Mexico at the AFI Latin American Film Festival 2023

Now in its 34th year, the AFI Latin American Film Festival is one of North America's largest and long-running showcases of Latin America cinema. With the inclusion of films from Spain and Portugal, the festival celebrates Ibero-American cultural connections during National Hispanic Heritage Month.

Featuring numerous international film festival favorites, award winners, local box office hits and debut works by promising new talents, the festival is one of Washington's top cultural events. Don't miss your chance to see excellent new films and be part of the discussion between a diverse audience of film lovers.

This year, Mexico will be represented by the following films:

TÓTEM (2023)
Thursday, September 21 - 7:15PM | BUY TICKETS

Opening Night. Q&A with actor Mateo García Elizondo, plus post-screening reception sponsored by the Mexican Cultural Institute in DC.

Lila Avilés follows up her acclaimed debut THE CHAMBERMAID with this warm, sensitively told drama about death, which is simultaneously bursting with life. Unfolding over the course of one chaotic day, the film follows seven-year-old Sol (Naíma Sentíes), who watches as her aunts Nuri (Montserrat Marañon, BARDO: FALSE CHRONCILE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS) and Alejandra (Marisol Gasé, NARCOS: MEXICO) prepare the house for a surprise party for her father (acclaimed author and screenwriter Mateo García Elizondo, DESIERTO).

She has just one simple wish: "for daddy not to die." Terminally ill, her father spends most of the day locked away in his room, propped up by his nurse (Teresa Sanchez, THE CHAMBERMAID, DOS ESTACIONES), mustering his strength for the night ahead. As day turns to night and the festivities commence, Sol begins to understand this birthday party will be her father's last. In Spanish with English subtitles.

THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973)
Saturday, September 23 - 09:30 PM | BUY TICKETS
Thursday, September 28 - 09:15 PM | BUY TICKETS

50th Anniversary. Tickets $10

The scandal of the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, writer/director Alejandro Jodorowsky's flood of sacrilegious imagery and existential symbolism is a spiritual quest for enlightenment, pitting illusion against truth. The Alchemist (Jodorowsky) assembles a group of people from all walks of life to represent the planets in the solar system. The occult expert's intention is to put his recruits through strange mystical rites and divest them of their worldly baggage before embarking on a trip to Lotus Island. There, they ascend the Holy Mountain to displace the immortal gods who secretly rule the universe. (Note courtesy of ABKCO Films.) In English and Spanish with English subtitles.

LOST IN THE NIGHT (2023)
Saturday, September 30 - 08:40 PM | BUY TICKETS
Monday, October 2 - 07:00 PM | BUY TICKETS

In this noir-tinged revenge thriller from award-winning Mexican auteur Amat Escalante (HELI, THE UNTAMED), idealistic young laborer Emiliano (rising star Juan Daniel García Treviño, I'M NO LONGER HERE, LA CIVIL, ROBE OF GEMS) embarks on a mission to seek justice for his mother when she vanishes after opposing the construction of a new Canadian-owned mine in their rural town. When the trail leads him to a modernist villa on the outskirts of town and the dysfunctional family within — conceptual artist Rigoberto Duplas (Fernando Bonilla), his popstar wife Carmen (Bárbara Mori) and her influencer teenaged daughter Mónica (Ester Expósito) — Emiliano goes undercover, securing a job as a trusted handyman and slowly becoming entangled in a wild web of lies involving a religious cult, contemporary art, labor disputes, corrupt police and criminal gangs. Perhaps Escalante's most accessible work yet, LOST IN THE NIGHT blends its deliciously twisty narrative with the filmmaker's unique visual style and an evocative, synthwave-inspired soundtrack by STRANGER THINGS composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein. Official Selection, 2023 Cannes and Sydney film festivals. In Spanish with English subtitles.

THE ECHO (2023)
Saturday, September 30 - 02:15 PM | BUY TICKETS
Tuesday, October 3 - 06:00 PM | BUY TICKETS

Acclaimed Mexican-Salvadoran filmmaker Tatiana Huezo (PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN, TEMPESTAD) makes a visually arresting return to nonfiction filmmaking with this immersive portrait of multi-generational family life in the remote Mexican highlands. Focusing on a tightknit trio of families, the film is named for the village where the families have farmed for generations, just hours from Mexico City but a world away in every other sense. Unfolding from the perspectives of the young women and children of El Eco, the film chronicles life's many cycles — the seasons, the rhythm of planting and harvesting, death and birth — while painting a world in which women's lives are inextricably linked to one another and to the land, as the men of the village remain on the periphery. Rebellious teen Montse tenderly cares for her grandmother while dreaming of racing horses and exploring the world; little Sarahi dreams of becoming a teacher in between learning the ropes on the family farm and attending school; and pre-teen Luz Maria goes about her daily chores, questioning her prescribed path as a young woman destined for marriage and child-rearing. A cinematic delight lensed by Huezo's longtime collaborator Ernesto Pardo (TEMPESTAD), THE ECHO allows viewers to live alongside these young people as they explore the world, both echoing the trajectories of previous generations and seeking to forge new paths into an uncertain future. Winner, Encounters Award, Best Director and Documentary Award, 2023 Berlin International Film Festival. In Spanish with English subtitles.

HEROIC (2023)
Friday, October 06 - 09:15 PM | BUY TICKETS
Tuesday, October 10 - 09:10 PM | BUY TICKETS

Enrolling in the Heroic Military College on the outskirts of Mexico City, Indigenous teen Luis (non-professional actor Santiago Sandoval Carbajal) is looking for a way to support his diabetic mother. But along with the other new recruits, he's soon subjected to a brutal training program built on intimidation and violence. The cruel ringleader is Sergeant Sierra (Fernando Cuautle, NEW ORDER), who takes an interest in the quiet cadet, insisting Luis tag along on some illegal extracurricular activities. Stuck between duty and honor, Luis is plunged into a waking nightmare, pushed to the breaking point. Visually breathtaking, David Zonana's (WORKFORCE) fearless second feature is a ferocious takedown of institutional corruption, examining issues of race, class and toxic masculinity. Winner, Best Mexican Film, Best Actor, 2023 Guadalajara Film Festival. Official Selection, 2023 Sundance and Berlin film festivals. In Spanish and Nahuatl with English subtitles.