Following the most closely watched Oscars finale ever — and rewatched, rewinded and played over again and again — Moonlight director Barry Jenkins took some deserving time off by heading to Mexico on vacation. The film business, however, is never that far away, a fact that the 37-year-old found out when he discovered a pirated copy of his best picture Oscar winner on the streets of a small Mexican town.
Unlike most filmmakers, or studios for that matter, Jenkins celebrated the discovery with a huge smile.
Jenkins on Thursday posted a photo on Instagram displaying the copy of Luz de Luna. “Walking by the bootleg man in Muna, Mexico and look what I found,” wrote the filmmaker, whose drama won three Oscars in all, including nods for best supporting actor Mahershala Ali and best adapted screenplay for Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney. “To fully comprehend this, you must know that Muna is a town with a population of 11,000 souls, a small-town lover’s kinda small town on the way to the Mayan ruins of Uxmal. We stopped for some fruit at an open air market and lo and behold, Luz De Luna. Mama we made it!!!”
Meanwhile, A24 is celebrating another major accomplishment as the film just passed the $50 million mark in global box-office receipts. It’s almost impossible to factor in how pirated copies sold on the street have affected the overall box office.
As for Jenkins, in addition to discovering his film on the street, the filmmaker kicked back at an Airbnb in Merida, Mexico.
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