On a chilly spring day—a quirky occurrence in sunny California—a group of selected journalists, bloggers and influencers cued up to screen “Wrinkle in Time” on the famed Walt Disney lot. The buzz around the Disney movie, based on Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 novel of the same name, has been building, and March 9, 2018, the magic of this universe became available for all to enjoy.

It’s a complicated yet simple story about love and all of the possibilities of feeling it and giving it to others. The film brings to life the story of Meg Murry, an awkward adolescent who makes a seemingly “impossible journey,” traveling across dimensions to rescue her scientist father. Meg is guided by a trio of guardian angels collectively called “the Mrs.”

Those celestial beings include Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling), who speaks the words of famous souls such as Buddha and others. Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), a young being at 2,379,152,497 years old, and the most challenging. And finally Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey), the oldest and most enlightened.

The book and the movie are about what it means to be a source of light in a world in which darkness seems only to proliferate. It also makes the case for thinking independently when conformity is the norm. It also feels very modern—a reflection of what’s happening today and a warning of what could happen in our very near future if “evil” and “fear” are not stopped cold in their tracks.

The story is driven by Meg’s search for her father, whose disappearance obviously affects her young life. In the cosmic adventure, she is joined by her little brother, wise beyond his years, and a breathtakingly handsome classmate, Calvin, who is definitely crushing on her.

As quick as a blink of an eye the three are beaming to planets with familiar names such as Uriel and Ixchel. Where there is light there is darkness, and she discovers that an all-consuming evil—Dark Thing—is descending over a world called Camazotz, where humans’ minds are plugged into a disembodied brain that controls them. Kind of like being a zombie but no rotting flesh. The world of Camazotz is modeled after the pristine U.S. postwar suburban spots that are the image of the “American dream,” where carbon-copied children bounce their red ball in eerie unison. Light and love being effective in the end, Meg learns that she has had the tools—critical thinking and boundless love—required to save her father all along.

Ava DuVernay accepted a challenge, issued by Disney executive Tendo Nagenda, to “imagine” herself directing the film. In remembering how it all started, DuVernay made no bones about sharing that the Disney executive put the script in her hands and kept nagging at her.

“Ava, imagine the worlds you can create,” she recalled him saying. “And I said, ‘Worlds?’ He said, ‘There are planets, and you get to decide what they look like.’ I was just like, ‘I do?’”

Reality check, DuVernay hit the nail on the head posing these questions: “How many women hear that? How many people of color hear that?”

Here is a brief excerpt from the interviews with DuVernay, Winfrey and Storm Reid.

AmNews: In 1985 when you were in “The Color Purple” could you see yourself in a film like “Wrinkle in Time?”

Winfrey: No. I always say that God, life with a capital L.I.F.E., can dream a bigger dream for you than you can ever dream for yourself. I lived my life leaning into God’s dream, life’s dream, for me and wonderful things show up as a result of that. So I purposely sought Ava’s friendship. I could feel from looking at her little page, I Googled after seeing “Middle of Nowhere” …after seeing the film I appreciated the work and I learned that she did it with little to no money. I Googled her and I saw that she wears glasses, and I thought, “She wears glasses too” …she has such a warm, inviting presence and I thought, “I’m going to be her friend.”

You know, I haven’t made friends in a long time, so I wasn’t really sure how to do it. What do you do, just call her up and ask, “Will you be my friend?” I ended up having an event at my house and I thought if she could bring her mother then maybe she would be my friend. I had an event at my house created just so I could be Ava’s friend so that I could manifest that for myself.”