Closed Meeting: CRCD Pride Juneteenth Film Discussion: Moonlight

Please note this meeting is closed to the public. This meeting will be held on ZOOM.

CRCD Film Discussion: MOONLIGHT

Thursday, June 18th | 8:00PM – 9:30PM

Held virtually on ZOOM

Moderators: David Goldenberg, M.D. & Meredith Wong, M.D.

Free admission for NYPSI and HFI community members and trainees.

Registration required

REGISTER HERE

 

In honor of Pride & Juneteenth, the NYPSI Committee on Racial Consciousness and the Diversities (CRCD) is hosting our 4th annual film discussion for our community on the film Moonlight (2016).

Moonlight follows Chiron, a young gay Black male in a rough neighborhood of Miami in the 1980s, across childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Chiron struggles to find his identity, sense of self, and human connection amid poverty, racism, homophobia, bullying, maternal addiction, and a fragile presence of care. Rather than offering a simple coming-out story, Moonlight explores how tenderness, shame, silence, societal expectations of masculinity, and longing shape Chiron’s development. For a psychoanalytic audience, the film opens questions about identity, attachment, trauma, defensive adaptation, recognition, and the complexities of being one’s self when physical and emotional safety are at risk.

Moonlight was directed and written by Barry Jenkins, based on the unpublished manuscript of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s semi-autobiographical play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. Filmed in 2015, it became the first film featuring an all-Black cast and the first film featuring LGBTQ+ themes to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Moonlight also won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Please watch the film ahead of the event and bring your thoughts, reactions, and insights. It is available for streaming on HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and other platforms.

We have listed some selected readings and a video offering perspectives on the film and its making. Please note these are not mandatory to attend and enjoy this event.

Come join us!

David Goldenberg and Meredith Wong (Co-chairs of CRCD) and the Members of CRCD

Moonlight Selected Readings & Video

Ottawa Psychoanalytic Society. (n.d.). Nothing is One Thing in Moonlight. Retrieved from https://ottawaps.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Moonlight.pdf

Lee, B. (2016, October 21). Moonlight’s Tarell Alvin McCraney: “I never had a coming out moment.” The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/oct/21/moonlight-film-tarell-alvin-mccraney-interview

Jerkins, M. (2017). An interview with Barry Jenkins. The Believer. Retrieved from https://www.thebeliever.net/an-interview-with-barry-jenkins/

Film Society of Lincoln Center. (2016). Moonlight Q&A with Barry Jenkins [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axX6hdPW8F8