Today is the day! Welcome to @ARRAYNow’s Film Fellowship.

60+ film directors tweet directly with filmlovers all day!

All your q’s about movies. Answered by the folks who make them. Use hashtag #ARRAYNow.

And thanks to our pals at @Twitter for the custom emoji + all the love! 17 team members at @ARRAYNow have worked tirelessly to put this virtual event together. I thank the good folks of ARRAY in programming, marketing, production, post, publicity, social media, philanthropy, operations for embracing this idea with such enthusiasm. You are stellar. xo

Reflecting on the decade.

In 2010, I got a call from @BET. They heard I’d made an indie documentary about LA hip hop the year before. They offered me a doc on women in hip hop. It was my first paying directing job. I remember crying with joy. And hope.

With momentum from BET, got a job from @Essence to direct the 2010 ESSENCE MUSIC FEST. Had no clue what I was doing, but did it. 16 cameras in the Superdome. Still one of my faves.

That year, I also made a short doc about Katrina survivors for @tvonetv.

Five yrs ago today, @ManohlaDargis wrote this feature on me. SELMA was coming out on the heels of Ferguson, another community ignited by tragedy. Tension was in the air. I was worried black folks may not accept a new version of King. Turns out that’d be the least of my worries. This front page Arts & Leisure piece, which is big deal in the PR world, came out on the same day that Oprah hosted a gorgeous gospel brunch celebration for the film. I’ll remember this moment with @repjohnlewis forever. I thought things were going pretty well for SELMA.

In 1972, William Gunn, a prolific black playwright, was approached with the idea of making a "black vampire” movie. Gunn proceeded to make a stunning film decades ahead of its time and largely overlooked by cinephiles then and now, the mesmerizing: GANJA AND HESS. 1+ Despite being the only American film to screen at Critics Week at Cannes in 1973, Bill Gunn’s GANJA AND HESS was largely dismissed by most white American critics and lumped into the category of blaxploitation films. They didn’t get it. Couldn’t get. Didn’t want to get it.

I’ve been on a plane all morning. Just landed. Trying to make it home. Feel like I want to scream. And rage. And cry. I usually slip in and out of airports easily. Today, 3 different people come up to me - and gave me fuel. This just happened. First was a white man. Early 30s... Both reaching for our bags in the overhead he said: “I’m not usually this guy, but please keep doing what you do. We need to hear voices like yours. And I need to listen.” I could feel his heart. Grappling with the moment in his own skin. We spoke for a bit and then deplaned.

Now watching STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON. Deserved so much more than it got from the Powers That Be. Or shall I say The Powers That Used To Be. The direction by F. Gary Gray is beautiful. Libatique murders the shots. Performances are stellar. Got one nod. Problematic. #WhoDecides Going on a little rant about F. Gary Gray. If the industry was at all fair, he’d be a household name. But it ain’t, so he ain’t. I remember a conversation with a bunch of Academy members who don’t look like us. Had no idea who he was. He was only admitted to the Academy in 2015.

THREAD: Did you know this day is a mammoth one in African-American history? A date that has exposed two Americas.

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I was invited to make a film for @NMAAHC. I chose to chronicle "August 28" as a day in the life of my people. deadline.com/2016/09/ava-du…