Barry Jenkins is an award-winning writer/director whose feature film debut Medicine For Melancholy was released in theaters by IFC Films and hailed as one of the best films of 2009 by A.O. Scott of the NY Times. The picture earned Barry a slot on Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 Faces of Independent Film” list before embarking on an international festival tour highlighted by screenings at the Vienna and Toronto International Film Festivals, among others. Recent projects include the shorts Tall Enough and A Young Couple. He is currently developing a feature film with Focus Features.

GRANT AWARDED

In 2010, Barry Jenkins received a SFFS/KRF grant for screenwriting for Jeremiad. Jeremiah goes back to San Francisco following a term in San Quentin and quickly discovers that there’s a stigma on Black men returning from prison for which he has a compelling rebuttal, in the form of a prison clinic printout specifically declaring him HIV negative. The ensuing consequences challenge Jeremiah more than his incarceration did until he comes to understand that hope is the product of honesty.