Ava DuVernay is giving 10,000 16-year-olds the opportunity to watch her new film “Origin” for free.
According to reports, DuVernay made the announcement at TEDWomen 2023 in Atlanta during her sit down chat with host Pat Mitchell. “I need to make sure it [the film] gets to the audience, that it reaches folks, that it’s understood, that it’s interrogated, that it’s shared.”
She continued, “So, I have this crazy idea that I want every 16-year-old in the country to see the film for free if they want.” The director also introduced the website Seat16.com, where anyone can contribute $16 to pay for a teenager’s ticket. The website has a goal of raising $16,000 for 10,000 teenagers to watch the film.
Ava DuVernay also explained why she feels young people should watch the film. “The idea that, at that age, you’re starting to interrogate your place in the world, and what the world means to you, and how you fit in, it’s such a tender age, especially at this time, that young people be able to be autonomous in what they learn.”
She continued, “That they’re not told what they can’t learn. That they’re able to read what they want to read, see what they want to see. So, that’s our little solution.’
The film is an adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson’s non-fiction book, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” and it takes a dive into the author’s perspective of a “functioning caste system in American society and its parallels with similar systems in India and Nazi Germany.”
“Origin” is set to hit theaters on December 23rd, and it stars Niecy Nash-Betts, Blair Underwood, Aunjanue Ellis, and Audra McDonald.