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By: tiffreviews
indieWIRE - Barry Jenkins’ “Medicine For Melancholy” is having its Canadian premiere in the Discovery section of the 2008 Toronto International Film Film Festival. The film, which premiered at SXSW earlier this year, is about two African-American twentysomethings who wake up in bed together with no recollection of how they got there. They proceed to wander the streets of San Francisco, discussing issues of race, class, identity and gentrification, exploring sights of the city. Jenkins talked to indieWIRE about the film and his hopes for Toronto.
What initially attracted you to filmmaking and did that interest evolve while making your film?
I slipped into filmmaking through the backdoor, I was literally walking across campus when I saw a sign that said “film school” and decided to apply. That was seven years ago as an undergrad English major at Florida State, so I can’t say my interest evolved at all while making “Medicine For Melancholy”; the evolution occurred in the downtime between those two periods. More than anything, making this film only reinforced what drew me to filmmaking in the first place, working with a small group of people I knew intimately who cared about me and the work we were creating. We made this film with about seven people, almost all of whom I went to school with in the undergrad film program at FSU. Making this movie was more a step back to that incubation period at FSU when all I cared about in the world was making films with my friends… [Full Story]
