By Canadian Press

Barry Jenkins to direct film about choreographer Alvin Ailey

Jun 4, 2019 | 6:30 AM

NEW YORK — Barry Jenkins will direct a film based on the life of choreographer Alvin Ailey.

A spokesperson for Fox Searchlight on Monday confirmed that the studio is developing the project, with the “Moonlight” filmmaker directing. Jenkins last helmed the Oscar-nominated James Baldwin adaptation “If Beale Street Could Talk.”

Raised in segregated rural Texas, Ailey became a pioneering choreographer, dancer and director who helped popularize modern dance. He died in 1989 at the age of 58 from AIDS-related complications. In 2014, President Barack Obama awarded him a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The film will be partly based on Jennifer Dunning’s biography “Alvin Ailey: A Life in Dance.” Searchlight last year began developing the film after securing the rights to Ailey’s choreography from the Ailey Organization.

Sound Off

SOUND OFF: New 'iconic' Kamloops tourist attraction in development

7h ago

Question of the Week

Would you be inconvenienced by a postal strike?

Nov 12, 2024

CFJC TV Special

WATCH: Remembrance Day 2024 from Riverside Park

Nov 12, 2024

The Associated Press