Middle of Nowhere

Winner of the Best Director Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, MIDDLE OF NOWHERE follows Ruby, a bright medical student who sets aside her dreams and suspends her career when her husband is incarcerated.

As the committed couple stares into the hollow end of an eight-year prison sentence, Ruby must learn to live another life, one marked by shame and separation. But through a chance encounter and a stunning betrayal that shakes her to her core, this steadfast wife is soon propelled in new and often shocking directions of self-discovery - caught between two worlds and two men in the search for herself.

Winner of the Best Director prize at Sundance 2012; nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.

NEW YORK TIMES
January 27, 2012 | "Amazing Child, Typical Grown-Ups" by Manohla Dargis
"Further under the radar though far more successful is "Middle of Nowhere," a heartfelt, slow to build, slow to burn drama from Ava DuVernay about a young married woman, Ruby (Emayatzy Corinealdi), keeping body and soul together while her husband, Derek (Omari Hardwick), serves out his sentence in a California prison. Working with the terrific cinematographer Bradford Young, Ms. DuVernay fills her movie with long shots and meticulously framed images of casual beauty that reflect the quietly evolving inner life of her heroine."

LOS ANGELES TIMES
January 30, 2012 | "Sundance Film Festival: From 'Beasts' to 'Ice,' wonder wins out" by Kenny Turan
"…At the other end of the spectrum is "Middle of Nowhere," winner of the U.S. drama directing prize for Ava
DuVernay. This is classic filmmaking of a completely different sort…"

LOS ANGELES TIMES
January 20, 2012 | "Meaty Roles for Black Actors in MIDDLE OF NOWHERE"
"It's a real challenge to find African American characters with depth," Oyelowo said at a post-screening Q&A,
"But when I read this, it was just like 'Do the Right Thing,' or 'She's Gotta Have It,' the characters just lept off
the page.... Ava is transcending what is called 'black cinema."