Silmari Muñoz knew she wanted to show “Moonlight” at Point Park’s Gender and Sexuality Spectrum Alliance’s (GSSA) annual movie night as soon as she heard of its premise.

Although she knew she wanted to screen it for everyone, she decided to wait for this occasion to watch it herself.

“As soon as I heard about it I knew I wanted to show it,” Muñoz, senior education major and president of GSSA, said before the showing April 6. “I was waiting for today to watch it with other people.”

“Moonlight” is a 2016 drama about “the childhood, adolescence and burgeoning adulthood of a young, African-American gay man growing up in a rough neighborhood in Miami,” according to IMDb. Muñoz, who identifies as lesbian, said she was happy to have a movie tackle a subject like this.

“I was talking a lot about movies not having representation,” Muñoz said. “To see a movie like this come out is like a little victory and I’m excited for real representation like this.”

In the past, GSSA has shown “RENT,” “The Danish Girl” and “But I’m a Cheerleader” at its movie nights. Muñoz said she was happy to have a movie with such a good reputation shown this year.

“A lot of movies have gay characters just for comedy, or some are really sad, but this I think is different,” Muñoz said.

The film was scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. However, students showed up more than a half hour early with snacks and even blankets for watching the movie.

Freshman cinema major Olivia Busby was one of the first to enter, sitting in the front row of the auditorium.

“It really made you feel something, something that not everybody goes through,” Busby said after seeing the movie a second time.

Throughout the showing, most viewers’ eyes were locked on the screen as the story unfolded. As the final shot cut to black and the credits rolled, a brief pause separated the silence from scattered applause for the film. Muñoz was happy with what she saw.

“It did not disappoint,” Muñoz said after the film. “I liked that it is not just about being gay, and it gives me hope for future movies to have stories like this.”

Other first time viewers were also impressed.

“It attacks so many issues with such a simple storyline,” freshman cinema major Sarah Campbell said after the film.

Other students were also happy with the experience.

“It was so much more than just an LGBT film,” freshman cinema major Nicole Kennedy said after the film; her second time seeing it.

Cinema students like Busby, Kennedy and Campbell had an appreciation for the technical aspects of the filmmaking as well.

“Being a cinema student, I really appreciate every single shot like the way it showed real life and masculinity,” Busby said.

The film is also notable for an incident at the Academy Awards where the film “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as Best Picture, while “Moonlight” was the actual winner. After some confusion, the affair was corrected and “Moonlight” was recognized. Muñoz was watching live when this happened.

“It’s sad that they didn’t really get their moment at the Oscars,” Muñoz said.

Busby was happy with the rebound that took place.

“I thought it was a sweet moment the way the producers of ‘La La Land’ handled it,” Busby said.