I still have my fingers crossed that Ava DuVernay’s The 13th wins Best Documentary at the Oscars on Sunday. While she has stiff competition, it would be so great if she got to stand on that stage with an Oscar in her hand. Please let it happen! Anyway, Ava covers the new issue of Essence, which is the March issue and the Black Women in Hollywood issue. Ava spoke to the magazine about The 13th, about the power of art and more. I’m also including some quotes from her recent interview with THR, just because she’s talking about similar things:

How she directs, as a woman: “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. I like to know my cast personally. [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.”

Her movies are her children: “I don’t have children. These films are my children. 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.”

The diversity in this year’s awards season: “We’re not there yet. It remains to be seen. So in the meantime, we need to do the work. And I think the work is even more important now in this era. It’s going to be important for artists of all kinds who are forward thinking ― particularly women, and particularly people of color, and particularly black people… Art will be our weapon.”

Even more inclusion: “We can applaud this year’s Oscar nominations, and we should. It’s a beautiful year, and it will be even more beautiful when there are Latino, Asian-American, Native American, people with disabilities [represented].”

Calling out Game of Thrones: “I’m often applauded for the all-women directorial team on ‘Queen Sugar’ or for my crews, which are always very inclusive. But don’t applaud me for doing the right thing — talk to the folks at ‘Game of Thrones,’ who’ve only hired one woman to direct in the last three years.”

[From Time, HuffPo & THR]

Oooh, Ava’s coming for Game of Thrones!! Seriously, GoT does have a problem with hiring dudes almost exclusively to direct, and more than that – white dudes. Most people rightfully point out that television is more diverse and inclusive in front of and behind the camera, but there are still big issues, obviously. As for Ava’s words on being an artist in Trump’s America and that “art will be our weapon,” I feel like we need more weapons. Art is great. But so is education, the truth, and a free press. And here’s something I’ve come to realize more and more in the past month: there is literally no way we are going to get through this Trump presidency without humor. We need to be able to laugh every day, and we need to be able to make fun of him every single day.

Cover courtesy of Essence, additional photo courtesy of WENN.