12TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL EVENT
Filméxico kicks off in November with an exciting lineup that highlights both acclaimed filmmakers and emerging voices from contemporary Mexican cinema. We will be returning to in person screenings at the Broadway starting November 9 – November 16.
Filméxico 2023 lineup will feature prominent works by indigenous filmmakers, as well as seasoned, new and local talent. We will also present a series of panel discussions with Mexican filmmakers, Utah community leaders and cultural binational specialists and allies.
ADMISSIONS
$12 per film screening
Join us for our opening night live conversation with director Luis F. Puente, following a screening of the short film I Have No Tears and I Must Cry (Sin lágrimas para llorar) on Thursday November 9. The shorts program which features four acclaimed films begins at 7:00 pm with the live conversation panel afterward.
We will also have a live panel following Home Is Somewhere Else (Mi Casa Está en Otra Parte) on Thursday November 16.
GUEST FILMMAKER: Luis F. Puente
Born in Mexico and emigrated to the US during his childhood, Luis Fernando Puente studied Media Arts at Brigham Young University. His recent work includes La Luna y El Colibrí, which participated in numerous film festivals and won multiple awards including the Mesquite Award for Best Texas Short Film at Cine Festival in San Antonio, Texas.
November 10 - November 16
These FREE pre-recorded panels will be available online at SLFSathome.org. These panels discussions are in English and Spanish with subtitles. Available starting Nov. 10 – Nov. 16.
Vaychiletik, Nyanga, 3 Days 3 Years: The San Cristóbal de las Casas Documentary Film School team, join this exciting conversation about the immense possibilities of community and collaboration, and three true stories of the Mayan and AfroMexican people driving the resistance and the change.
Participants:
- Nicolás Défossé, Florencia Gómez, Juan J Pérez and Medhin Tewolde.
- Moderator: José Manzo
Home Is Somewhere Else: A moving conversation about what is life around the undocumented experience, the power of stories that speak to universal needs and emotions, and the amazing crew of over 70 people who crafted this beautifully illustrated and 2023 Ariel winner for Best Animated Film.
Participants:
-
- Carlos Haggerman and Jorge Villalobos
- Moderator: Ciriac Álvarez
The Train and The Peninsula: A unique team of experts, gathered exclusively for Filméxico, discuss what does the future look like for the communities this trail project has already cut across, as well as what can be done about a notion of progress that seems imposed on those who will be affected the most by its outcome.
Participants:
- Juan Carlos Bravo, Abelardo de la Cruz, Genner Llanes-Ortiz
-
Moderator: Daniel Hernández.
FILM SCHEDULE
Learn more about each film below. Most films will be available in theater or virtually on slfsathome.org.
Films in theater start Thursday Nov. 10. Some films will be available virtually starting Friday Nov. 11.
Thurs Nov 9
7 PM
Nyanga (20 min)
+
3 Days, 3 Years / 3 Días, 3 Años (30 min)
+
Sweatshop Girl / Chica de Fábrica (16 min)
+
I Have No Tears and I Must Cry / Sin lágrimas para llorar (13 min)
+
Live panel with I Have No Tears and I Must Cry director Luis F. Puente (30 min)
Fri Nov 10
7 PM
Sweatshop Girl / Chica de Fábrica (16 min)
+
The Bone Woman / Huesera (90 min)
Sat Nov 11
7 PM
Tótem (95 min)Sun Nov 12
7 PM
Nyanga (20 min)
+
Courage / Coraje (90 min)
Mon Nov 13
7 PM
3 Days, 3 Years / 3 Días, 3 Años (30 min)
+
No Son Horas de Olvidar (76 min)
Tues Nov 14
7 PM
I Have No Tears and I Must Cry / Sin lágrimas para llorar
(13 min)
+
Dreams / Vaychiletik (83 min)
9 PM
Vaychiletik Panel discussion (Pre-recorded) (53 min)
Wed Nov 15
7 PM
The Train and The Península / El Tren y La Península
(88 min)
9 PM
The Train and The Península / El Tren y La Península Panel discussion (Pre-recorded) (47 min)
Thurs Nov 16
7 PM
Home Is Somewhere Else / Mi Casa Está en Otra Parte (87 min)
+
Live Panel Discussion (30 min)
FILMS
Listed alphabetically by title. All films are in Spanish with English subtitles.
THE BONE WOMAN
HUESERA
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10 | 7 PM
WILL SCREEN WITH SWEATSHOP GIRL (CHICA DE FÁBRICA)
93 min | 2022 | Mexico, Peru | Not Rated | Spanish | Feature
Directed by Michelle Garza Cervera
It should be the happiest time in Valeria’s life. She and her husband, Raul, have finally seen one of their longtime dreams come true: Valeria is pregnant. At first, everything seems perfect. Gradually, though, her mood darkens. With motherhood upon her, Valeria can’t shake off heavy self-doubt and a pervasive dread, the latter stemming from visions of spider-like presences and other possibly supernatural threats, all of which may be the work of an entity known as “La Huesera.” Hoping to confront these demons, she reconnects with the old, more carefree life she once gave up for Raul, including rekindling an old flame with her first love, Octavia.
COURAGE
CORAJE
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12 | 7 PM
WILL SCREEN WITH NYANGA
90 min | 2022 | Mexico | Not Rated | Spanish | Feature
Directed by Rubén Rojo Aura In old age, an actress faces the return home of her son, while her career is threatened by imminent blindness. A fiction based on the story of the protagonists themselves.DREAMS
VAYCHILETIK
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14 | 7 PM
WILL SCREEN WITH I HAVE NO TEARS, AND I MUST CRY (Sin lágrimas para llorar)
83 min | 2021 | Mexico | Not Rated | Spanish | Documentary Feature
Directed by Juan Javier Pérez
Through his dreams, José received a gift given by the gods. A gift that brings consequences. Now that he is at a mature age in life, José would like to rest, but he is not allowed. Vaychiletik explores this fierce yet beautiful reality, forged from the dreams of the Mayan people of Mexico.
HOME IS SOMEWHERE ELSE
MI CASA ESTÁ EN OTRA PARTE
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16 | 7 PM
WILL SCREEN WITH LIVE PANEL AFTER THE FILM
87 min | 2022 | Mexico | Not Rated | Spanish, English | Documentary Feature
Directed by Carlos Hagerman, Jorge Villalobos
Fully animated documentary that narrates three stories which share similar fears, hopes and emotions around living the undocumented experience: Jasmine, an 11 y/o US citizen who lives afraid of her undocumented parents being deported; Sisters Evelyn and Elizabeth -a US citizen and an undocumented immigrant respectively- separated by their different migratory status; and Lalo, who was deported from his home state of Utah to Mexico at 23 y/o and since then has become an advocate to this generation of returnees and deported Mexicans through his spoken word poetry.
I HAVE NO TEARS, AND I MUST CRY
SIN LÁGRIMAS PARA LLORAR
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9 & TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14 | 7 PM
WILL SCREEN ON OPENING NIGHT WITH NYANGA, 3 DAYS, 3 YEARS (3 DÍAS, 3 AÑOS), & SWEATSHOP GIRL (CHICA DE FÁBRICA), ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 9 & DREAMS (VAYCHILETIK) ON TUESDAY NOVEMBER 14
Live Panel following the Shorts program on Friday November 9.
13 min | 2022 | Mexico | Not Rated | Spanish | Short
Directed by Luis Fernando Puente
Maria Luisa is ready to plan her life in the US after almost a two year wait for her greencard to be aproved by the Department of Homeland Security, but when she and her husband, Jorge, are confronted about an error in her paperwork by an immigration officer, Maria Luisa is left to decide how to move forward in this seemingly endless limbo.
NO SON HORAS DE OLVIDAR
NO SON HORAS DE OLVIDAR
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13 | 7 PM
WILL SCREEN WITH 3 DAYS, 3 YEARS (3 DÍAS, 3 AÑOS)
76 min | 2020 | Mexico | Not Rated | Spanish | Documentary Feature
Directed by David Castañon Medina
Jorge is afraid. It seems inevitable that Juana will end up forgetting him because she has lost her identity on two occasions: the first, forced by the dictatorship in Chile; the last one, due to an Alzheimer’s outbreak. Anticipating the imminent disappearance from the world of his companion, Jorge investigates her disrupted memory through music, writings and images; willing to find the remnants of a life, the remnants of his love.
NYANGA
NYANGA
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9 & SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12 | 7 PM
WILL SCREEN WITH THE SHORTS PROGRAM ON THURSDAY NOVEMBER 9 & COURAGE (CORAJE) ON TUESDAY NOVEMBER 12
20 min | 2023 | Mexico | Not Rated | Spanish | Documentary Feature
Directed by Medhin Tewolde Serrano
During colonial times, Nyanga was kidnapped off the coast of Africa, brought to Mexico, and enslaved. Based on historical facts and using shadow theatre techniques and hand cinema, ‘Nyanga’ is a tribute to the resistance against colonial chains.
SWEATSHOP GIRL
CHICA DE FÁBRICA
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9 & FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10 | 7 PM
WILL SCREEN WITH THE SHORTS PROGRAM ON THURSDAY NOVEMBER 9 & THE BONE WOMAN (HUESERA) ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 10
16 min | 2022 | Mexico | Not Rated | Spanish | Short
Directed by Selma Cervantes
Inés works as a seamstress in a sweatshop where pregnancy tests are periodically administered. When she becomes pregnant, she is sure that her condition will get her fired. She does everything she can to keep it a secret.
THE TRAIN AND THE PENINSULA
EL TREN Y LA PENÍNSULA
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15 | 7 PM
88 min | 2023 | Mexico | Not Rated | Spanish, English, Mayan | Documentary Feature
Directed by Sky Richards, Andreas Kruger Foncerrada
It is a deep dive into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula as the 1500 km railroad megaproject called “Tren Maya” is being built. A cinematic journey along the projected route of the train takes us on a thrilling ride across the Peninsula. The incisive and transparent testimonies of the inhabitants of the Peninsula weave together a collective story and reveal a human landscape full of vitality and wisdom that exposes the clash between different ways of imagining progress. An urgent film that unveils the worlds hidden behind the tourist paradise that everyone knows, delving into the ideological and territorial battles unfolding in the ancestral land of the Maya.
3 DAYS 3 YEARS
3 DÍAS, 3 AÑOS
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9 & MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13 | 7 PM
WILL SCREEN WITH THE SHORTS PROGRAM ON THURSDAY NOVEMBER 9 & NO SON HORAS DE OLVIDAR ON MONDAY NOVEMBER 13
84 min | 2022 | Mexico | Not Rated | Spanish | Documentary Feature
Directed by Florencia Gómez Sántiz
Elena, a Mayan Tzotzil woman from San Andrés Larráinzar, Chiapas, is challenged by the uses and customs of her people when an almost entirely male community assembly appoints her as a municipal trustee. As an authority, she introduces us to the complexity of the system of socio-political organization in San Andrés. During her term of office, the traditional practice of masculinity begins to be questioned.
TÓTEM
TÓTEM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11 | 7 PM
95 min | 2023 | Mexico | Not Rated | Spanish | Feature
Directed by Lila Avilés
TÓTEM is a choral film about life. Seven-year-old Sol spends the day at her grandfather’s home, helping her aunts Nuri and Alejandra with the preparations for a surprise party they are throwing for Sol’s father, Tonatiuh. As daylight fades, a strange and chaotic atmosphere takes over, shattering the bonds that hold a family together. Sol will come to understand that her world is about to change dramatically, embracing the essence of letting go and cherishing the breath of life.
