Diego Luna, Nicolas Pereda and Rodrigo Plá Set for Competition at Mexico’s Morelia Film Festival
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- Morelia Film Festival (FICM) 24th edition runs October 16-25, featuring 96 feature-length and short films from filmmakers across 17 Mexican states competing for the El Ojo prize, a sculpture by Michoacán artist Javier Marín.
- Diego Luna's "Ashes"—his fifth directorial outing, which world premiered at Cannes and was acquired by Netflix for Latin America, Spain, and Portugal—heads a 12-film fiction competition expanded from a planned 8 due to submission quality.
- The festival received just 68 fiction feature submissions this year, down from a recent range of 80-100, according to selection committee member Rafael Aviña, who credited the final 12-film lineup to exceptional quality and sensitivity.
- Women directed 40% of the Official Selection, and the documentary slate includes three films by Indigenous filmmakers, including Zapotec director Alma Yoari Cizana Lopez and Hñähñu filmmaker Sara Stephany Padilla.
- Senior programmer Chloë Roddick characterized this as a robust documentary year, with 12 feature docs and 11 shorts selected and strong representation from Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities.
- Winning fiction, animation, and documentary shorts—along with the Mexican Documentary Feature winner—will be eligible for Academy Award nominations, with select shorts invited to screen at Cannes Critics' Week in 2027.
Why it matters: With submissions dropping to 68 fiction features from a recent 80-100 range yet the slate expanding from 8 to 12 films, Morelia is signaling a deliberate quality-over-quantity curation that elevates women directors (40% of the Official Selection) and Indigenous filmmakers. The Academy Award and Cannes Critics' Week pipelines make this festival a more visible launchpad for emerging Mexican talent.
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