Diego Luna, Nicolas Pereda and Rodrigo Plá Set for Competition at Mexico’s Morelia Film Festival

A-list festival acclaimed pics from some of Mexico’s most celebrated talent, many of them female and first-timers, make up this year’s line-up at the Morelia Film Festival (FICM). Running October 16-25, the 24th FICM edition features such luminaries as actor-producer Diego Luna (“Andor”) in his fifth outing as a director in “Ashes,” which world premiered in Cannes and was picked up by Netflix for Latin America, Spain and Portugal. It’s co-produced by Animal de Luz, run by Inna Payan whose directorial debut “Liliana’s Invincible Summer” (co-helmed with Samuel Kishi) will stream on Netflix. Also leading the pack of a dozen fiction features in competition for Morelia’s top Ojo Award, is Nicolas Pereda’s wry ‘Everything Else is Noise.” (“Lo demás es ruido”), acquired ahead of its debuts at the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF) and the New York Film Festival (NYFF) by U.S.-based distributor Pragda; Rodrigo Plá’s “The Newcomers” (“Los Nuevos”), a Patra Spanou pick-up soon after its world premiere at Locarno’s Kids Screenings and Fernanda Tovar’s feature debut “Sad Girlz,” snagged by Alpha Violet before its Berlinale debut. Popular on Variety A total of 96 feature-length and short films, helmed by filmmakers from 17 states across Mexico, will compete in their respective sections for El Ojo, a sculpture created by Michoacán artist Javier Marín, along with cash and in-kind awards. Dovetailing with the festival’s aim for diversity and inclusion, women directed 40% of the pics in the Official Selection, while some competing films were directed by filmmakers from Indigenous communities. “This has been one of the most fruitful years for the Mexican Feature Film section, which is a great source of pride for the festival. Interestingly, unlike in recent years, when we received between 80 and 100 fiction features, this year we received just 68. Yet the quality of those films made the final selection particularly challenging. We initially planned to select eight titles, but the exceptional quality and sensitivity of the work ultimately led us to expand the lineup to 12,” said Rafael Aviña, a member of the FICM selection committee. This year’s fiction lineup sees some overriding themes. Several of the pics look back at Mexico in the 1990s, while others follow teenagers navigating contemporary issues in an increasingly complicated society where their horizons feel narrower than ever. The selection also includes more experimental films, as well as stories centered on childhood – an unusual focus to date for Mexican feature filmmaking. Senior programmer and documentary programming coordinator Chloë Roddick also sees a robust year for Mexican documentaries. “In both [feature and shorts] sections, the real challenge for us this year was to narrow the selection down (12 titles in feature doc; 11 in shorts). The final selection reflects both the breadth of talent currently working on the documentary scene, as well as a plurality of stories, a strong interest in challenging structure and form and a diverse mix of voices – from first-time to more established filmmakers.” “As in previous years we saw strong feature and short film representation from Mexico´s Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities and the final selection includes three films by Indigenous filmmakers: Ramon Llaven´s ‘El baile de las ánimas’ and the short films ‘Ni racaladxe’ ‘(a co-direction from Zapotec director Alma Yoari Cizana Lopez) and Hñähñu filmmaker Sara Stephany Padilla´s ‘Mascaras del tiempo.’” “In the feature selection, films like Efrain Mojica and Rebecca Zweig´s Michoacán-set ‘Jarpieo’ premieres in Morelia after a healthy international festival run that included Sundance, Berlinale, CPH:Dox and True/False. Dano Garcia´s bold and genre-defying exploration of queer identity, ‘Mickey,’ premiered at SXSW, as did Otilia Padua Portillo´s immersive sci-fi portrait of Indigenous mushroom scientists, ‘Las hijas del bosque.’ First-time filmmaker Colette Ghunim´s nuanced and intimate portrait of her Mexican/Palestinian roots, ‘Traces of Home,’ exec produced by Melissa Barrera and John Leguizamo, bowed at DOC NYC.“ The documentary selection includes six more first features: Francisco Ohem’s Balkans-set “Los mariachis perdidos”; Pablo Vaca’s coming-of-age observational drama (with a twist) “Forensita”; ‘Yatra,’ Alejandro Rugama´s deeply personal exploration of sickness and isolation; Indigenous Chiapas-born filmmaker Ramon Llaven’s “El baile de las ánimas”; Vania Carolina Quevedo´s video-essay and ode to her baby daughter, “Mi sangre es petroleo” and Michoacán-born Mariano Renteria’s architectural opera ‘Odisea Nacional,’ which also participated in Morelia’s works-in-progress section, Impulso Morelia, in 2025. Winning short films in the Fiction, Animation and Documentary categories, along with the Mexican Documentary Feature winner, will be eligible to vie for an Academy Award nomination. Additionally, a selection of short films from this year’s crop will be invited to screen out of competition during the Cannes Festival’s Critics’ Week in 2027. Fiction Features in Competition “Against Nature” (“Contra la naturaleza”), Axel Bertha“A Lifetime” (“Toda una vida”), Ariel Gutiérrez“Ashes” (“Ceniza en la boca”), Diego Luna“Everything Else is Noise” (“Lo demás es ruido”), Nicolás Pereda“The Garden We Dreamed” (“El jardín que soñamos”), Joaquín del Paso“The Huntress” (“La cazadora”), Suzanne Andrews Correa“The Newcomers” (“Los nuevos”), Rodrigo Plá“The Nine Days of Poncho” (“Los días de Poncho”), Faustino Alanís“Nosotros” (“Nosotros”), Joaquín Ruano“Salón de Belleza” (“Salón de belleza”), Nathalia Acevedo“Sad Girlz” (“Chicas tristes”), Fernanda Tovar“Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building” (“6 meses en el edificio rosa con azul”), Bruno Santamaría Razo Documentaries “Daughters of the Forest” (“Hijas del bosque”), Otilia Portillo Padua“Dear Fátima” (“Querida Fátima”), Lorena Gutiérrez, Rodrigo Reyes, Jesús Quintana“Jaripeo” (“Jaripeo”), Efraín Mojica, Rebecca Zweig“Lost Mariachis” (“Los mariachis perdidos”), Francisco Ohem“Mickey” (“Mickey”), Dano García“My Blood Is Oil” (“Mi sangre es petróleo”), Vania Carolina Quevedo“National Odyssey” (“Odisea nacional”), Mariano Rentería“Reportage” (“Reportaje”), Nicolás Gutiérrez“The Dance of the Souls” (“El baile de las ánimas”), Ramón Llaven“The Little Forensic” (“Forensita”), Pablo Vaca“Traces of Home” (“Traces of Home”), Colette Ghunim“Yātrā” (“yātrā”), Alejandro Rugama