Barry Jenkins (director)
| Barry Jenkins | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | Miami, Florida |
| Residence | Los Angeles, California |
| Occupation | Film director |
Barry Jenkins is an American filmmaker based in Los Angeles. He is best known for his films Medicine for Melancholy and the critically acclaimed Moonlight.
Early life
Jenkins was born in 1979 in Liberty City, Miami, along with three older siblings. His father passed away when he was 12, and had earlier separated from his mother, believing that Jenkins was not his biological son. During his childhood, Jenkins was raised by another woman in an overcrowded apartment. He attended Miami Northwestern Senior High School, where he played on the school football team. Jenkins later studied film at Florida State University in Tallahassee.[1]
Career
Jenkins's breakout film was Medicine for Melancholy, a low-budget independent feature released in 2008, starring Wyatt Cenac and Tracey Heggins.[2] The film was well received by critics.[1]
After the success of his previous film, Jenkins wrote an epic for Focus Features about “Stevie Wonder and time travel” and an adaptation to the James Baldwin novel If Beale Street Could Talk, both of which never entered production.[1][3] He later worked as a carpenter and co-founded an advertising company called Strike Anywhere. In 2011, he wrote and directed Remigration, a sci-fi short film about gentrification. Jenkins became a writer for HBO's The Leftovers, to which he commented, "I didn't get to do much."[1]
Jenkins directed and wrote the drama Moonlight, his first feature film in eight years.[1] The film was shot in Miami and premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 2016 to vast critical acclaim.[4][5]
His upcoming projects include a series based on Colson Whitehead's novel The Underground Railroad and a screenplay based on the life of Claressa Shields.[6]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Stephenson, Will. "Barry Jenkins Slow-Cooks His Masterpiece". The Fader. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ↑ Scott, A. O. (29 January 2009). "In Barry Jenkins's First Movie, a Short-Term Romance Leads to Big Questions". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ↑ Keegan, Rebecca. "To give birth to 'Moonlight,' writer-director Barry Jenkins dug deep into his past". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
- ↑ Hammond, Pete (September 1, 2016). "Telluride Film Festival Lineup: 'Sully', 'La La Land', 'Arrival', 'Bleed For This' & More". Deadline.com. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
- ↑ Buchanan, Kyle (2016-10-21). "Moonlight's Barry Jenkins on Directing One of the Best Films of the Year". Vulture. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
- ↑ "'Moonlight' Filmmaker Barry Jenkins Will Write Script For Fact-Based Female Boxer Coming-of-Age Drama". Indiewire.com. 7 October 2016.