Age: 46
male
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. 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.
Barry Jenkins
Writer
for Writer in Jesse Belvin: The Ballad of a Dreamer
Suggested by kamsismith
"Jesse Belvin: The Ballad of a Dreamer" is the untold story of one of the most gifted yet tragically overlooked pioneers of rhythm and blues. This biopic follows the life of Jesse Belvin, whose smooth tenor and heartfelt lyrics captivated audiences in the 1950s. Known as the "King of the Ballads," Belvin wrote and performed some of the era's most enduring love songs, including the iconic Goodnight My Love, a timeless classic. But behind the velvet voice was a man struggling with the weight of fame, racial injustice, and personal loss in an America still divided. From his humble beginnings in the segregated South to his rise as a celebrated artist on the West Coast, the film traces Jesse’s path through the music scene of the 1950s, where he collaborated with legends like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson. But as Jesse’s career flourishes, so too do the pressures and dangers of his success. A groundbreaking African-American artist during the golden age of R&B, Belvin faced constant racism and threats from an industry that saw his success as a challenge to the status quo. At the height of his career, Jesse Belvin's promising life was tragically cut short in a car accident at just 27 years old. In a bitter twist of fate, his death has remained shrouded in mystery, with suspicions of foul play and conspiracies that left a lasting impact on the music world.
