Press play when you start the movie. These notes follow along, minute by minute. Questions to think about are at the end.
Tarell Alvin McCraney wrote "In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue," which was never staged.
Source · IMDb triviaBarry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, who wrote the play the film is based on, both grew up there. Both of their mothers struggled with addiction during the crack epidemic.
Source · IMDb triviaAlex Hibbert plays him as a child. Jenkins kept the three actors apart so each would build the character on his own.
Source · IMDb triviaThe budget was so tight that cast and crew also shared one bathroom stall.
Source · IMDb triviaIt cost about $1.5 million to make, which is very small for a movie that went on to win best picture.
Source · IMDb triviaCinematographer James Laxton filmed from the waves, so the camera rises and dips like you're swimming too.
Source · IMDb triviaHibbert didn't know how when filming started.
Source · IMDb triviaHe remembers growing up around green grass and golden sunsets, in a neighborhood where some very dark things also happened.
Source · IMDb triviaHe tells Little that at some point he has to decide for himself who he's going to be.
She shot them during a break from her press tour for the James Bond movie Spectre. She was nominated for an Oscar for the role.
Source · IMDb triviaShe didn't want to play a woman struggling with addiction. She said yes after Jenkins told her Paula was based on his own mother.
Source · IMDb triviaHe decided at the last minute to have Paula stare straight into the lens, slowed down, so the audience has to face her.
Source · IMDb triviaHe still won the Oscar for best supporting actor. He was the first Muslim actor to win an acting Oscar.
Source · IMDb triviaThe crew held a slate with a glowing timecode against the lens to shield it, and Jenkins liked how it looked out of focus.
Source · IMDb triviaJenkins went to Miami Northwestern Senior High in Liberty City, and several of its students were cast in the film. The school scenes were shot at Miramar High School. Ashton Sanders plays Chiron as a teenager.
Source · Local10 (WPLG Miami)Three years later he won an Emmy for playing Korey Wise in When They See Us.
Source · Television AcademyPitt's company, Plan B, helped Jenkins find the money and a distributor.
Source · IMDb triviaTrevante Rhodes plays him as an adult. Look at the gold fronts, the car and the crown on the dashboard.
It says BLACK305. Black is the nickname Kevin gave him, and 305 is Miami's area code.
Source · IMDb triviaComposer Nicholas Britell borrowed from "chopped and screwed," a Houston hip-hop style, and used it on violins and cellos.
Source · IMDb triviaIt's slowed down in the same chopped and screwed style as the score. This plays as he drives around Atlanta at the start of the chapter.
Source · IMDb triviaBarbara Lewis released the song in 1963. Listen to the words, and think about what Kevin can't say out loud. André Holland plays Kevin as an adult.
Source · IMDb triviaIt was the first film with an all-Black cast and the first LGBTQ film to win best picture.
Source · IMDb triviaIn the stories, Chiron is a centaur known as the wounded healer.
Source · IMDb triviaQuestions to think about on your own, or to talk through with whoever you watched with.
Juan tells Little he has to decide for himself who he's going to be. Who helped you decide who you were going to be? Who tried to decide for you?
Chiron spends years hiding parts of himself. What would it take for you to let someone see the part of you that you've kept hidden?
Chiron becomes a lot like Juan. Who in your life have you grown to resemble, for better or worse?
Times are matched to the film's subtitles, so they may be off by a minute on some versions. Each note links to its source. Still images will come from the studio's press materials.