The 40th Guadalajara International Film Festival, through its Industry programs, has announced the selection of projects for DocuLab: Documentary Lab, a program that will take place from June 9 to 11, 2025, during the 40th edition of the FICG.
This program serves as a hub for analysis and training in Ibero-American documentary film, bringing together leading figures from the world of nonfiction—directors, producers, editors, programmers, and post-production professionals—who help develop the selected projects.
The selected projects are:
There Will Be Shadows (There Will Be Shadows) | Argentina
Directed by Diego Ercolano
Produced by Alberto Rodríguez
A group of actors and actresses is preparing a performance installation about events that took place in the year leading up to Argentina’s last military dictatorship and about the case of Coca Maggi, a professor and university dean who was kidnapped and murdered in Argentina by the fascist group Concentración Nacional Universitaria (CNU) in May 1975. As they prepare the performance and rehearse the scenes, the actors and actresses reflect on the problems of representing the past and the challenges of constructing collective memory.
K’allpanakuy Orcconchiskunapi (Fury in the Andes – Rage in the Andes) | Mexico, Peru, United States, Canada
Directed by Adela Goldbard
Produced by Andrea Juárez and Claudia Farfán
A socially engaged, participatory, and experimental film that blurs the boundaries between ethnography, documentary, and fiction. Set in the immersive landscape of the Peruvian Andes, it offers a powerful exploration of the indigenous struggle. Created in collaboration with residents of the Quechua region of Chumbivilcas, it reinterprets and subverts historical and contemporary narratives related to social conflicts. Drawing on their own desires for emancipation, community members co-created an uncensored narrative that celebrates indigenous cultural practices, reframed as acts of resistance.
Matininó | Puerto Rico, United States, Dominican Republic
Director: Gabriela Díaz Arp
Produced by Karla Claudio
Matininó’s story begins when Idaliz Villanueva decides to flee a violent marriage with her two daughters, María and Desirée—who were just 6 months and 7 years old, respectively. Thirty years later, the effects of that violence continue to reverberate within her family and, more broadly, in her homeland, Puerto Rico, where a state of emergency has just been declared in response to gender-based violence. To make sense of their family’s story and empower their community, the women of the Villanueva-Rodríguez-Ramos family come together to write and star in a fantasy film where women hold the power.
Motel by the Lake | Mexico
Directed by Daniel Touron de Alba
Produced by Daniel Touron de Alba
My family decided to sell the Motel on a Lake. After 25 years in Wisconsin, United States, Aunt Bibi and Uncle Oskar are closing this chapter of their lives. At 70 years old, they feel strong enough to embark on one last journey: a return to their roots. Motel on a Lake is our farewell letter.
No Money, No Honey | Chile, Argentina, United States
Directed by Nicole Costa
Produced by Daniela Camino
La Máxima, a disheartened Argentine sex worker in New York, will embark on an emotional journey to come to terms with her turbulent past and redefine her place in the world. Delving into her own memories, she will reconnect with her old friends in the trans-Latinx community and rediscover her passion for activism, joining a powerful movement of resistance and struggle alongside her fierce comrades.
Giordano Bruno Square (Giordano Bruno’s Plaza) | Mexico
Director: Juan Manuel Sepúlveda
Produced by Juan Manuel Sepúlveda
Hundreds of Haitian migrants in Mexico City, camped out in Giordano Bruno Square around the statue of the heretic, are resisting pressure from neighbors and authorities seeking to evict them.
For interview requests, please email us at:
For more information, visit: https://ficg.mx/seleccionados-doculab17/