--- title: Ava DuVernay 2017 Oscars, Essence March Cover description: Find out what 'Selma' and '13th' director Ava DuVernay said about her creative process and why her films are so important to her. canonical: https://time.com/4671693/ava-duvernay-2017-oscars-essence-cover/ author: Samantha Cooney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-15T15:33:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:49.336Z og:title: Ava DuVernay: 'I Don’t Have to Approach Film Like a Man Would’ og:description: The acclaimed director opens up about her creative process og:url: https://time.com/4671693/ava-duvernay-2017-oscars-essence-cover/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd329cf1502e6b98d/6988ba6dfb4eac349e890c91/ava-duvernay-films-children.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2017 Film Independent Filmmaker Grant And Spirit Award Nominees Brunch - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ava DuVernay: 'I Don’t Have to Approach Film Like a Man Would’ twitter:description: The acclaimed director opens up about her creative process twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd329cf1502e6b98d/6988ba6dfb4eac349e890c91/ava-duvernay-films-children.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ava DuVernay: 'I Don’t Have to Approach Film Like a Man Would’  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Feb 15, 2017 3:33 PM UTC  WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA - JANUARY 07: Director Ava DuVernay attends the 2017 Film Independent filmmaker grant and Spirit Award nominees brunch at BOA Steakhouse on January 7, 2017 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic) WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA - JANUARY 07: Director Ava DuVernay attends the 2017 Film Independent filmmaker grant and Spirit Award nominees brunch at BOA Steakhouse on January 7, 2017 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Feb 15, 2017 3:33 PM UTC [Ava DuVernay](http://motto.time.com/4438223/ava-duvernay-100-million-film/?iid=sr-link1) doesn’t need to approach filmmaking like a man. In the cover story for _Essence_‘s “Black Women in Hollywood” issue, the famed director opened up about her creative process. “I don’t have to approach film like a man would, or like anybody else I read about, because it’s personal…so there’s no right way or wrong way,” DuVernay told the magazine. DuVernay, whose documentary _13th_ is [nominated](http://time.com/4662871/ava-duvernay-13th-documentary-interview/) for an Oscar this year, instead likes to instill a sense of warmth and familiarity onto her film sets. “I like to know my cast personally,” she said. “\[It’s important to\] imbue the sets and the experience with a sense of myself, a sense of warmth, a sense of family, not shying away from the things…that make me a Black woman, and just embracing those things and letting that come out in the material itself.” She also opened up about why her films, which include the acclaimed [_Selma_](http://time.com/3651009/review-selma-1965-2014/?iid=sr-link3) and the forthcoming [_A Wrinkle in Time_](http://variety.com/2016/film/news/disney-ava-duvernay-wrinkle-in-time-april-2018-release-1201917738/)_,_ are so important to her. “I don’t have children. These films are my children,” she said. “I’m going to give them all the love and nurturing I can and send them out into the world to do what they’re gonna do.” _Essence_‘s March issue hits newsstands on Feb. 17\. Read more at [Essence.com](http://www.essence.com/celebrity/ava-duvernay-essence-march-cover) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4671693/ava-duvernay-2017-oscars-essence-cover/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4671693/ava-duvernay-2017-oscars-essence-cover/"},"headline":"Ava DuVernay: 'I Don’t Have to Approach Film Like a Man Would’","datePublished":"2017-02-15T15:33:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:49.336Z","description":"The acclaimed director opens up about her creative process","url":"https://time.com/4671693/ava-duvernay-2017-oscars-essence-cover/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd329cf1502e6b98d/6988ba6dfb4eac349e890c91/ava-duvernay-films-children.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Cooney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd329cf1502e6b98d/6988ba6dfb4eac349e890c91/ava-duvernay-films-children.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2017 Film Independent Filmmaker Grant And Spirit Award Nominees Brunch - Arrivals","caption":"2017 Film Independent Filmmaker Grant And Spirit Award Nominees Brunch - Arrivals","creditText":"Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4671693/ava-duvernay-2017-oscars-essence-cover/","name":"Ava DuVernay: 'I Don’t Have to Approach Film Like a Man Would’"}}]}] ```