SIMIEN It was the sort of thing that you would always talk about, but behind closed doors.

WAITHE Barry didn’t come up [in the school of thought that] you always had to write black people in a positive light. He was speaking to the kind of writing that I wanted to do, which is to just show us in the sunlight — not positive light, not dark light, just the light of day.

JENKINS So much of that movie is just a guy who needs to shout. And, with Micah, I was just shouting. I was angry in a certain way, and I was trying to understand why and at what.

SAULTER Something I think all of Barry’s films touch on is that, for a lot of people, and black people specifically, the political is personal and can’t be separated from everyday experiences.

SANDERS When everything with “Moonlight” happened [it was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three, including best picture and best adapted screenplay in 2017], it felt so vindicating because we had all been waiting and hoping that the world would feel what we felt the first time with “Medicine.”

SIMIEN Honestly, [“Medicine”] made me get off of my ass and get back to writing my script.

NANCE I remember walking out of the theater and literally saying out loud to myself, “O.K., I can do this.”

JENKINS I think if “Medicine for Melancholy” didn’t exist, all these people would’ve still gone on to do the same things that they did. But, when I take a step back, I think I also understand that because “Medicine” existed, it gave them just a little bit more confidence that when they did what they were going to do, there would be a place for it.