The Amazing Year of Moonlight, Lemonade, and Black Panther Production Designer Hannah Beachler

Production designer Hannah Beachler has produced incredible artwork that led her to a former slave owning plantation in Louisiana where she stood among forty powerful women of color. They danced and cried and shared their stories. Oh, and they listened to Beyoncé sing Freedom a capella on a paper stage Beachler created.

Beyoncé’s triumphant visual album Lemonade splashed into the social conversation almost a year ago. Coming from one of the most influential black women in the world,

Know Your 2017 Oscar Nominees: Director

We’ve gone big for our Oscars coverage this year. Our annual "Know Your Nominee" series once again looks at every category, giving you the information you need to conquer your Oscars pool. Learn more about the nominees for Lead Actor, Foreign Language Film, Costume Designers, Documentary Short, Editing, Live Action Short, Actress in a Supporting Role, 

Know Your 2017 Oscar Nominees: Cinematography

We’ve gone big for our Oscars coverage this year. Our annual "Know Your Nominee" series once again looks at every category, giving you the information you need to conquer your Oscars pool. Learn more about the nominees for Lead Actor, Foreign Language Film, Costume Designers, Documentary Short, Editing, Live Action Short, Actress in a Supporting Role, 

Oscar Watch: Picking Three Actors for One Role in Moonlight

Yesi Ramirez knew she wanted to pick the actors for Moonlight as soon as she read the script — twice. "The first time I read the script I cried," she says. "The second time, I cried again." The Los Angeles-based casting director had never worked with Moonlight writer-director Barry Jenkins before, but she liked what she heard when they sat down for breakfasts to discuss the gay-themed Oscar contender that called for three actors to portray the forlorn "Chiron"

Moonlight‘s Editor Joi McMillon on Cutting the Story of a Lifetime

Nominated for six Golden Globes, the stunningly beautiful, brilliantly executed Moonlight was one of the best films of the year. We've spoken to composer Nicholas Brittell, breakout star Janelle Monáe and cinematographer James Laxton about how they helped bring director Barry Jenkins film to life. The story, tracking three periods of time in one young man's life—as a child, a teenager and a grown man—was based on the play by Tarell Alvin McCraney called "In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue."

Chopped & Screwed: How Moonlight Composer Morphed Acoustic Music into Rumbling Soundscapes

Composer Nicholas Britell played classical piano as a kid, attended Juilliard School's Pre-College program and studied music at Harvard University. But Britell brought an entirely different skill set to bear when director Barry Jenkins asked him to score coming-of-age Oscar contender Moonlight with "chopped and screwed" southern hip hop in mind.

What, exactly, is 'chopping and screwed'? "Basically, it’s when you slow down tracks so the pitch goes really low and you get these deep-end,

Breakout Star Janelle Monáe on Moonlight and Hidden Figures

The multi-talented Janelle Monáe is having one of the most remarkable starts to a film career in recent memory. The iconic musician has moved into acting with two roles in films that will likely vie for Oscars, and her performances in both have been earning plaudits from critics far and wide.

As Teresa in Barry Jenkins' remarkable Moonlight, the story of a young man name Chiron's struggle to find himself,

Oscar Watch: DP Shoots Lush Oscar-Contender Moonlight Wide Screen Anamorphic

Action franchises like Star Trek, X-Men and Transformers exploit the wide-screen "anamorphic" format so they can showcase epic-scaled explosions. By contrast, the biggest action sequence in coming-of-age drama Moonlight happens when a 14-year old boy busts a chair over the back of his high school classmate. A Best Picture contender, Moonlight takes place in Miami's rough Liberty City neighborhood, where Chiron (portrayed in successive time periods by Alex Hibbert,

Basking in Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight at the Middleburg Film Festival

Barry Jenkins' Moonlight played to a packed house at the Middleburg Film Festival, and for 110 minutes the crowd was mostly silent and rapt. Masterfully touching upon three periods in a single life, Moonlight is the rare film that manages to feel fully realized but impossibly swift, and I for one both wished the film had lingered just a little bit longer and was stunned by how quickly it had managed to move me,