Fernando Eimbcke, Daniel Giménez Cacho, David Pablos Vie for Ojo Awards at the 23rd Morelia International Film Festival

The 23^rd Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) promises a banner edition with some of Mexico’s most celebrated filmmakers and notable newcomers vying for its Ojo Awards. Among them are David Pablos whose “On the Road” (“En el Camino”), produced by Diego Luna and Inna Payan, competes in the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival in Sept.

Fernando Eimbcke, who first won acclaim with his debut feature “Duck Season,” is competing with his dramedy “Elm,” produced by Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment under its micro budget film finance initiative.

Daniel Giménez Cacho, best known for his iconic performances in Lucrecia Martel’s “Zama” and Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s “Bardo,” brings his feature directorial debut “Juana” to Morelia.

Actress Mayra Hermosillo (“Narcos: Mexico”) also vies for Morelia’s top honors with her first feature as a director that competes a month beforehand in the Venice Days sidebar. The family drama was recently picked up by Bendita Film Sales.

Another newcomer, Ernesto Martínez Bucio, winner of the Best First Feature Award at the Berlinale’s inaugural Perspectives strand, competes in Morelia with his childhood survival story “The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box).”

Perhaps by coincidence, many of the fiction films in competition this year feature child protagonists.

“The Morelia International Film Festival was created to promote Mexican filmmakers. Over the years, it has become an exceptional meeting point for the best of international cinema, while keeping its primordial mission of supporting and promoting Mexican cinema,” said Daniela Michel, the festival’s founder and general director, adding: “This year, the FICM Official Selection showcases impeccably crafted films, a faithful and unmistakable sample of the extraordinary cinema made in Mexico.”

According to the festival, more than 100 films make up the competition this edition: 16 works in the Michoacán Section (13 short films and 2 feature films), 61 works in the Mexican Short Film Section (16 animated, 14 documentary and 31 fiction), 14 works in the Mexican Documentary Section and 11 works in the Mexican Feature Film Section.

Founded in 2003 and considered one of the preeminent film festivals in Latin America, FICM takes place in the stunning city of Morelia, much built in the sixteenth century and a UNESCO Heritage site. Being quite a compact city, festival goers can walk from one venue to another. The colonial heart of the city is a maze of narrow streets flanked by well-preserved seventeenth and eihteenth-century buildings fashioned from the region’s distinctive pink stone.

The festival runs over Oct. 10-19 this year. It used to be held closer to Mexico’s all-important Day of the Dead festivities which meant the whole city was decked out in the days leading to it. Unfortunately, it also meant more people competing for hotel rooms.

Over the course of 23 years, Morelia has presented 1,500 Mexican films competing in its Official Selection, and 5,500 films in all seen via 8,000 screenings, attracting around 2 million in-person attendees and over 3 million virtual attendees, it reported.

Since 2018, the Morelia International Film Festival has presented the Artistic Excellence Award to such luminaries as Alfonso Cuarón, Robert Redford, Claire Denis, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Willem Dafoe, Jodie Foster and Francis Ford Coppola.

Mexican Fiction Features in Competition:

“Goodbye Love,” (“Adiós, amor,” Indra Villaseñor Amador)

After 11 years away, Chuy is deported to his hometown in Sinaloa, now scarred by drug violence. Reuniting with Chano, a childhood friend turned hitman, he confronts the secret that drove him away and still haunts him, searching for his place amid Sinaloan culture.

“Lovers Farewell With a Glance,” (“Los amantes se despiden con la mirada,” Rigoberto Perezcano)

In Oaxaca valley, Elida defies tradition, rejecting a forced marriage to wealthy Damián to pursue Olivo, a younger man inspired by his late father. The latest from the “Carmín Tropical” director.

“Angeles,” (“Angeles,” Paula Markovitch)

Markovitch’s fourth feature follows street urchin, Angeles, who sells candles, and a suicidal man in his fifties. Instead of trying to talk the man out of it, Angeles tries to help him.

“On the Road,” (“En el camino,” David Pablos)

Picked up by M-Appeal ahead of its Venice premiere, it turns on Veneno, a rebellious drifter, who charms Muñeco, a guarded trucker, into giving him a ride through the hyper-masculine world of northern Mexico’s long-haul trucking.

“The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box),” (“El diablo fuma (y guarda las cabezas de los cerillos quemados en la misma caja),” Ernesto Martínez Bucio

Set in mid-1990s Mexico City, the film offers “a journey back into the magical world of childhood,” exploring sibling bonds and the inherited nature of fear.

“The Guardian,” (“El guardián,” Nuria Ibáñez)

Debut fiction feature from documentary filmmaker Ibáñez who is known for docs “The Wild Stream” and “The Tightrope.”

“Juana” (“Juana,” Daniel Giménez Cacho)

Giménez Cacho’s feature directorial debut is an intimate, personal look at a journalist investigating a politician’s sexual abuse case, exploring why journalists risk everything in pursuit of the truth.

“The Reserve,” (“La reserve,” Pablo Pérez Lombardini)

Environmental thriller inspired by real accounts of environmental defenders, it follows a forest ranger committed to protecting the woods around her village. A title with fans when it screened at Ventana Sur.

“If We Don’t Burn How Do We Light Up the Night,” (“Sino ardemos, cómo iluminar la noche,” Kim Torres)

Laura, a shy thirteen-year-old, moves to a town near a dark forest and discovers a legendary beast preying on women, a truth revealed through her friendship with Daniela.

“Elm” (“Olmo,” Fernando Eimbcke)

A fourteen-year-old tending to his bedridden father with multiple sclerosis has his world upended when a neighbor invites him to a party.

“Vanilla” (“Vainilla,” Mayra Hermosillo)

Set in late 1980s Mexico, it follows eight-year-old Roberta who witnesses her family of seven women struggle to save their home from increasing debt, influencing her own views of herself and others. A buzz title at Ventana Sur.  

Mexican Documentaries in Competition:

“Àvia, Garden of Memories,” (“Àvia, el jardín de la memoria,” Rodrigo Ímaz)

“Backside,” (“Backside,” Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana)

“Binniza, the Beings of the Clouds,” (“Binnizá, los seres de las nubes,” Juan Carlos Rulfo)

“Boca Vieja,” (“Boca Vieja,” Yovegami Ascona Mora)

“Brigade 2045,” (“Brigada 2045,” Olivia Luengas)

 “In a Little While Later,” (“Hasta un momento más tarde / Chú siné paché Ba,” Pablo Tamez Sierra)

“Being Olimpia,” (“Llamarse Olimpia,” Indira Cato)

“Those Who Say No!” (“Los que dicen ¡no!,” Ángel Froilán Flores Martínez)

“I Watched Drops Fall, Lit by Lightning, and Every Time I Breathed, I Sighed, and Every Time I Thought, I Thought of You,” (“Miraba caer las gotas iluminadas por los relámpagos, y cada que respiraba, suspiraba, y cada vez que pensaba, pensaba en ti,” José de Jesús Gutiérrez García)

“Kids,” (“Niñxs,” Kani Lapuerta)

“Heroic Cadets,” (“Niños Héroes,” Emilio Maillé)

“Papá Melissa,” (“Papá Melissa,” Sophia Stieglitz)

 “The Dreams We Share,” (“Los sueños que compartimos,” Valentina Leduc Navarro)

 “Lives on the Border,” (“Vidas en la orilla,” Lucia Gajá)