Ava DuVernay has a vocation of some kind.
Ava Marie DuVernay ( [ ˈeɪvə_ˌdjuːvərˈneɪ ] born August 24 , 1972 ) is an American director , screenwriter , film marketer , and film distributor . At the 2012 Sundance Film Festival , DuVernay won the Best Director Prize for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere , becoming the first African-American woman to win the award . For her work in Selma ( 2014 ) , DuVernay was the first black female director to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award . With Selma , she was also the first black female director to have her film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture , though she was not nominated for Best Director . DuVernay 's next film , A Wrinkle in Time , reportedly has a budget exceeding $ 100 million , making DuVernay the first black woman to direct a live-action film with a budget of that size .