After getting rave reviews from its initial South by Southwest Film Festival showing last year and subsequent festivals, coming out this week in limited theaters is an independent film that didn't cost of a lot of money to make. In fact, according to the writer and director Barry Jenkins, you could have sold your new car to make this film.

What happens when you meet someone at a party, have a connection, yet don't utter a word to each other? It's the next morning, and after having slept together, both of you are wondering what the next step is? Is there a connection beyond physical attraction? 'Medicine for Melancholy' explores this and more through the lives of two African Americans, Micah (Wyatt Cenac) and Jo (Tracey Heggins). Set in San Francisco, the movie follows these two as they try to get to know one another.

The title is based on collection of science fiction short stories by Ray Bradbury.

In speaking with Black Voices, Director Barry Jenkins talks about putting the film together with his friends and little capital.

How did the film come about for you?

Barry Jenkins: I'll give you the short version. Basically, I graduated film school, moved to LA and got a steady job, but got burned out. I wanted to create my own material, so I spent another two years traveling across the country until I met a woman in San Francisco. When the relationship ended, I knew I had to make a movie because I had nothing else to do. I didn't have any money, so I wrote a story about two people, and with the help of five friends, we put the film together.

Where did the concept for the story come from?

BJ: The concept came from this Clare Denis film called 'Vendredi Soir,' or 'Friday Night' in English. It's a French film about a couple that has a one-night stand. I remember seeing that movie, she's my favorite director, and I was thinking, "It would be really great to make a movie that simple that could explore human characters a bit deeper." That was really the first inspiration, and those characters in the film were in their late 30s and early 40s, which is more of my generation, and I wanted it to be about the morning after the one-night stand and not so much about the physical act.

Why shoot the film in black and white?

BJ: That was one of the original discussions I had with the cinematographer, my buddy James Laxton. We wanted the visuals to portray San Francisco,and the first thing we decided to do was to capture the image that would best display the emotional mood of the characters in relation to the city of San Francisco. It's not completely black and white. It's about 93 percent saturated. In a way, it reflects the small population of African Americans in the city. There is some color in the film, when the characters are being more intimate and are talking about politics and race.

Where did you find Wyatt Cenac and Tracey Heggins to play the two leads?

BJ: We didn't have any money so Tracey, who plays Jo, the female character, we found her through this site called Nowcasting.com. It's a Facebook for actors down in LA. We tried to cast the film in San Francisco with real people, but with a small African American population, we couldn't find anyone who was good enough to be in the movie. Wyatt is part of 'The Daily Show' and is a stand-up comedian and a friend of ours recommended him to us. He came out to LA and was great. We cast him almost after his 20-minute read.

Unlike Clare Denis's film, you injected some race and politics into your script? What angle were you looking to draw by that inclusion?

BJ: I felt that if I was going to make a movie, I wanted it to mean something to me. And I also felt that I had seen similar films where the setting and the time didn't affect the characters. A lot of what is going with Micah in the film are issues that I was going through at the time I wrote it. I wanted what was going on in San Francisco to affect the characters in our film. I wanted this romantic story to be political as well.

What challenges did you face in putting the film together?

BJ: The only issue I had was getting the courage to actually make the film. The film cost very little money. I can't tell you what the actual budget was, but let's say it was about the cost of a decent car. We didn't raise any money for it. I just went to my buddy and told him, 'I wanted to make a movie,' and we did it. It was only five of us, and it was all my best friends from college.

How happy are you that you are on the cover of Filmmaker magazine?

BJ: I'm not a pessimist. I'd like to say that I'm a realist. I try not to let any of that stuff change the perception of myself or my work, but it's really cool. It's a very nice thing that Scott Macaulay, the editor of the magazine, did. We were doing the interview, and at the end, he said, 'I think we should put you on the cover.' We were in the room, connecting, and things were going well. I'm very happy for Tracey and Wyatt, too.

What do you want people to get from watching this film?

BJ: I think the biggest thing was that we didn't try to have the movie cater to what people would be into. We made the movie personal. It's the most personal thing I've ever done. It's my story, and it's in black and white. So, instead of worrying about what people would think, I just went ahead and did it. I'm getting e-mails from other filmmakers asking if a certain budget is enough to make a film, and I'm telling them to just make the film with what you have. Somebody will come and see it.

What's next for you?

BJ: Right now, I'm writing, and I have an agent. I live in LA and am having a lot of meetings so that, hopefully, I can get paid for my craft. There are plenty of people of color looking to make quality films, and I'm hoping I can be in a position to help them out.