​Moonlight

The young Chiron (played by, in order, Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes) spent his entire life in Florida's bad neighborhoods without postcard-perfect views, sun-kissed beaches, broad streets or smiling people. Jenkins portrays a land far removed from images associated with  Miami Vice, where communities teem with bullies, small-time crooks, dealers and street gangs. Chiron stands no chance against them and while he goes all-out to avoid it, trouble always manages to find him. When he grows up, however, he realizes his real struggle is not with these places or people, but the internal fight with his feelings for his only friend. Moonlight is a coming-of-age story unlike any other, rooted in the passage of time, unusually sensual but directed with a steady hand. "The Guardian" called Jenkins's work a bold and uniquely told film about the struggle to accept one's own sexuality [that] is both heartbreaking and deeply relevant.