Barry Jenkins presents "Beale Street" to tears and applause



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TORONTO – Among the many people who were moved by Barry Jenkins' adaptation of James Jenwin, "If Beale Street could speak," none was more shaken than actor Brian Tyree Henry. "Gather up, Brian," he told himself on the stage of the Princess of Wales Theater a few moments after the premiere of the film at the Toronto International Film Festival.

"The black love is beautiful," he said, adding an explosive to the applause. "I do not think I've ever seen it like that. Barry, you have no idea what we needed and what we wanted.

Jenkins' sequel to her best winning picture "Moonlight" was arguably the most anticipated film in Toronto. It's the first big-screen adaptation of a Baldwin novel and the third film of a 38-year-old filmmaker, who has been propelled to fame by the amazing 'Moonlight' , An independent, low-budget film that has taken center stage at the Oscars.

Jenkins wrote the screenplay for "If Beale Street Could Talk" at the same time as he wrote the adaptation of Tarell's play "In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue" by Alvin McCraney. let him do the movie.

"I sincerely believe that Mr. Baldwin has chosen us all," said Colman Domingo, actor of the film. "I think Mr. Baldwin chose Mr. Jenkins. By getting to know these people, we know that Baldwin's words live in us – all that flaming, burning language, all that fury, all that passion, all that love that only Baldwin can write. Baldwin is the Shakespeare of our time.

In 1974, Baldwin tells the story of two young lovers of Harlem, Tish (newcomer Kiki Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James), whose life together, as it begins, is broken by a racist policeman and a false accusation. of rape. The film, bathed in the warm cinematography of James Laxton and the melancholy Miles Davis "Kind of Blue", inspired by the horns of the composer Nicholas Britell (who both worked on "Moonlight"), radiates the love between the two and the sorrow of their unfair situation but not rare.

"We like to say that there is Beale Street in every city," Jenkins said before the screening. "There is probably a Beale Street on the moon."

The reference of the moon was involuntarily ironic; Damien Chazelle's drama "First Man" for Neil Armstrong had its first screening in Toronto just before the premiere of "Beale Street" – an offbeat sequence that coincided with the famous Oscar of 2017. (Chazelle directed The Land , Which was mistakenly announced as Oscar's best winner before Jenkins' "Moonlight" was revealed as the real winner.)

But while "Beale Street" was quickly added to the list of this year's prize contenders, its first was dedicated to the beauty and difficulty of being black in America. Jenkins recalled, during the making of the film, an experience he had experienced in the midst of "Moonlight" post-Oscars celebrations. Leaving the Governors Awards, the Film Academy's After-Party, and attending a Justin Simien's "Dear White People" celebration (Jenkins directed an episode of the series), he heard his chauffeur on denote by the word n.

"If it can happen with a person who drives me, a person in power, what happens to a guy who works a shift at the factory, or to a guy who walks in the neighborhood? "Jenkins said. "I felt that at the height of my public consciousness, no matter. If this can happen to me, then it can happen to anyone and we have to tell these damn stories.

"If Beale Street Could Talk" will be released by Annapurna Pictures on November 30th.

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Follow Jake Coyle on Twitter at the following address: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

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