Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema - Downtown, Los Angeles
Director Barry Jenkins followed up the Academy Award-winning MOONLIGHT with a beautiful adaptation of James Baldwin’s classic novel *If Beale Street Could Talk*. Lyrical and devastating, Jenkins brings out achingly heartfelt performances from Stephan James (SELMA), Regina King (BOYZ N THE HOOD), and newcomer KiKi Layne. Set in early-1970s Harlem, this timeless and moving love story centers on young African-American couple Tish and Fonny. Friends since childhood, the devoted couple dreams of a future together, but their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit. Tish finds herself pregnant soon after, and both their lives become intensely uncertain. As Tish and her family fight to exonerate Fonny and make a life for their incoming child, it becomes clearer and clearer that the odds are stacked against them - and maybe the best they can do is love each other. Accompanied by a lush jazz score that finds the haunting beauty amidst the oppression and grime of ‘70s New York, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK is a comprehensive and emotional exploration of what it meant to be black in the 1970s – and what it means today.