TALLAHASSEE, Fla.–Moonlight, which just won (after some confusion) the Oscar for Best Picture, came about in part because a credit union played a supporting role.
The movie, which was nominated for an Oscar in eight categories, also won a Golden Globe for Best Picture. As CUToday.info reported in the lead-up to the Oscars, writer and director Barry Jenkins, who was also nominated for both of those roles in Moonlight, was able to make it to Hollywood more than a decade ago after he took home $5,000 from Florida Commerce Credit Union for winning its first-ever Pathfinder Award, which was presented as part of a partnership the credit union had with the Florida State University Film School, where Jenkins was enrolled.
“I had no money. So that award allowed me to move to LA immediately after graduation,” said Jenkins in a 2003 interview with Samantha Strickland, who at the time was with FCCU and who conducted the interview for its member publication, C2. “Getting there so quickly also allowed me to interview and receive a position as director’s assistant at Oprah Winfrey’s company, Harpo Films.”
Today, Strickland is CEO of the Pod Advertising in Tallahassee, Fla., which works with numerous credit unions and which has taken over the Pathfinder Award program in conjunction with the FSU Film School.
Strickland recalled the Pathfinder Award came about after the CU was opening a new branch and was using a Hollywood Premier theme to celebrate. That led to a relationship with the FSU Film School and, in turn, creation of the annual award.
The movie Moonlight, which is based on the play “Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue” by Tarell Alvin McCraney, was filmed in Jenkins’ hometown of Miami in 2015.
In a prescient observation, during the interview Strickland asked, “Can you see yourself ever shooting a film in Florida?” and Jenkins answered, “I’m actually from Miami and I have a script set there. I’d love to come back one day—no, I will definitely come back one day and shoot that film there.”
The film to which he was referring was what would eventually become Moonlight.