Moonlight and American Honey
are tied with six Independent Spirit Awards nominations.
Written and directed by Barry Jenkins,
Moonlight follows an African-American man (played by Trevante
Rhodes) as he struggles to come out over three periods of his life
while growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami.
(Related: Barry
Jenkins: Donald Trump “too dense” to understand race relations,
LGBT rights.)
The film was nominated for Best
Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Ensemble, Best
Cinematography and Best Editing.
Moonlight, which had its world
premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado on September 2,
has generated Oscar buzz and the film's opening weekend broke this
year's per theater average.
(Related: Gay
drama Moonlight
has biggest per theater average in opening weekend.)