Q&A filmmaker Barry Jenkins and writer Tarell Alvin McCraney moderated by Darnell Moore with intro from Jonathan Demme
Wednesday, Oct. 19 2016, 5:30
Barry Jenkins (Writer/Director) had his feature debut with the film Medicine for Melancholy which was released in theaters by IFC Films and hailed as one of the best films of 2009 by A.O. Scott of The New York Times. A nominee for several Spirit and Gotham Awards, Jenkins’ recent work includes a screen adaptation for Overbrook Films and staff writing on HBO’s The Leftovers. In addition to being a curator and presenter at the Telluride Film Festival, he is a United States Artists Smith Fellow and was recently named one of the “20 Directors to Watch” in world cinema by The New York Times. Moonlight is his second feature film.
Tarell Alvin McCraney (Writer) is best known for his acclaimed trilogy The Brother/ Sister Plays, which includeThe Brothers Size, In the Red and Brown Water, and Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet. Other plays include Head of Passes, Choir Boy, and Wig Out! Tarell is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant, the Whiting Award, Steinberg Playwright Award, the Evening Standard Award, the New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award, the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, the Windham Campbell Award, and a Doris Duke Artist Award. He was the International Writer-in-Residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company from 2008-2010, and a former resident playwright at New Dramatists. He is an ensemble member at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and a member of Teo Castellanos/D-Projects in Miami.
Darnell L. Moore is a Senior Correspondent at MicNews, Co-Managing/Editor at The Feminist Wire and writer-in-residence at the Center on African American Religion, Sexual Politics and Social Justice at Columbia University. Along with NFL player Wade Davis II, he co-founded YOU Belong, a social good company focused on the development of diversity initiatives. Darnell has received numerous awards for his advocacy work, including the 2012 Humanitarian Award from the American Conference on Diversity, where he served as Chair of the LGBTQ Concerns Advisory Commission for the City of Newark. He assisted in organizing the Black Lives Matters Ride to Ferguson in the wake of Mike Brown’s tragic murder and along with Alicia Garza, Patrisee Cullors, and Opal Tometti (#BlackLivesMatter Co-Founders) developed the infrastructure for the BLM Network. A prolific writer, Darnell has been published in various media outlets including MSNBC, The Guardian, EBONY, The Advocate, OUT Magazine, VICE, Guernica, and others, as well as numerous academic journals including Harvard Journal of African American Policy, among others.
