Watch the trailer: ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins gives voice to a couple’s unbreakable bond and a family’s powerful embrace in ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’, a beautifully crafted love story set in 1970s New York.

Following his Best Picture Academy Award winner Moonlight, writer/director Barry Jenkins adapts the acclaimed James Baldwin novel If Beale Street Could Talk.

Friends since childhood, Tish (KiKi Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James) fall in love and are soon expecting their first child. But their plans for the future are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit.

Relying on familial and inner strength, Tish and Fonny must fortify themselves against a world intent on tearing them apart. Breathing new life into Baldwin’s brilliant narrative of black America, Jenkins delivers a beautifully crafted feast for the eyes, ears and heart with this quietly powerful masterpiece.

The film also stars Regina King, winner of the Best Actress in a Supporting Role Award at this year’s Oscars. King portrays Sharon Rivers, a steadfast matriarch devoted to her family and determined to support Tish.

In a story of hope, If Beale Street Could Talk tells us to trust love all the way. In New Zealand cinemas March 7.

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