Its assumed that Juan has died but it is never explicitly stated. There is only a mention of a "funeral."

One of Jenkins' influences is Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao Hsien, who is well known for having "dramatic" plot elements occur outside of the frame or in between scenes; characters refer to these offscreen scenes, which have impacted their lives in some way, only in passing or in retrospect.

Jenkins in general is an admirer of contemporary arthouse cinema from Asia. For example, the scene in the diner is practically an homage to Wong Kar-wai (In the Mood for Love, Happy Together, etc.).

Thanks for the response! So I guess I didn't miss a reveal of what had happened to Juan, good to know.

I was aware of the Wong influence on Moonlight and the diner scene, for my money the finest sequence in the film, certainly plays out with recognisable beats.

I had not heard about the Hou influence, although he is a filmmaker whom I also admire.

**SPOILER**

Having viewed Moonlight four times now, I do believe that the film explicitly states that Juan died. In the scene where Terrel and his fellow bully accost Charon in the middle of the street, one of them refers to "Juan's lady," and the other says something like, "He only been dead a minute," or something like that. The talk is very fast and full of urban slang, so it is easy to miss and difficult to recall precisely, but the film is unambiguous about Juan having died. What is ambiguous is why he died, and that ambiguity is a point of strength, inviting viewer participation as it does.

As a drug dealer, one can only guess that Juan may have died violently at the hands of another human; perhaps the movie hints at that sort of death when we later see Black (Chiron) ready a handgun in his car in Atlanta, just in case conflict arises as he eyes a group of young black men on the street.

But, really, we do not know.

I wondered why he suddenly disappeared from the film. That explains a lot.