March 12, 2012

Juan of the Dead Wins Lexus Audience Award


The Cuban undead opus, Juan of the Dead, which opens in the US on March 13th, has scooped the Lexus Audience Award at the Miami International Film Festival.  For full details on the award, the movies synopsis and trailers check below.


Miami, FL – Celebrating a successful 29th annual Miami International Film Festival (MIFF), produced and presented by Miami Dade College(MDC), guests gathered at MDC’s Historic Freedom Tower this past weekend to see the coveted Lexus Audience Award presented to Juan Of The Dead director Alejandro Brugués. 
 
After the sold-out Awards Night Gala at the Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts earlier in the evening, which saw top jury prizes go to Cristián Jiménez’s Bonsái, Bart Layton’s The Imposter and Kenya Márquez’s Expiration Date, hundreds of party-goers paraded into the MDC Freedom Tower for the Ultimat Social Life Awards Night Party. As Executive Director of MIFF Jaie Laplante presented the award to Brugués, guests shared the news with their friends via social media stations equipped at the party.
 
“I’m thrilled to have been able to present this award to Alejandro,” said Laplante. “The film that Miami has been clamoring for did not disappoint.  The enthusiastic response to the film was enthralling.”
 
“It’s a great honor for my film to have been chosen by the audience and that I was able to share this amazing moment with my family and friends,” said Brugués. “I love Miami and would like to thank the Festival for all its support.”

Juan Of The Dead screened on Friday, March 9th, and all 1,567 seats were filled at the successful gala screening of the comedy at the Olympia Theater. The film follows Juan (Alexis Díaz de Villegas) and some of his friends as they realize something is amiss in Havana, which is gradually being taken over by zombies. As the social order begins to crumble, the two launch a thriving business, hiring themselves out to people who need to put their beloved ones out of their zombie misery.

As previously announced, Outsider Pictures recently acquired the comedy from Mexico-based Latinofusion, the international film sales and distribution company, for US theatrical distribution.  Juan of the Dead will make its U.S. theatrical debut starting tomorrow, Tuesday, March 13th, opening in Miami and subsequently expanding to other markets. 
 
More than 70,000 people attended the 29th annual Festival, which screened over 100 films from 35 countries after opening with the world premiere of Tom Gustafson’s Mariachi Gringo on March 2nd.


Synopsis
Juan is 40 years old, most of which he spent in Cuba doing absolutely nothing. It’s his way of life, and he’s prepare to defend it at any cost, along with his pal Lázaro, as lazy as Juan but twice as dumb. Juan’s only emotional tie is his daughter, Camila, a beautiful young girl that doesn’t want anything to do with her father because the only thing he’s good at is getting into trouble.
Suddenly some strange things start to happen, people are turning violent attacking one to the other. Juan was first convinced it’s just another stage of the Revolution. Official media refer to the attacks as isolated incidents provoked by Cuban dissidents paid by the US government. Little by little Juan and his friends start to realize that the attackers are not normal human beings and that killing them is quite a difficult task. They’re not vampires, they’re not possesed, but they’re definitely not dissidents; a simple bite turns the victim into other violent killing machine and the only way to beat them is destroying their brains.
Juan decides that the best way of facing the situation is making some money out of it…..

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