It’s been hailed by critics as diverse film-making at its best, but the director of Moonlight, which has six Golden Globe nominations, says the film is not a response to the #OscarsSoWhite criticism of last year’s award season.

Miami-born filmmaker Barry Jenkins wrote and directed the film, based on a play by Tarell Alvin McCraney, about a young African American boy named Chiron coming to terms with his sexuality as he grows up in a tough Florida neighbourhood.

However, while the shoot took only 25 days, Jenkins says he conceived the project “at least three-and-a-half years ago”.

He explains: “That’s fairly average because it takes a long time for a film to get made.

“So all these movies we have this year – Birth of a Nation, A United Kingdom, Loving, Fences – which are being framed as a reply to the campaign about the lack of diversity in the system, probably began about four years ago.  More