Barry Jenkins

“I saw this at the Berkeley film archives. I can't even describe how good this movie is. Love this movie, so glad it's in the collection and I'm going to take this. I can hopefully get Andrew to sign it for me.”

“I remember getting on eBay and ordering this because I felt like I had to see it. The fact that somebody had made something that was 10 hours, I was like, you can't make anything that's 10 hours. So when I was in film school this was the film, this was the thing you got together like on a Saturday afternoon, you drank a few beers and you just watch this thing over and over again.”

“Where's the Ratcatcher DVD by the way? The first Criterion Barry Jenkins ever owned was Ratcatcher. Blu-ray for this one please. And this movie, and there's an interview with Lynne where she talks about blending actors and non-actors. Especially in Moonlight, I still use some of the things Lynne talks about.”

“George Washington is the second Criterion I ever own, which pretty much is just because I was in film school making shorts about young black people and I remember not realizing David Gordon Green was a white dude when I first saw the film. In my first film Medicine for Melancholy, we actually replicated that scene where people sitting around in a circle.”

“I will take this because I don't own it and out of respect for the form. I've seen this too many times to recount but out of respect for the form I can never see it too many times so I must take this.”

“Foundational. Talk about empathy, you know, both in the film but also just having empathy for the actors and what they're going through. Like, there's a film school in this box set. This is a bit overwhelming, there's just too much good here.”