It’s been a long eight years since Barry Jenkins released Medicine for Melancholy, his excellent feature directorial debut, and now the director is back with a poignant vengeance with his newest film, Moonlight. Based on the play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, by Tarell Alvin McCraney, the intimate drama follows a young man (Trevante Rhodes) as he undergoes three defining periods in his life throughout childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood in 1980s Miami. Coming of age during the height of Ronald Reagan’s war on drugs, he proceeds to discover and challenge his sexuality and masculinity, as well as his relationships with family and friends. Following a premiere at the Toronto Film Festival next month, Moonlight — which also stars Naomie Harris, Andre Holland, and Mahershala Ali — will arrive in theaters on October 21.