FOCUS MEXICO | Free on ARTS.FILM from Oct. 31 to Nov. 30

Image from the film the Proposal by Jill Magid

ORIGIN OF THE PROJECT

Focus Mexico was born from conversations between the FIFA programming team and Remigio Valdés de Hoyos, Director of the Mexican Cultural Institute in Montreal / Espacio México, a long-time friend of the festival. The desire for a joint project emerged during the 2025 edition: let’s create a space for Mexican cinema to circulate!

Launching this focus on October 31 places Día de Muertos at the heart of the initiative. Just like this celebration, where the living and the dead mingle amid colors, flowers, and memories, the project illuminates Mexican works in all their shades.

Key partners joined this venture: Laboratoire CinéMédias and cinEXmedia, providing the project with both substance and grounding.

PARTNERS

The Laboratoire CinéMédias, founded by André Gaudreault, full professor in the Department of Art History, Cinema, and Audiovisual Media at the University of Montreal, has been bringing together researchers in cinema studies, audiovisual media, and digital technologies since 2016. It explores the creation, circulation, and reception of moving images from historical, aesthetic, and critical perspectives.

Within this laboratory, the associated program cinEXmedia, an interdisciplinary partnership, is dedicated to the cinematic experience in the age of screens, with particular attention to societal, educational, and therapeutic issues. cinEXmedia focuses on diverse audiences (children, seniors, people with visual impairments) and various contexts (schools, hospitals, and home settings before sleep). It develops research tools, international collaborations, and an inclusive approach to promote well-being and engagement through visual media.

Together, these two entities embody an innovative research dynamic, combining cinema, media, and social intervention.

CURATOR

At the heart of this initiative is curator Katia A. Morales Gaitán, a Mexican researcher and programmer who weaves together a vision at the intersection of art, technology, and social engagement. Holding dual master’s degrees in Sociology and Documentary Cinema, as well as doctorates in Film Studies (University of Montreal) and Information and Communication Sciences (Sorbonne Nouvelle), she frames her work around the circulation of images, modes of production, and underrepresented narratives.

FOCUS PROGRAM

Through its lens, the programming places female figures at the center — women who embody resistance, creativity, and memory. In Ali Ray’s Frida Kahlo, the painter is not merely mythologized: her body, her pains, and her fractures become a medium for reflecting on emancipation and the enduring desire to exist. Similarly, Olivia Peregrino’s Querida Nancyrevives the voice of Nancy Cárdenas, playwright and pioneer of LGBTQ+ rights. Her words, like a poem recited aloud, travel through public space, reminding us that some stories never die; they are passed on, reinvented, and demand to be heard.

Images from the film Frida Khalo by Ali Ray

Surrounding these figures, other works map the fluid, pluralistic landscape of Mexico. Taken together, the selection reads as an act of love and resistance: love for singular voices that defy boundaries, and resistance to the homogenization of narratives.

« Much remains to be done so that artistic creation is not reduced to a transnational commodity. Therefore, the commitment of this programming stands as a political act and an act of reappropriation of the cultural and artistic memory originated in the territory called by the Aztecs, “in the navel of the moon,” known today as Mexico. » — Katia A. Morales Gaitán, curator

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