It’s been nine years since Moonlight hit theaters and shook up the cinema world.
Director Barry Jenkins and playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney spun a classic Southern tale that captured the magic of queerness in a maladjusted world, the treasure of found family, and a romance that transcends time.
The film follows Chiron, played by Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes at different stages of his life, a dark-skinned Black boy in Florida who is discarded by his troubled mother (Naomie Harris) and bullied at school. He finds solace in the home of a drug dealer, Juan (Mahershala Ali), and his girlfriend, Theresa (Janelle Monae).
Chiron develops an emotional connection with a boy named Kevin (Jharrel Jerome) at school and learns to lean into his identity as a queer person after years of having to protect himself from the harsh realities of Liberty City, Florida.
By the film’s end, years have passed, and he reconnects with Kevin (André Holland) in a moment that feels both tender and redemptive.
The story is intimate, tense, and reflective, a portrait of characters who create an ad hoc community for one another staring in the face of a world riddled with social ills.
The legacy Moonlight leaves behind goes far beyond its Oscar wins or the countless discussions it sparked among film lovers and mainstream audiences alike. The film catapulted A24 into the spotlight as an indie powerhouse known for giving creators the freedom to make unconventional films that weren’t getting greenlit by the bigger studios.
It also redefined the conversation around representation, not as a box to check, but as an honest reflection of lived experience, particularly for those who have felt unseen or misunderstood.
That legacy extends to its cast, whose careers have flourished in the years since. Ali, who received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role, went on to win another Oscar for his next movie, Green Book.
Sanders appeared in Judas and the Black Messiah, produced by Ryan Coogler, and has made noise in the fashion world as well.
Holland, already a respected actor before Moonlight, became a leading man in films like High Flying Bird, The Big Cigar, and The Eddy, directed by Damien Chazelle.
Moonlight launched the career of Jerome, who went on to star in Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us—earning an Emmy—and in Boots Riley’s I’m a Virgo. Rhodes continued to make his mark with major roles in The Predator and Netflix’s Bird Box.
And we’ve watched Hibbert grow into a young man while starring as Kevin Williams on Showtime’s The Chi.
With such a timeless feel and the presence of its stars in our culture, nine years later, Moonlight is just as relevant now as it was during its creation. The film’s influence still ripples through cinema, and its message of love, identity, and resilience endures.
It’s a rare film where the stars aligned—literally and figuratively—to create something intimate, powerful, and timeless.
