Who directed the 2016 independent drama Moonlight?

Barry Jenkins directed the 2016 independent drama Moonlight. He also wrote the screenplay, adapting Tarell Alvin McCraney’s unpublished semi-autobiographical play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. The film traces Chiron, a young Black man, through childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood as he navigates identity, sexuality, masculinity, and poverty in Miami.

Moonlight was produced by Plan B Entertainment and distributed by A24. Its three-part structure uses different actors for Chiron at each age: Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes. Mahershala Ali, André Holland, Janelle Monáe, and Naomie Harris are among the principal supporting performers.

The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in September 2016 and received widespread acclaim for Jenkins’s direction, James Laxton’s cinematography, Nicholas Britell’s score, and its restrained emotional storytelling. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture, with Jenkins receiving the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

A notable awards-night mix-up occurred when La La Land was initially announced as Best Picture before the mistake was corrected and Moonlight was named the winner. Steve McQueen and Ryan Coogler are sometimes confused with Jenkins because of their acclaimed films about Black identity, but neither directed Moonlight.