Wright State graduate was production designer on Oscar-winner ‘Moonlight’

Hannah Beachler ’05 and W. Stuart McDowell, artistic director of Wright State’s Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures, at a recent screening on “Moonlight.” (Photo courtesy of W. Stuart McDowell)

It was a night to remember for Wright State graduate Hannah Beachler and the rest of the cast and crew of “Moonlight,” which won the best picture award at the 89th Academy Awards ceremony.

Beachler, who graduated in 2005 from Wright State’s Motion Pictures program, was the production designer on “Moonlight.”

“So proud to have been a part of such an important, moving and timeless story of love and acceptance, so poignant for the tenor of our current world,” Beachler said on Facebook. “And the world dripped in blue moonlight, if only for one evening.”

Beachler attended a special encore screening of “Moonlight” on Feb. 19 at The Neon, where she answered questions from the audience, which included Wright State students, staff and faculty.

“Moonlight” also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture, Drama.

Beachler was also the production designer of Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” album, which won a 2017 Art Directors Guild Award for excellence in production design and art direction.

Beyonce’s “Lemonade” centers on an emotional journey of feeling alienation and betrayal to ultimately extending forgiveness. Beachler said she interpreted the album as a way of “reaching back into a time period that was not a place that holds fondness for African-Americans. We wanted to flip it on its head, make it a place of knowledge and peace, which was also the best part about it.”

Beachler has worked as the production designer on “Miles Ahead,” a biographical film based on the life of jazz musician Miles Davis; “Creed,” the seventh film in the “Rocky” series; and “Fruitvale Station,” which won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Film and the Audience Award for Best Film at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013. She is currently working as the production designer on Marvel’s “Black Panther.”