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Barry Jenkins

Director

Barry Jenkins

Born November 19, 1979 in Miami, Florida, USA18 films

Barry Jenkins (born November 19, 1979) is an American filmmaker. After making his filmmaking debut with the short film My Josephine (2003), he directed his first feature film, Medicine for Melancholy (2008), for which he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Feature. He is also a creative collaborator and a member of The Chopstars collective.

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Following an eight-year hiatus from feature filmmaking, Jenkins directed and co-wrote the LGBTQ-themed independent drama Moonlight (2016), which won numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. Jenkins received an Oscar nomination for Best Director and jointly won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay with Tarell Alvin McCraney. He became the fourth Black person nominated for Best Director and the second to direct a Best Picture winner. He released his third directorial feature If Beale Street Could Talk 2018, to critical praise and earned nominations for his screenplay at the Academy Awards and Golden Globes.

He is also known for his work in television. In 2017, Jenkins directed "Chapter V" of the Netflix series Dear White People. In 2021, he created and directed the Amazon Video limited series The Underground Railroad, based on the novel of the same name. The series received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series or Movie nomination and won a Peabody Award. In 2017, Jenkins was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Barry Jenkins, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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The best way into Barry Jenkins's work
Moonlight posterFirst watchMoonlight20167.4The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in…View film

Essential films

Ranked by acclaim and reach
Mufasa: The Lion King poster7.3Mufasa: The Lion King2024If Beale Street Could Talk poster6.9If Beale Street Could Talk2018Medicine for Melancholy poster6.1Medicine for Melancholy2009

Filmography

18 films as director
  1. TBAThe IntuitionistDirector
  2. TBAUntitled Alvin Ailey ProjectDirector
  3. TBAThe Natural OrderDirector
  4. TBABe My BabyDirector
  5. 2024Mufasa: The Lion KingDirector
  6. 2023Another Young CoupleDirector
  7. 2021The GazeDirector
  8. 2018If Beale Street Could TalkDirector
  9. 2016MoonlightDirector
  10. 2013King's GymDirector
  11. 2011ChlorophylDirector
  12. 2011RemigrationDirector
  13. 2009Tall EnoughDirector
  14. 2009A Young CoupleDirector
  15. 2009One ShotDirector
  16. 2009Medicine for MelancholyDirector
  17. 2003Little Brown BoyDirector
  18. 2003My JosephineDirector