Nia DaCosta is gearing up for her biggest year yet. The filmmaker behind the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film “The Marvels,” has quickly become one of the most sought-after filmmakers in Hollywood since her feature debut in 2018. Ahead of the film’s release this November, we’re breaking down some of the biggest moments of her career thus far, looking back on her projects, success at various film festivals and more.
Harlem beginnings
DaCosta is a born-and-raised New Yorker. Growing up in Harlem, she was exposed to “film, music, theater, and performance art” at an early age by her mother, per a recent profile in Vanity Fair. In an interview with IndieWire in 2019, DaCosta recalled her high school A.P. English class shifting her trajectory. After reading the Joseph Conrad novel “Heart of Darkness” and subsequently watching the beloved adaptation by Francis Ford Coppola, “Apocalypse Now,” DaCosta gained a particular interest in filmmaking.
“I went through the 1970s in film, and I was so inspired by what I saw and by filmmakers like Scorsese, Lumet, Spielberg and Coppola,” she told the outlet. “They made me think I could do anything I wanted with film … that’s kind of where it started for me.” DaCosta eventually attended and graduated from New York University and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
Indie darling
After encouragement from her mother, DaCosta, after working as a production assistant, wrote the screenplay for “Little Woods,” a film inspired by conversations surrounding women’s healthcare, which was accepted into Sundance Labs. The project, starring Tessa Thompson and Lily James premiered to rave reviews at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018.
“I was really struck by what felt like a total lack of any real connection being made to people’s actual lives,” she told IndieWire in 2019. “And so I wanted to tell a story…
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