Academy Award-winning writer/director Barry Jenkins ' first film since the Best Picture Oscar-winning Moonlight is If Beale Street Could Talk , his adaptation of James Baldwin's novel - the first English-language feature film based on the work of the author, to whom the movie is dedicated. Set in early-1970s Harlem, If Beale Street Could Talk is a timeless and moving love story of both a couple's unbreakable bond and the African-American family's empowering embrace, as told through the eyes of 19-year-old Tish Rivers (screen newcomer KiKi Layne ). A daughter and wife-to-be, Tish vividly recalls the passion, respect and trust that have connected her and her artist fiancé Alonzo Hunt, who goes by the nickname Fonny ( Stephan James ). Friends since childhood, the devoted couple dream of a future together but their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit. Through the unique intimacy and power of cinema, If Beale Street Could Talk honor