Great things are happening because of last year’s great films.

First, a course on Hidden Figures. And now, according to the Miami New Times, a street will be named after Best Picture winner Moonlight.

That’s right. Citizens of Liberty City will soon be able to take a stroll down Moonlight Way.

Besides being the setting for the film, Liberty City is where playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney (who wrote the play upon which the film is based) and Moonlight director Barry Jenkins grew up.

Ahead of the hometown boys returning for a celebration at Miami’s African Heritage Cultural Arts Center this weekend, Commissioner Audrey Edmonson announced that NW 22nd Avenue from NW 61st Street to NW 66th Street will from now on be known as Moonlight Way, saying, “This goes out to children still living here in the inner city that are told they’ll never amount to anything. It shows that it doesn’t matter how you were raised or where you grew up; you can still be someone.”

Moonlight Way, and all of Liberty City, is incredibly lovely, according to Jenkins. About capturing the locale for Moonlight, he told the Times, “I was asked once, ‘Were you ever afraid you were making a movie that was too beautiful because the subject matter was too heavy?’ And I was like, ‘Miami is a beautiful place.’ I remember green grass and bright lights, and to have tried to remove those things in service of a dark story would have been immoral.”

If you haven’t seen the film, and the director’s words don’t sway you, perhaps the commissioner’s will. She said, “To everyone, I’d say it’s still not too late to watch it. It will bring awareness to those not brought up that way. It definitely shows what goes on in the city.”

And couldn’t we all use a little more awareness?

So watch it, and next time you’re in Miami, take a moment to reflect, and to walk Moonlight Way.

Audrey Edmonson

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