Director Barry Jenkins has lined up his next project. The Moonlight helmer has been set to direct an untitled film about choreographer Alvin Ailey for Fox Searchlight.
Fox Searchlight made a deal early last year with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater which granted full cooperation from the organization that controls the rights to Ailey’s choreography. The package also included the rights to Jennifer Dunning’s seminal biography Alvin Ailey: A Life In Dance.
Barry Jenkins has been on quite a roll since directing Moonlight. He won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Best Picture-winner Moonlight, his breakout film for which he was also nominated for Best Director. Most recently, he was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for the celebrated If Beale Street Could Talk.
Alvin Ailey is credited for popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th-century concert dance. His company gained the nickname “Cultural Ambassador to the World” because of its extensive international touring.
