Barry Jenkins to direct If Beale Street Could Talk

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Barry Jenkins is to direct 'If Beale Street Could Talk'.

The 37-year-old filmmaker - whose latest movie 'Moonlight' won the Academy Award for Best Picture earlier this year - is set to helm an adaptation of the James Baldwin novel as his next project following his Oscar success.

According to Variety, Jenkins has been keen to make the movie for some time and penned the script in the same summer as he wrote 'Moonlight', for which he personally won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar this year.

The book tells the story of 19-year-old Tish who gets engaged 22-year-old Fonny and is then tasked with trying to prove his innocence after he is falsely accused of rape.

Baldwin's sister Gloria Karefa-Smart is thrilled the Baldwin Estate will be teaming up with Jenkins for the forthcoming film

She said: "We are delighted to entrust Barry Jenkins with this adaptation. Barry is a sublimely conscious and gifted filmmaker, whose medicine for melancholy impressed us so greatly that we had to work with him."

Jenkins added: "James Baldwin is a man of and ahead of his time; his interrogations of the American consciousness have remained relevant to this day.

"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."