A woman finds herself torn between the lingering ache of a past love and the quiet suffocation of her present life in Director Nia DaCosta’s romantic drama, Hedda.

In DaCosta’s modern reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s classic play, Hedda Gabler, the newlywed daughter of a general navigates a house she does not want, a marriage she feels trapped in, and an ex-lover who reappears in her life one tumultuous night.

On October 22, after the DGA membership screening in New York, DaCosta discussed the making of Hedda during a Q&A moderated by Director Shaka King (Judas and the Black Messiah). She also discussed the film during a conversation moderated by Director Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once) following the Los Angeles screening on October 26.

Prompted by Scheinert to share advice to other women of color looking to break into an industry that sees so few of them in the feature Director's chair DaCosta said, “Apply to everything. That for me was like the big thing. I applied to everything, and I happened to get into Sundance and that was my path. Knock on every door. Kick every door! But then as I think, for me as a black woman it's like you have to do all that stuff but then — something kind of what the movie is about too — it's like there's the obvious oppression from the outside but then there's what you've internalized like the self-limitation. I had to learn how to own my authority even once I was getting the jobs and even once I was in the room. I had to own my authority and stand 10 toes down and be like, ‘this is what I'm doing and this is why’ and coming to terms with what you internalize can be more damaging than what comes at you from the outside.”

DaCosta’s other directorial credits include the feature films The Marvels, Candyman and Little Woods and episodes of Top Boy. She has been a DGA member since 2019.