Juan of the Dead win the Audience Award at the Havana Film Fest

Juan de los muertos (Juan of the dead) by director Alejandro Brugues was voted as most popular in Havana´s 33rd International Film Festival of New Latin American Cinema.

Some 5,000 votes confirm that Cuba´s first story about zombies attracted many movie goers, many more than Argentina´s Un cuento chino, also a favorite among the contenders. Eager crowds thronged movie houses this past week to catch screenings. Organizers had to hastily add extra midnight screenings to accommodate the crush. Even the NY TImes and the Washington Post called it “The hottest ticket in Havana” and commented on the event:

The Charles Chaplin Cinema bustled with several hundred eager spectators who stormed the doors once they opened Thursday night. And that was just those with special connections: journalists, family and friends of people involved in the movie, workers linked to Cuba’s film institute. Hundreds more lined up around the block outside.

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