” according to the film’s synopsis. The drama stars Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Niecy Nash-Betts, Jon Bernthal, Niecy Nash-Betts, Vera Farmiga, Audra McDonald, Nick Offerman, Blair Underwood, Connie Nielsen, Emily Yancy, Jasmine Cephas-Jones, Finn Wittock, Victoria Pedretti, Isha Blaaker and Myles Frost.
Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic In “Origin,” Ava DuVernay weaves a centuries- and continents-spanning narrative feature around the ideas of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Isabel Wilkerson, who rejects the word “racism.” It’s not that she doesn’t believe that racism exists; rather, she doesn’t think that racism alone can explain the inequity in human society — the way America’s founders could have written “all men are created equal” and meant something so different. As Isabel Wilkerson, the protagonist (played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), who is based on Isabel Wilkerson, the author of “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” puts it to her editor (Blair Underwood), “Racism as the primary language to understand everything is insufficient.” And later, to her sister (Niecy Nash-Betts): “We have to consider oppression in a way that does not centralize race.” The book “Caste” was Wilkerson’s answer to that challenge, drawing connections between discrimination in the United States and how Nazi Germany invented a social hierarchy to justify the Holocaust, which she links in turn to the rigid system of caste in India.
When Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) first conceived of the multifaceted premise that would eventually become the lauded non-fiction book “Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents,” her editors were concerned about whether she would manage to cohesively merge her personal experiences with all the moving parts of her research across cultures and continents to prove that it all interconnects. Venice Film Festival 2023: The 17 Most Anticipated Movies To Watch That’s in turn the same task that writer-director Ava DuVernay faced to convey the big-picture ideas and Wilkerson’s revelatory odyssey to put them on the page in an enticingly cinematic manner.
Ava DuVernay’s past experiences with the Venice Film Festival have been more exclusionary than esteemed, revealed the director during a press conference for her new film “Origin” on Wednesday.
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Ava DuVernay is making history today. In Venice with Origin, which world premieres in the Sala Grande this evening, she is the first African American female filmmaker to ever have been selected in competition at the world’s oldest festival. DuVernay earlier told Deadline’s Dominic Patten, “Venice was a big goal. It feels like a real full-circle moment.”
“That is the part where you look up and you say, ‘how could people have allowed their neighbors to be taken and put in the camps?’” says Origin director Ava DuVernay of the deep roots of discrimination and the cruel consequences of subjugation.
It’s crazy to think that it’s been nine years since the release of Ava DuVernay’s Oscar-nominated film, “Selma.” And over that time, while she has produced quite a bit and even directed an acclaimed limited series, DuVernay has only released one feature film, the underwhelming “A Wrinkle in Time.” However, it would appear the filmmaker is returning in a big, big way with her new film, “Origin.” READ MORE: ‘Origin’ First Look: Ava DuVernay’s Adaptation Of ‘Caste’ With Aunjanue Ellis, Jon Bernthal & Vera Farmiga Premieres At Venice On September 6 As seen in the new teaser for “Origin,” the film is inspired by the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson as she writes the book, “Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents.” The journey to bring that book to life finds Wilkerson traveling all over the world and experiencing various cultures. Continue reading ‘Origin’ Teaser: Ava DuVernay’s New Drama Is Picked Up By NEON & Will Hit Theaters Later This Year at The Playlist.
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Neon has acquired worldwide rights to Ava DuVernay’s “Origin” ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival. The movie, starring Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Niecy Nash-Betts, will also screen at the Toronto International Film Festival. “Origin” will be released in theaters later this year.
Ellise Shafer While receiving amfAR’s Award of Inspiration at the AIDS nonprofit’s Venice gala on Sunday night, Ava DuVernay recalled the first time she fell in love with movies. “It was the original ‘West Side Story,'” DuVernay said.