Under her ARRAY Filmworks banner for Netflix, Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Ava DuVernay will direct, write and produce a new feature film adaptation based on the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and Oprah’s Book Club selection, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson.
Through a multiple-story structure, Caste examines the unspoken system that has shaped America and chronicles how our lives today are defined by a hierarchy of human divisions dating back generations.
Caste marks DuVernay’s next feature project and her first feature film at Netflix, reuniting her with Netflix executive Tendo Nagenda. The pair worked together on Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time, making her the highest grossing Black woman director in American box office history.
The project continues Netflix’s relationship with DuVernay, who was the first Black woman feature director to be nominated for an Academy Award with her acclaimed documentary, 13th, garnering BAFTA, Emmy and Peabody Awards. Most recently, her limited series When They See Us received 16 Emmy nominations. DuVernay is currently producing a limited series for Netflix based on the adolescent life of athlete and activist Colin Kaepernick entitled Colin in Black & White.
DuVernay will produce alongside Sarah Bremner and Paul Garnes of ARRAY Filmworks.