On Thursday, director Ava DuVernay and her film collective ARRAY unleashed the power of Twitter to educate and inspire the film community with a 10-hour tweet-a-thon event for cinephiles to ask their favorite filmmakers all about how and why they make the movies they’ve made.
More than 60 directors participated in the day-long event, answering questions marked with the hashtag #ARRAYNow and dishing out candid advice and valuable industry knowledge
The full lineup of directors included blockbuster helmers Patty Jenkins (“Wonder Woman 1984”) and Jon M. Chu (“In the Heights”), breakthrough artists with buzzy upcoming projects Nia DaCosta (“Candyman”) and Radha Blank (“The 40 Year Old Version”), recent Oscar winners Matthew A. Cherry (“Hair Love”) and Peter Ramsey (“Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse”), and industry legends Mira Nair, Julie Dash, Malcolm D. Lee and Guillermo del Toro.
“I wanted this to feel like a virtual hug from filmmakers to film lovers. Hope it did,” DuVernay tweeted to her 2.3 million followers as she closed out the event.
Sharing her own advice in response to a question about using social media to break through “industry red tape,” DuVernay wrote, “That theory assumes that someone is going to help you. Very few of the directors in today’s event took that posture. They committed to their vision and found a way. On the journey, help will come, will be attracted to you. But don’t start from that place of need.”
Find the highlights of the event on @arraynow
