Evan Amaral

Courtesy of Annapurna Pictures In 2016, underdog Barry Jenkins took the American film scene by storm with his sophomore feature “Moonlight.” The film became the best-reviewed film of the year and won three Academy Awards — including Best Picture. It was the first Best Picture winner with an all-black cast, as well as the lowest-budgeted winner in history. To say “Moonlight” is a cultural watermark would be an understatement.

Courtesy of Annapurna Pictures After a platform release, Oscar-winning writer-director Barry Jenkins’ third feature, “If Beale Street Could Talk,” rolls into 65 theaters this Christmas. Based on the 1974 novel by James Baldwin, “Beale Street” is the first narrative film to be based on one of the legendary writer’s works. The film follows a young Harlem couple, Tish (KiKi Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James), who are expecting their first child.

Courtesy of Merrick Morton. A group of brooding men teams up to pull off the impossible task of stealing a large chunk of cash from a heavily guarded safe. Some live and some die, but someone goes home with the loot. It’s a classic setup in Hollywood genre filmmaking, from the postwar Noir era to the neon-soaked thrillers of Michael Mann.