Director Barry Jenkins has found his next feature following the Best Picture-winning Moonlight, with Variety reporting that he is set to helm an adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel If Beale Street Could Talk, which is being produced by Annapurna Pictures.
The project “follows Tish, a newly engaged Harlem woman who races against the clock to prove her lover’s innocence while carrying their first-born child. It is a celebration of love told through the story of a young couple, their families and their lives, trying to bring about justice through love, for love and the promise of the American dream.”
“James Baldwin is a man of and ahead of his time; his interrogations of the American consciousness have remained relevant to this day,” said Jenkins. “To translate the power of Tish and Fonny’s love to the screen in Baldwin’s image is a dream I’ve long held dear. Working alongside the Baldwin Estate, I’m excited to finally make that dream come true.”
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Jenkins originally wrote the screenplay for If Beale Street Could Talk back in 2013, the same year that he penned Moonlight. Production is set to get underway in October.
