# 38th Guadalajara International Film Festival

The 38th Guadalajara International Film Festival took place from June 3 to 9, 2023, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Heroic received the Mezcal Award while Costa Rican film I Have Electric Dreams won the Best Ibero-American Film award.
The festival opening ceremony took place at Telmex Auditorium and was hosted by Andrés Zuno. At the ceremony, Raúl Padilla López was honored for his work in the festival. Padilla López served as president for the festival until his death in April 2023. Mexican actress Arcelia Ramírez and Italian film editor Roberto Perpignani received special achievement awards. American film Asteroid City, directed by Wes Anderson, was the festival's opening film.

## Juries
### Official competition
#### Mezcal Award

* Pituka Ortega Heilbron, Panamanian filmmaker
* Gregory Nava, American director and writer
* Diego Calva, Mexican actor
* Melissa Cobb, American producer
* Paolo Genovese, Italian director

#### Ibero-American Fiction Feature Film

* Gabriel Nuncio, Mexican director, producer, screenwriter and actor
* Claudia Sainte-Luce, Mexican writer, director and actress
* Andrés Wood, Chilean director
* Gustavo Castillón, Mexican producer
* Paulina Dávila, Colombian actress

#### Ibero-American Documentary Feature Film

* Claudia Becerril Bulos, Mexican cinematographer
* Paulina Suárez, Mexican director of Ambulante
* Anna Saura, Spanish producer

#### Ibero-American Short Film

* Armando Espitia, Mexican actor
* Roger Durling, American SBIFF director
* Andrés Almeida, Mexican actor
* Marianna Vargas, Dominican film commissioner of DGCINE
* Luis Rosales, Mexican casting director

#### Maguey Award

* Adrián Silvestre, Spanish director
* Eréndira Ibarra, Mexican actress
* Ximena Romo, Mexican actress

#### Made in Jalisco

* Leonardo Ortizgris, Mexican actor
* Mariana Chenillo, Mexican director and screenwriter
* Pablo Zimbrón Alva, Mexican producer
* Cassandra Ciangherotti, Mexican actress

#### Socio-Environmental Cinema Award

* Cristo Fernández, Mexican actor
* Martha Reyes Arias, Mexican actress
* Carmen Elisa Gómez, Mexican researcher
* Andrés Castillo, Ecuatorian musician and cultural promoter

#### International Animation Feature Film and Rigo Mora Award

* Alberto Montt, Chilean-Ecuatorian illustrator
* João Gonzalez, Portuguese director and animator
* Cruz Contreras, Mexican animator
* Lefteris Becerra, Mexican researcher, journalist and academic

#### Young Mezcal

* Fanfan Zhou, California Institute of the Arts representant
* Yamir Perea, Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica representant
* Valeria Contreras, Columbia University School of the Arts representant
* Fernando Ramírez, University Centre of Art, Architecture and Design (University of Guadalajara) representant
* Adrián Morales, National School of Cinematographic Arts (UNAM) representant
* Emilio Sillero, Escuela Nacional de Experimentación y Realización Cinematográfica (ENERC) representant
* Irving Colorado, Escuela Veracruzana de Cine Luis Buñuel representant
* Tommaso Diaceri, Fondazione Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia representant
* Nicolà Folin, Fondazione Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia representant
* Samuel Vaca, ITESO, Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara, representant
* Sergio Anchondo, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education representant
* Sergio García, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education representant
* Paola Arellano, Universidad de Artes Digitales (UAD) representant
* Hugo Rocha, Universidad de Medios Audiovisuales (CAAV) representant
* Andrea Hernández, Universidad del Valle de Atemajac (UNIVA) representant
* Lydia Acevedo, University of Southern California representant

### Independent juries
#### FIPRESCI

* Valentina Giraldo Sánchez, Colombian critic
* Andrew Kendall, Guyanese critic
* Ivonete Pinto, Brazilian journalist and film critic

#### FEISAL

* Guillermo Vaidovits, Mexican director of the master's degree in Film Studios of UDEG
* Ivette Liang, Cuban-Colombian Head of the Production Department of EICTV and Director of Nuevas Miradas, and film producer
* Juan Mora Catlett, Mexican film director, editor and screenwriter
* Busi Cortés, Mexican director, screenwriter and scriptwriter

## Official selections

The following films were selected for the official competitions:

### Mezcal Award

    Highlighted title indicates section's best film winner.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Adolfo | Adolfo | Sofía Auza | Mexico, United States |
| Love & Mathematics | Amor y matemáticas | Claudia Sainte-Luce [es] | Mexico |
| Heroic | Heroico | David Zonana | Mexico, Sweden |
| Martinez | Martínez | Lorena Padilla | Mexico |
| Women of the Dawn | Mujeres del alba | Jimena Montemayor Loyo | Mexico |
| Rage | Rabia | Jorge Michel Grau [es] | Mexico |
| Ch'ul be, Sacred Path | Ch'ul be, senda sagrada | Humberto Gómez Pérez | Mexico |
| The Invisible Frontier | La frontera invisible | Mariana Flores Villalba | Mexico |
| Kenya | Kenya | Gisela Delgadillo | Mexico |
| Tushkua | Tushkua | Ludovic Bonleux [es] | Mexico |
| A Wolfpack Called Ernesto | Una jauría llamada Ernesto | Everardo González [es] | Mexico |
    (HJ) indicates film eligible for the Hecho en Jalisco Award.

### Ibero-American Fiction Feature Film

    Highlighted title indicates section's best film winner.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| 20,000 Species of Bees (MG) | 20.000 especies de abejas | Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren | Spain |
| Almamula (MG) | Almamula (MG) | Juan Sebastián Torales | Argentina, France, Italia |
| In the Company of Women (MG) | Las buenas compañías | Silvia Munt | Spain |
| Diógenes | Diógenes | Leonardo Barbuy La Torre | Peru, France, Colombia |
| Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures | Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures | Marco Martins | Portugal, United Kingdom, France |
| Sister & Sister | Las hijas | Kattia G. Zúñiga | Panama, Chile |
| The Fishbowl (SE) | La pecera | Glorimar Marrero-Sánchez | United States, Spain, Puerto Rico |
| Octopus Skin | La piel pulpo | Ana Cristina Barragán | Ecuador, Mexico, Greece, Germany, France, Italy |
| I Have Electric Dreams | Tengo sueños eléctricos | Valentina Maurel [es] | Costa Rica, France, Belgium |
    (MG) indicates film eligible for the Maguey Award that include LGBTQ+ themes.
    (SE) indicates film eligible for the Socio-Environmental Cinema Award.

### Ibero-American Documentary Feature Film

    Highlighted title indicates section's best film winner.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Light Falls Vertical | Ara La Llum Cau Vertical | Efthymia Zymvragaki | Spain, Germany, Italy, Netherlands |
| The Bilbaos | Los Bilbao | Pedro Speroni | Argentina |
| The Castle [es] (MG) | El castillo | Martin Benchimol [es] | Argentina, France |
| Fauna | Fauna | Pau Faus | Spain |
| Alien Island | Isla Alien | Cristóbal Valenzuela Berrios | Chile, Italy |
| Calls from Moscow (MG) | Llamadas desde Moscú | Luis Alejandro Yero | Cuba, Germany, Norway |
| The Eternal Memory | La memoria infinita | Maite Alberdi | Chile |
| Notes For a Film | Notas para una película | Ignacio Agüero | Chile, Francia |
| A House for Wandering Souls | O Auto das Ánimas | Pablo Lago Dantas | Brazil, Spain |
| Samuel and the Light | Samuel e a Luz | Vinícius Girnys | Brazil, France |
    (MG) indicates film eligible for the Maguey Award that include LGBTQ+ themes.

### Ibero-American Short Film

    Highlighted title indicates section's best film winner.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| The Things to Come | L'avenir | Santiago Ráfales | Spain |
| Dust Trails | Caminos de tierra | Miranda Pérez Ledesma | Mexico |
| The House of Sand | La casa de arena | Luis Vicente Fresno | Chile |
| Ashen | Cenizo | Gustavo Hernández de Anda | Mexico |
| Exceptional Tales from a Young Female Team: Reds | Cuentos excepcionales de un equipo juvenil femeino: Las Rojas | Tom Espinoza | Argentina, Venezuela |
| The Cage | La jaula | Cesar Saldivar | Mexico |
| Lava | Lava | Carmen Jiménez | Spain |
| Look, Kid | Mira, niño | Sergio Avellaneda Belmonte | Spain |
| Human Nature | Naturaleza humana | Mónica Lima | Portugal, Germany |
| Saturn | Saturno | André Guiomar, Luís Costa | Portugal |
| The Treasure | El tesoro | David Rodríguez Estrada | Mexico, United States |
| An Avocador Pit | Um Caroço de Abacate | Ary Zara | Portugal |
| Ice Love | Amor ice | Katy Araiza | Mexico |
| Aqueronte | Aqueronte | Manuel Muñoz Rivas | Spain |
| Does a Snail Dream of Home? | ¿El caracol sueña en casa? | Luis Armando Sosa Gil | Mexico, Portugal, Hungary, Belgium |
| In My Skin | En mi piel | Sándor M. Salas | Spain |
| Lucas | Lucas | Jessica Quiroz | Mexico |
| Madre nuestra | Madre nuestra | David Paredes | Colombia, Cuba |
| The Sea is Also Yours | O Mar Também é Seu | Michelle Coelho | Brazil, Cuba |
| Your Voice is Within | Su voz está dentro | Mariana Flores Villalba | Mexico |
| A Robust Heart | Un corazón más contundente | Argentina, United States, United Kingdom |
| The View from Up Above | La vista desde arriba | Rafael Martínez Sánchez | Mexico |

### Maguey Award

The following list consists of the films eligible for the Maguey Award that are not listed in the previous competition tables. The films in contention for both the Maguey Award and other competition section appear with the symbol (MG) next to it.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Cross Dreamers | Cross Dreamers | Soledad Velasco | Argentina |
| I Woke Up with a Dream | Desperté con un sueño | Pablo Solarz | Argentina, Uruguay |
| In Bed | Ke’elu En Machar | Nitzan Gilady | Israel |
| Kokomo City | Kokomo City | D. Smith | United States |
| Little Richard: I Am Everything | Little Richard: I Am Everything | Lisa Cortés | United States |
| Liuben | Liuben | Venci D. Kostov | Spain, Bulgaria |
| Medusa Deluxe | Medusa Deluxe | Thomas Hardiman | United Kingdom |
| Mutt | Mutt | Vuk Lungulov-Klotz | United States |
| Passages | Passages | Ira Sachs | France |
| Till the End of the Night | Bis ans Ende der Nacht | Christoph Hochhäusler | Germany |

### Hecho en Jalisco

The following list consists of the films eligible for the Hecho en Jalisco that are not listed in the previous competition tables. The films in contention for both the Made in Jalisco and other competition section appear with the symbol (HJ) next to it.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Over There... | Allá, cartas al corazón | Montserrat Larqué | Mexico |
| Net: Games of Life | Redes: Juegos de la vida | César Aréchiga | Mexico |
| Telephone | Teléfono | Jerzain Ortega | Mexico |
| A Territory Without Us | Un territorio sin nosotrxs | Pablo Márquez Cervantes | Mexico |
| He, Behind the Gun | Él, detrás del arma | Gabriel Esdras | Mexico |
| The Legacy of Fire | El legado del fuego | Eliseo Chirino Sandoval | Mexico |
| The Old Had and the Crow | La vieja y el cuervo | María Lucía Bayardo Dodge | Mexico |

### Socio-Environmental Cinema Award

The following list consists of the films eligible for the Socio-Environmental Cinema Award that are not listed in the previous competition tables. The films in contention for both the Socio-Environmental Cinema Award and other competition section appear with the symbol (SE) next to it.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| City on the Back | Ciudad a la espalda | Paola Rodas Ziadé | Ecuador |
| Deep Rising | Deep Rising | Matthieu Rytz | United States |
| We Are Guardians | We Are Guardians | Chelsea Greene, Rob Grobman, Edivan Guajajara | Brazil, United States |

### International Animation Feature Film

    Highlighted title indicates section's best film winner.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Art College 1994 | Art College 1994 | Liu Jian | China |
| Black Is Beltza II: Ainhoa | Black Is Beltza II: Ainhoa | Fermin Muguruza | Spain, Argentina |
| Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman | Saules aveugles, femme endormie | Pierre Földes | France, Canada, Netherlands, Luxembourg |
| Chicken for Linda! | Linda veut du poulet! | Chiara Malta, Sébastien Laudenbach | France, Italy |
| Little Nicholas: Happy As Can Be | Le Petit Nicolas: Qu'est-ce qu'on attend pour être heureux? | Amandine Fredon, Benjamin Massoubre | France, Luxembourg |
| No Dogs or Italians Allowed | Interdit aux chiens et aux italiens | Alain Ughetto | France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Portugal |
| A Kingdom for Us All | Un reino para todos nosotros | Miguel Angel Uriegas | Mexico, Colombia |

### Rigo Mora Award

    Highlighted title indicates section's best film winner.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Aaaah! | Aaaah! | Osman Cerfon | France |
| Canary | Canary | Pierre-Hughes Dallaire, Benoit Therriault | Canada |
| Flesh of God | Carne de Dios | Patricio Plaza | Argentina, Mexico |
| Christopher at Sea | Christopher at Sea | Tom CJ Brown | France, United Kingdom, United States |
| Compound Eyes of Tropical | Ojos compuestos de tropical | Zhang Xu Zhan | Taiwan |
| Eeva | Eeva | Lucija Mrzljak, Morten Tšinakov | Estonia, Croatia |
| Humo | Fumme | Rita Basulto | Mexico |
| It's Nice in Here | It's Nice in Here | Robert-Jonathan Koeyers | Netherlands |
| Money and Happiness | Money and Happiness | Nikola Majdak, Ana Nedeljković | Serbia, Eslovakia, Eslovenia |
| The Most Boring Granny in the Whole World | Die allerlangweiligste Oma auf der ganzen Welt | Damaris Zielke | Germany |
| Ninety-Five Senses | Ninety-Five Senses | Jerusha Hess, Jared Hess | United States |
| O Cosaco Rosa | La Veste Rose | Mónica Santos | Portugal, France |
| Pachyderme | Pachyderme | Stéphanie Clément | France |
| Teacups | Teacups | Alec Green, Finbar Watson | Australia, Ireland |
| The Temple | Le Temple | Alain Fournier | Canada |

## Official awards

The following awards were presented:

### Mezcal Award

* Mezcal Award: Heroic by David Zonana
* Best Director: Gisela Delgadillo for Kenya
* Best Actor: Fernando Cuautle for Heroic
* Best Actress: Rocío de la Mañana for Adolfo
* Best Cinematography: Santiago Sánchez for Women of the Dawn
* Special Mention: A Wolfpack Called Ernesto by Everardo González

### Ibero-American Fiction Feature Film

* Best Film: I Have Electric Dreams by Valentina Maurel
* Best Director: Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren for 20,000 Species of Bees
* Best Actor: Reinaldo Amien for I Woke Up with a Dream
* Best Actress: Beatriz Batarda for Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures
* Best Screenplay: Marco Martins and Ricardo Adolfo for Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures
* Best First Feature: 20,000 Species of Bees by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren
* Special Mention: Sister & Sister by Cala Rossel

### Ibero-American Documentary Feature Film

* Best Documentary Film: Samuel and the Light by Vinícius Girnys
* Best Director: Pau Faus for Fauna
* Best Cinematography: Nico Miranda and Fernando Lorenzale for The Castle

### Ibero-American Short Film

* An Avocado Pit by Ary Zara

### Maguey Award

* Maguey Award: Kenya by Gisela Delgadillo
* Jury Prize: Medusa Deluxe by Thomas Hardiman
* Best Performance: Ensemble cast of 20,000 Species of Bees

### Made in Jalisco

* Best Feature Film: Martinez by Lorena Padilla
* Best Short Film: He, Behind the Gun by Gabriel Esdras
* Special Mention: A Territory Without Us by Pablo Márquez Cervantes

### Socio-Environmental Cinema Award

* City on the Back by Paola Rodas Ziadé

### International Animation Feature Film

* Best Film: Chicken for Linda! by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach
* Special Mention: No Dogs or Italians Allowed by Alain Ughetto

### Rigo Mora Award

* Rigo Mora Award: Flesh of God by Patricio Plaza
* Special Mention: Ninety-five Senses by Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess

### Young Mezcal

* Young Mezcal Award: Heroic by David Zonana
* Special Mention: Kenya by Gisela Delgadillo

### Audience Award

* Kenya by Gisela Delgadillo

## Independent awards
### FIPRESCI Prize

* Best Film: Heroic by David Zonana

### FEISAL Prizes

* Best Film: Samuel and the Light by Vinícius Girnys
* Special Mention: Calls from Moscow by Luis Alejandro Yero