One of the most in-demand voices in Hollywood, Nia DaCosta became the first Black woman to direct a Marvel Studios picture when she directed and co-wrote the 2023 Captain Marvel sequel, “The Marvels.”
With credits that include the television series “Top Boy,” movies “Candyman,” “Little Woods,” her latest release “Hedda” and the upcoming “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” DaCosta was recently honored at the Rome Film Festival with the Progressive Lifetime Achievement Award.
The accolade recognizes artists whose work continues to evolve and inspire and was presented by the festival’s Artistic Director, Paola Malanga.
DaCosta’s latest film “Hedda” is based on Henrik Ibsen’s play about a socialite’s over-the-top dinner party that goes wildly off-the-rails. Tackling Ibsen’s play is no easy feat, but DaCosta makes it entirely her own as she takes the film from 1890s Norway to 1950s England. In the movie, Tessa Thompson plays Hedda, a devilishly smart, if dangerously frustrated, woman of ambition who is trapped in a relationship with a man she doesn’t love.
Steeped in drama and dalliance, this dark and tragic tale has spontaneous energy in the score and much of Hedda, a dreamer, a schemer is built on DaCosta’s brilliant direction and cinematic vision.
By Samantha Ofole-Prince
