A chronicle of the childhood, adolescence and burgeoning adulthood of a young. African-American, gay man growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami.
Rating: 15
Running time: 1 hr 51mins
Director: Barry Jenkins
Cast: Mahershala Ali, Shariff Earp, Duan Sanderson
English | 2016
Three time periods – young adolescence, mid-teen and young adult – in the life of black-American Chiron is presented. When a child, Chiron lives with his single crack addict mother Paula in a crime ridden neighborhood in Miami. Chiron is a shy, withdrawn child largely due to his small size and being neglected by his mother, who is more concerned about getting her fixes and satisfying her carnal needs than taking care of him. Because of these issues, Chiron is bullied, the slurs hurled at him which he doesn’t understand beyond knowing that they are meant to be hurtful. Besides his same aged Cuban-American friend Kevin, Chiron is given what little guidance he has in life from a neighborhood drug dealer named Juan, who can see that he is neglected, and Juan’s caring girlfriend Teresa, whose home acts as a sanctuary away from the bullies and away from Paula’s abuse. With this childhood as a foundation, Chiron may have a predetermined path in life, one that will only be magnified in terms of its problems when he reaches his diffcult teen years when peer pressure affects what he and many of his peers do, unless he follows Juan’s advice of truly making his own decisions for himself.
Following the screening on Moonlight, we will be joined by UNMUTED who will be leading the post-film discussion.
UNMUTED is for people of colour who identify as LGBTQI or QTIPOC. Queer Trans People of Colour are disproportionately underrepresented, overlook, abused and isolated. We are here to give Birmingham, the tools to safely support and raise the voices and visibility of the QTIPOC community.
** Please note: doors will open at 6pm and the film will start promptly at 6.30pm.
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