10 · 08 · 25

The 2025 Indigenous Peoples Forum Announces its Activities for the 23rd FICM

The 2025 Indigenous Peoples Forum announces complementary activities to accompany the screenings in its program. Through these activities, forum members will explore the transformative role of cinema and audiovisual media in our society, as well as the experimental and narrative potential of filmmakers of Indigenous and African descent in Mexico.

Since 2007, as part of the Indigenous Peoples Forum section, the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) has presented a selection of short and feature films, both fiction and documentary, that allow us to approach the complexity of each community's worldview in a changing social and cultural context; intersected by urgent issues on the global agenda, such as climate change, the increasing fragility of natural environments, migration, identity, gender equality, and violence.

At the 23rd FICM, the spaces for conversation and analysis within the Indigenous Peoples Forum 2025 are:

Book presentation of Frames of Resistance. The Cinemas of Abya Yala by Amalia Córdova
Presented by: Amalia Córdova, Leilani Noguez, and Juan Alberto Malo 
Saturday, October 11, 6:30 p.m.
Anticitera Bookshop Café | Abasolo 368, Centro Histórico

The Indigenous Peoples Forum Conversation: “Memorias en tránsito: imágenes desde la memoria y cotidiano” (Memories in Transit: Images from Memory and Everyday Life)
with Edmundo U Galicia Aguirre, Balam Toscano, and Martha Uc
Moderated by: Amalia Córdova 
Sunday, October 12th, 1:00 p.m.
José Rubén Romero Theater | Santiago Tapia s/n, Centro Histórico

The Indigenous Peoples Forum Conversation: “Del territorio a la pantalla: diversidad en el documental indígena contemporáneo” (From Territory to Screen: Diversity in Contemporary Indigenous Documentary Film)
with Ángel Froilán Flores Martinez, Yovegami Ascona, and Concepción Vásquez. 
Moderated by: Leilani Noguez
Wednesday, October 15th, 12:00 p.m.
José Rubén Romero Theater | Santiago Tapia s/n, Centro Histórico

The films that are part of this Forum’s edition are:

Documentary Feature Film 
•    Boca Vieja by Yovegami Ascona Mora (Ayuuk)
•    Los que dicen ¡No! by Ángel Froilán Flores Martínez (Totonac)

Short Fiction Film
•    40+ by Yolanda Cruz (Chatina)
•    Amare by Balam Toscano (Afro-descendant)
•    Oc ni temiki (Sigo soñando) by Misael Alva (Nahua)
•    Techiq by Missael Sánchez Arce (Nahua)

Documentary Short Film 
•    Cremita de coco by Martha Uc (Mayan)
•    Mujer de barro by Concepción Vásquez (Ayuuk)
•    La piel de nuestra memoria by Edmundo U. Galicia Aguirre (Chinanteco)

Michoacan Section
•    Mo patiaj by Raúl Máximo Cortés (Purépecha)

As part of the 2025 Indigenous Peoples Forum in collaboration with Morelia PRO and supported by the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity in Mexico and Cultural Survival, the III Film Development Lab for Filmmakers of Indigenous and African Descent in Mexico will take place from October 8th to October 12th.

The ten filmmakers invited this year will have the opportunity to delve deeper into their work, accompanied by renowned filmmakers and specialists.