It began at Telluride last month before picking up momentum at an emotional Toronto Film Festival premiere, and has since inspired rapturous praise at festivals in New York, London, and Rome ahead of this week’s October 21 release.Īs we talk in Beverly Hills, Jenkins is days away from taking Moonlight to perhaps an even more meaningful play date a world, or maybe even a lifetime, away-in Miami, where he’s from, the city that witnessed his own childhood joys and pain. Jenkins, 36, is approaching the tail end of a whirlwind festival tour with his tremendously wrought Moonlight, adapted from Tarell Alvin McCraney’s semi-autobiographical play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. They’re feeling the characters.” He grins, a smile lighting up his face. “I never expected this thing to go the way it’s been going so far,” marvels filmmaker Barry Jenkins, whose lyrical drama Moonlight has captivated critics and entered the awards race with real buzz-and, perhaps, a real shot at upending the usual Oscar bait fare.
