At Harvard "Selma" director Ava DuVernay addressed some of the controversy surrounding the film

The controversy surrounding Ava DuVernay’s “Selma” — which depicts Martin Luther King Jr.’s campaign to secure voting rights for African-Americans — hasn’t dampened the director’s spirits.

DuVernay stood firmly by her film last week, through what many have called a snub by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — the film received only two nominations, for best picture and best original song — as well as a bitter backlash over the movie’s portrayal of President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

The director arrived at a Harvard discussion on Martin Luther King Day fresh off two emotionally charged events.