"Moonlight" and "If Beale Street Could Talk" director Barry Jenkins has set his next film project, a biopic of the influential African-American choreographer Alvin Ailey.

Jenkins will make the movie for Fox Searchlight after the studio made a deal last year with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which controls the rights to Ailey's choreography. The organization will provide full cooperation on the project. Fox Searchlight also has the rights to Jennifer Dunning’s biography "Alvin Ailey: A Life In Dance."

Producers will also collaborate with Ailey's Artistic Director Robert Battle and Artistic Director Emerita, Judith Jamison.

In his early years, Ailey danced on Broadway but was dissatisfied with the state of modern dance. He founded his own company in 1958 and his choreography reflected his previous training in ballet, modern dance, jazz, and African dance techniques. His masterpiece "Revelations" is often cited as the most-seen modern dance performance.

Ailey died in 1989. In 2014, President Barack Obama selected Ailey to be a posthumous recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Jenkins is an Oscar winner for his screenplay for 2016's "Moonlight" and was just the second black person to direct a Best Picture winner. He also received an Oscar nomination for last year's "If Beale Street Could Talk."