Origin
Inspired by the NYT bestseller "Caste," Ava DuVernay's vibrant film centers author Isabel Wilkerson in this story about our shared history and the fight for our future.
23/24 Hop Film
In adapting Isabel Wilkerson's nonfiction bestseller Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents for the screen, director Ava DuVernay takes an audaciously inspired approach by putting the Pulitzer Prize-winning Wilkerson at the center of the story. The result is a remarkable and affecting journey through not only our shared history—American racism, India's caste system and Nazi persecution of Jews—but one woman's grief in the face of tremendous personal tragedy. In crafting one of the defining American books of our time, Wilkerson explores the mystery of history, the wonders of romance and a fight for the future of us all.
D: Ava DuVernay, US, 2023, 2h21m CC
Discussion follows with Prof. Trica Keaton and Prof. Smriti Upadhyay
Sometimes beauty doesn't look beautiful. Sometimes beauty is a truth revealed, a lesson learned. My experience making Origin was an exquisite, complicated journey that revealed its beauty in both good times and challenging times. This film transformed how I think about my work and my life, about love and being. The collaboration with an actor as gifted and passionate as Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor was an indescribable gift. The daily camaraderie of my producing partner Paul Garnes, cinematographer Matt Lloyd and editor Spencer Averick was a source of abundant joy. All in all, the story of making this film mirrors the journey of the main character within the film. Isabel Wilkerson finds beauty in harnessing bravery, ignoring naysayers and turning trauma into triumph. Gratefully, I did too.
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