The 41st edition of the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG41) has announced the selection of feature films and short films that will compete in the official “Hecho en Jalisco” section, which features fiction films and documentaries produced in the state of Jalisco or directed by a filmmaker from Jalisco.
"Hecho en Jalisco" honors local talent with the Mayahuel Award for Best Film from Jalisco and Best Short Film from Jalisco. The 2026 nominees are:
FEATURE FILMS
FICTION
The Circle of Liars (2026)
Nancy Cruz Orozco
Mexico
Cecilia arrives in Guadalajara for the first time to study at the School of Letters and become a writer. There she meets Nicolás and Aristeo, two young men who claim to be the founders—though, in reality, they are the only members—of “underground ultraism,” a literary movement that aims to transform Mexican literature. Through them, she meets Pita, an irreverent and openly bisexual poet, with whom she forms a genuine bond. Cecilia finds a new sense of belonging in this group, until the friendship that holds it together begins to crumble due to jealousy.
Day of the Dead (2026)
Brian Conley, Nathan Ives
Mexico | United States
After waking up in a rural Mexican clinic with no memory of who she is or how she got there, a young woman finds herself trapped in a terrifying world where the horrors of the Day of the Dead are all too real.
Talking to Strangers (2026)
Adrián García Bogliano
Mexico
Following the sudden and tragic death of her son, Patricia begins to fall apart. Tormented by painful memories and increasingly intense visions, she slips into states where reality blurs, as if the dead were dictating her dreams. As supernatural forces invade her home, the line between grief and madness begins to blur… and something sinister begins to awaken, feeding on her pain.
No translations are required (2026)
Rafael José Altamira Carbajal
Mexico
Paco is a charismatic taco vendor from Guadalajara whose life seems stuck between routine and the desire for something more. During the Day of the Dead, he tells his friend Memita how he met Gabby, an assistant at a fashion brand in Los Angeles, after a chaotic night that ended with his taco stand exploding. She invites him to try his luck in the United States, where Paco faces cultural barriers, romantic and work-related conflicts, until he is deported. Back in Mexico, he reflects on his future, until Gabby decides to leave her life in the United States behind to start a new one with him in Guadalajara.
SHORT FILMS
ANIMATION
Blooky: The Book That Wanted to Be Read (2025)
Pablo Díaz de León Hicks
Mexico | United States | Canada
A new little book gets lost in the vast labyrinth of a large library and wanders through all the sections in search of the place where it belongs, only to realize that the most meaningful place isn't always the one where you fit in best.
DOCUMENTARY
When I grow up (2026)
Pamela López Hernández
Mexico
Pame returns to the ballet school where she danced when she was three. She spends time with the girls who dance there today, 15 years after she was last there. She reflects on her own childhood, and as she watches the girls, she searches for answers about her present; through archival videos from when she was a child, she tries to answer the question: Why did I quit ballet?
The Watermark (2024)
Diego Reynoso
Mexico
Filmed almost entirely with a drone and infrared technology, the documentary features testimonies from residents about the industrial pollution of their river. Water, the central theme of the work, appears as both a mythical and an everyday element: part of creation, of mystical and religious rituals, but also of social and industrial development. Straddling the symbolic and the real, it becomes a reflection of life and daily routine. The film invites reflection on the complex relationships that humans have forged with nature and with an environment marked by human intervention and environmental degradation.
My Favorite Place (2026)
Alejandro Hidrogo Arechiga, Luis Zamarroni, Mariana Salazar, Sergio Campestre
Mexico
Chayito is a caregiver at a nursing home for elderly women in Guadalajara, a calling shaped by her own story of struggle and resilience. After fleeing her hometown, she found refuge in this place, which, over the years, became her home and her mission. Her love and dedication have made her indispensable, not only in caring for the residents but also in raising and supporting her own family outside the nursing home.
Honey and the Wound (2026)
Sergio Ruiz Velasco
Mexico | Portugal
Luciana strives to restore dignity to her community—a group of immigrants like herself who live in a former naval warehouse in Lisbon. Despite the precarious conditions, the contradictions, and the indifference of those around her, she resists despair through care and tenderness.
The Topography of Bodies (2026)
Sergio Ruiz Velasco, Georgina Snaddon, Karina Russa
Mexico | Hungary | South Africa
Karina, a young Venezuelan-Hungarian puppeteer, creates a portal to her father’s homeland through imagined dreamlike landscapes. Using family archives, looped sounds, and shadows, the past becomes the present. As she strives to preserve her father’s legacy and memories, she comes to terms with her fear of the future and the inevitable farewell.
FICTION
Squatted House (2026)
Alejandro Meludis
Mexico
Filmed in 1996 on 16mm and never completed due to technical issues and the loss of the footage, 30 years later, thanks to a stroke of luck and advances in technology, the director has managed to complete and premiere this film for the first time—a loose adaptation of Julio Cortázar’s short story *Casa Tomada*—which tells the story of two unmarried siblings who live a routine life in an old family home they inherited. Gradually, strange and indefinable noises invade parts of the house, forcing them to cede more and more space until they are completely expelled from their home, accepting their displacement passively.
When I get home (2026)
Edgar Adrián
Mexico
Paco, a teenager from Guadalajara, lives with his grandmother Pina, a seamstress who supports him through her work and her presence. While Pina is making him a shirt, Paco begins to feel a restlessness he can’t quite put into words, related to who he is and how he is seen. During the temple festivities, Paco walks through the fair with Andrea, his best friend, enjoying the sense of freedom he feels by her side. There, he meets Mario, which awakens a new and confusing desire as he grapples with the tension between what he feels and what he dares to show. Back home, this search for identity puts his relationship with his grandmother at risk.
Flowers (2025)
Job Samaniego Rivera
Mexico
After a magical encounter with a flower, Moisés and his daughter Samy embark on a journey of discovery and transformation. Through an ancient tale and Samy’s perspective, a world full of color is revealed, where other ways of being begin to emerge, allowing Moisés to accept himself and finally see Samy for who she truly is.
Nine eleven (2026)
Alejandro Flores
Mexico
Based on a true story, it explores the intimate and devastating moment when a romantic relationship fractures in the face of society’s deepest prejudices. In an ordinary café, through a monologue punctuated by pauses, the protagonist confronts the end of her engagement by revealing cruel thoughts about adoption and her partner’s brother’s disability. With an everyday, mundane setting, the film reflects how social judgments infiltrate intimacy and lay bare contemporary individualism.
For a Lifetime (2026)
Fernanda Camacho
Mexico
After their divorce, Rodolfo and Luz reunite. Their efforts to build a new life together push them to their limits as they come face to face with the past and the memories that complicate their chances of a fresh start.
Dowsing (2026)
Jacinto Velasco
Mexico
Olín and Sialia are siblings who venture into the forest, where they play hide-and-seek, disappearing among the trees and finding each other using their magic dowsing wands, until their game is interrupted by a violent reality.
For a Lifetime (2026)
Fernanda Camacho
Mexico
After a divorce and several years of living apart, Rodolfo and Luz are reunited. Their efforts to build a new home push them to their limits as they come face to face with the past and the memories that complicate the possibility of a fresh start.
You and Me (2026)
Néstor Orozco
Mexico
Tomás is a young man who watches as his absent father repeats with Octavio, his younger brother, the same patterns and lies he once used on him. To make up for his absence on Octavio’s birthday, the father invites him on a fishing trip and asks Tomás to drive him to a halfway point along the route. What seemed like a simple half-day errand turns into a revealing journey, during which the brothers must accept that their experiences with their father will never return, while Tomás comes to realize that, for some time now, he has been the closest thing Octavio has to a real father.
One, Two, Three for You (2026)
Diana Castro Cabrera
Mexico
Andrea and Camila, two teenage best friends, are navigating their way toward adulthood. When Camila begins to develop feelings for another girl, Andrea’s jealousy flares up and puts their friendship at risk. In a Mexico marked by violence and impunity, they must confront the world and themselves, grow, and question their beliefs, ultimately discovering what their friendship truly means.
For interview requests, please email us at: