10 · 09 · 25

The Third Film Development Lab for Filmmakers of Indigenous and African Descent in Mexico has Begun

As part of the 2025 Indigenous Peoples Forum and in collaboration with Morelia PRO, the 23rd Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) started activities for the III Film Development Lab for Filmmakers of Indigenous and African Descent in Mexico. This space is dedicated to training and reflection, and contributes to the development of projects by filmmakers of Indigenous and African descent in Mexico. 

With this workshop, supported by the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity in Mexico and Cultural Survival, FICM aims to help train ten filmmakers from different ethnic groups and regions in Mexico, providing a forum for their projects in development to be supervised by film experts.

“This lab is very important to us because the results are always very encouraging. It's a project we're very interested in overall. We've even discussed the possibility of presenting the finished projects at the festival,” said Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Batel, Vice President of FICM, in his welcoming remarks.

These are the entries:

Benda Yuuze, by Nisaguie Abril Flores Cruz (Zapotec), Oaxaca. 

Caminares que germinan en la jícara sagrada, by Norma Delia Robles Carrillo (Wixárika), Queretaro. 

Del mar al volcán, by Mariana Yareth Hernández Cortés (Náhuatl), Colima. 

El arreglo, by Maria Candelaria Palma Marcelino (Afro-Indigenous), Guerrero. 

El país que éramos nosotras, by Tatiana García Altagracia (African descent), Mexico City. 

K Baakelo’on, by Yaremi Guadalupe Chan Padilla (Maya), Campeche. 

Kondoy: los nuevos caminos de la nación Ayuuk, de Antonio Jesús Sánchez Felipe (mixe), Oaxaca. 

Para curarnos el paisaje herido, de Celina Yunuen Manuel Piñón (p’urhépecha), Michoacán. 

Poch Vaquero, de Luis Augusto Quijano Espinoza (maya), Yucatán. 

Sueños contradictorios, de Bernardino de Jesús López de la Cruz (tsotsil), Chiapas.