Moonlight

Oscar-winning American drama about a young African-American boy growing up in a rough neighbourhood in Miami, Florida. The film follows three periods of his life, showing how he wrestles with his identity, his masculinity, his sexual orientation and his place in the world.

The film follows three phases in the life of Chiron: child, teenager, and young adult. Chiron grows up in the poverty-stricken slums of Miami. His mother is a crack addict who has little time for him. His only ‘role model’ is a local drug dealer named Jean, who looks out for him. As a teenager and young adult, he learns to stand up for himself, slowly but surely becoming hardened by everything he’s going through. The environment he lives in demands a certain attitude, but the struggle with his orientation and identity rages furiously below the surface.

Director Barry Jenkins based the film on an unpublished theatre script entitled In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney. The film met with unanimous acclaim in the media. Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant called the film a ‘fragile and exceptional masterpiece’, while British newspaper The Guardian described it as ‘a visually ravishing portrait of masculinity’. Moonlight won Oscars for Best Film, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Writing Adapted Screenplay.