Miami International Film Festival 2012

US PREMIERE. The emperor truly has no clothes in Juan Minujín’s devastatingly funny drama/satire of a young Buenos Aires actor, mildly successful on a local level, who becomes obsessed with getting a role in a big-budget Hollywood movie shooting on location in his home country. Julian (played by Minujín) is working in an avant-garde theater piece and shooting a low-budget independent film - neither part is particularly rewarding. But when he finds out a Hollywood studio is coming to shoot a western in the Argentinian hinterlands, Julian’s long fantasy of playing the lead - in this case, the cowboy, or “vaquero” - becomes the focus, or raison d’etre, of his existence.

Long, rambling, stream-of-conscious voiceovers of Julian’s internal thoughts - an onslaught of ambition, jealous, bitterness, lust and revenge fantasy - belie his outwardly quiet, humble demeanor. These painfully honest monologues cut very close to the bone, laying bare the painfully low Latino ceiling of the Ibero-american cinema world (at least in relation to the global domination of the American entertainment industry), and how it can play havoc with the hopes and dreams of bright young talent. It’s films like Minujín’s that will put several thousand more cracks in that ceiling. - Jaie Laplante

ACTOR/WRITER/DIRECTOR JUAN MINUJÍN IS EXPECTED TO BE PRESENT FOR THE MARCH 6TH SCREENING ONLY.