Neon will bring Ava DuVernay’s true story drama “Origin” back to 500 theaters for one night only this Wednesday.
The screening will feature a pre-taped introduction and post-screening Q&A with DuVernay about her dramatic retelling of the writing of the 2020 nonfiction book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.”
“Origin” stars Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as the book’s author, Isabel Wilkerson, who sets out on a global journey to research the history of discrimination and power structures to write a book on the caste structures that run throughout human history, from the untouchables of India to the Jim Crow laws of the United States and the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.
Along the way, Wilkerson’s research becomes intertwined with the personal tragedy in her life, taking care of her ailing mother while her cousin is diagnosed with cancer and her husband abruptly dies as she begins her work.
In a 2020 interview with TheWrap, DuVernay said she struggled with the adaptation initally. “I didn’t understand it the first time because it’s pretty weighty,” DuVernay said. “I got to the end of it and thought, OK, that could be it. I could put it aside and just keep going. But as I didn’t get it, let me read it again. So I read it again. And somewhere in the middle of the second time, I started to really hear the voice of the author. She came off the pages and became a bit of a character for me. That’s my thought: Could this be a movie? And everyone I asked said, ‘No, ma’am. It cannot be a movie.’”
“Origin” recently was awarded Best Drama, Best Director and Best Actress by the African American Film Critics Association. It also received NAACP Image Awards nominations for Outstanding Motion Picture, Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Youth Performance in a Motion Picture.
The screening will happen on 500 movie theater screens February 28.
