Ava DuVernay’s new documentary, “13th,” opened the New York Film Festival last week with a thunderclap, relating the damning story of how, in the age of mass incarceration, prisons have largely become plantations, disproportionately warehousing and exploiting African-American men. The title of the film, which reaches theaters and Netflix on Friday, refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery except as punishment for a crime, a crucial loophole that, in Ms. DuVernay’s forceful telling, has been used for political gain and profit.
“13th” is her first full-length film since the critically acclaimed “Selma” (2014), but she has been working on several other projects — including the series “Queen Sugar,” which broke rating records for its premiere on the Oprah Winfrey Network, and Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” which she will be directing.
In a conversation before the premiere of “13th,” Ms. DuVernay explained how prisoners are being enslaved, why she chose to hire only women to direct her television show and why she dislikes the word “diversity.”
For the complete interview, visit TheNewYorktimes.com/Movies.
