Barry Jenkins, 38-year old American director-producer-screenwriter, is going places with two of his critically acclaimed movies bagging awards at international film festivals.
The director received laurels for his three movies on 'black people'. These featured mostly coloured actors. His films are known for their focus on the riveting social issues faced by black people across
America and the dilution of the race.
In his debut movie, 'Medicine for Melancholy' (2008), the lead roles were played by Wyatt Cenac playing Micah and Tracey Heggins as Jo. The story revolved around two youngsters from a minority
community who have a one-night stand following which they spend the whole day together, talking and discovering their identities in San Francisco.
The film was well received by the critics especially at The Toronto Film Festival and what stood out was the "off-colour" look of the movie. The movie isn't black and white but it can't be classified as colour too. The whole movie seems to be a toned down version of subtle colours almost giving it a grey-ish look overall and this went well with the storyline.
'Moonlight' (2016), the second movie of Jenkins with an all-black cast, won an Oscar and a Golden Globe award amongst many other critical accolades. The trailer of the movie had an intriguing violin
music that kept the audience hooked on to the story.
The movie was about Chiron, a young black boy who gets bullied at school and is living with his cocaine-addicted mother. He struggles with his emotions and sexuality.
The well-directed movie was an instant success with Barry Jenkins revealing that his own background helped him while he was directing the scenes. Coming from a poor family, Barry's mother was also a
cocaine addict, and he could easily identify with the film's lead character.
In an interview with the 'Hollywood Reporter', the director revealed why he had to reshoot a lot of scenes as he wanted to convey each and every emotion.
"I know how it feels, I wanted to show it clearly as felt by real people," he said while talking about a particular scene in the movie where Chiron sees his mother in a different light.
Since the director has faced a lot while growing up, he was incorporating all those experiences to make his cinema real.
In one such incident, the director recalled that while promoting 'Moonlight', he faced racism at the hands of his driver who called him a 'nigger' after being made to wait for Jenkins at the event.
"So if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone and we’ve got to tell these damn stories." Barry Jenkins was quoted as saying.
Jenkins latest movie, 'If Beale Street Could Talk', has already created a huge impact across the world and has bagged the Second Runner Up prize at the Toronto festival's Midnight Madness programme.
The story deals with racism and is based on James Baldwin's novel. It is about a black couple and how the husband is wrongly convicted of raping a white woman. The story moves on with the pregnant wife
trying to clear her husband's name.
The trailer of the movie shows the strong loving bond shared by the young couple and how they deal with the situation together. The camera angles and natural background scores bring out the emotion of
love, distance and bondage strongly making the trailer even more engaging.
The movie is set to be released on September 30 in the US and going by the buzz that it has created at the international circuit, it will be safe to say that it will be going places and so also will be Jenkins.
The director is making sure that the discrimination and racism suffered by the blacks of America for decades is not only portrayed on screen but that also justice is done. It seems like he is a man on
a mission to get the dark people the respect and the acceptance they deserve.