Mérida, Yucatán – On the Academy Awards red carpet in February, “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins was asked what he was planning to do after the ceremonies.
That could have been his cue to say “I’m going to Disneyland!” But instead he announced something more fun.
“I’m going to Mexico,” he said. “I’m going to the Yucatán.”
By March 7, he posted this observation on Twitter: “So far it seems I’m the only black man in Merida, MX. Yet I’m at this restaurant & out of the speakers NOTHIN BUT the souls of black folks”
We didn’t notice at first when Jenkins soon after buried a reference to his trip in a March 9 tweet:
“Listenin to Alex Jaden Mahershala Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross Chopped&Screwed on a rooftop in Merida. How many dreams can one moment contain?”
The proprietor of Hennessy’s Irish Pub was apparently more observant.
When Jenkins appeared at the restaurant last night, Sean Hennessy, his partner Colm Cooney, the director and an unidentified female companion posed for a photo that Hennessy posted on social media.
The most dramatic night at the Oscars had “Moonlight” at its center. The wrong best picture, “La La Land,” was called to the stage before one of that film’s producers had to call over to the “Moonlight” entourage that they were the winners instead.
So listening to music on a Mérida rooftop was his way to unwind from all of that.
A property manager said on social media that Jenkins had rented a home in Mérida before the awards, too. Time will tell if the talented director will become a fixture in the city.
