Mexico at the AFI Latin American Film Festival 2026

The AFI Latin American Film Festival is one of North America's largest and longest-running showcases of Latin American cinema. Now in its 37th year, the Festival is one of Washington's top cultural events and features award-winning films, in-person conversations with filmmaker guests and exciting Embassy-hosted parties.

With the inclusion of films from Spain and Portugal, the festival celebrates Ibero-American cultural connections during National Hispanic Heritage Month. This year, Mexico will be represented by the following films:

OLMO 
Thursday, September 17 | 5:00PM. Friday, September 18 | 9:10PM
Saturday, September 19 | 11:30AM. Thursday, September 24 | 5:00PM 

Set in 1979 New Mexico — with a vibrant, sun-drenched color palette and killer disco soundtrack to match — this is a wry yet sincere coming-of-age tale from Mexican filmmaker Fernando Eimbcke (whose latest feature FLIES also screens in this year’s festival. Over the course of a day, teenager Olmo (Aivan Uttapa) juggles adult responsibilities and the pull of adolescent freedom as he begs, borrows and steals his way into a neighborhood party. With his father, Nestor (Gustavo Sánchez Parra), bedridden, Olmo is forced to share caregiving duties with his overworked mother, Cecilia (Andrea Suarez Paz), and his older sister, Ana (Rosa Armendariz), who would much rather be at the local roller disco than caring for an ailing parent. When his enchanting neighbor and number one crush, Nina (Melanie Frometa), invites Olmo and his best friend, Miguel (Diego Olmedo), to her party on the condition that they provide his father’s stereo, the pair embark on a nocturnal odyssey to fulfill her request at any cost. Channeling teen dramedies like NAPOLEON DYNAMITE and SUPERBAD, Eimbcke crafts something wholly original, deftly balancing a sharp, dry wit with an earnest but unsentimental take on family dynamics and identity that remains grounded in cultural specificity while offering a universal portrait of relatable teenage awkwardness. –Abbie Algarfter

Official Selection, 2025 AFI FEST and Berlin film festivals. DIR/SCR Fernando Eimbcke; SCR Vanesa Garnica; PROD Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Eréndira Núñez Larios, Michel Franco. U.S./Mexico, 2025, color, 84 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED

SAD GIRLZ (CHICAS TRISTES)
Sunday, September 20 | 3:30PM. Monday, September 21 | 7:10PM 

La Maestra (Rocio Guzmán) and Paula (Darana Álvarez) are teenage best friends with an unspoken and unbreakable bond. If they are not in the pool practicing for the school swim team, they are constantly hanging out, having sleepovers and buzzing about their first brushes with romance. Paula has a crush on fellow swimmer Daniel, and an upcoming party might be the perfect opportunity to spend some more time with him. But reality proves more complicated when the night does not go as planned. The fallout from the party starts to affect the girls’ friendship, as Paula wants to pretend like it never happened, while La Maestra is dead set on justice but unsure of how to best support her friend. Filmmaker Fernanda Tovar won the Crystal Bear for Best Film in the Generation sidebar at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival for her blistering coming-of-age drama, frankly exploring the heartbreak of girlhood and the beauty and power of female friendship. Guzmán and Álvarez are dazzling, their infectious chemistry captured with raw beauty via Tovar’s warm, nostalgic lens. –Josh Gardner

Official Selection, 2026 Tribeca Film Festival. DIR/SCR Fernanda Tovar; PROD Daniel Loustaunau, Araceli Velázquez. Mexico/Spain/France, 2026, color, 90 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Special Presentation
FLIES (MOSCAS)
Friday, September 25 | 7:00PM. Monday, September 28 | 9:00PM 

Returning to the nostalgia-laden black and white of his breakthrough debut DUCK SEASON, Mexican filmmaker Fernando Eimbcke crafts a delicate yet wry exploration of grief in his bittersweet new feature. In a busy corner of Mexico City, retiree Olga (Teresita Sánchez) lives a solitary life. In need of some extra cash for a routine procedure, she begrudgingly places an ad to rent out her spare room. But when an exhausted father (Hugo Ramírez) shows up at her doorstep with his nine-year-old son, Cristian (Bastian Escobar), her careful routine is disrupted. Sánchez, a stalwart of independent Mexican cinema, is a comforting screen presence, while Escobar is a true discovery, his youthful innocence slowly making way for something far more tender. Eimbcke’s earnest script finds gentle humor in the everyday, while a streak of magical realism stemming from a cosmic arcade game provides the film with its most standout sequences. – Josh Gardner

Official Selection, 2026 Berlin and Toronto film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Fernando Eimbcke; SCR Vanesa Garnica; PROD Michel Franco, Eréndira Núñez Larios. Mexico/Spain, 2026, b&w, 99 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Special Features: Centerpiece Screening
ASHES (CENIZA EN LA BOCA)
Monday, October 05 | 7:00PM

Multi-hyphenate director/producer/actor Diego Luna adapts Mexican writer Brenda Navarro’s acclaimed novel for his Cannes-premiered fourth feature, a powerful and unconventional immigration drama about a young Mexican woman who journeys to Spain with her younger brother to join the mother who left them behind as children. At 21, Lucila (Anna Díaz) is already accustomed to carrying responsibilities beyond her years. When she leaves Mexico with her emotionally delicate brother Diego (Sergio Bautista) to join their mother, Isabel (Adriana Paz), in Madrid, the journey promises a chance to begin again. But Spain does not provide the fresh start she imagined. Struggling to make ends meet, Lucila undertakes difficult and precarious work as a nanny and caregiver, and, despite the embrace of a loving community of fellow immigrants, she finds herself a perpetual outsider. At home, buried resentments resurface as Lucila and Diego confront the emotional distance created by the years they spent away from their mother, who is still reconciling the hopes she had for her family with the harsh reality she met in Spain. As the boundaries between Lucila’s desire for independence and her roles as daughter, sister and caretaker begin to collapse, a tragic event prompts her to return to her grandparents in Mexico. Now an outsider in her own hometown, Lucilia sees the past through altered eyes, reckoning with the choices her mother made long before she could understand them. Díaz brings a striking combination of toughness and vulnerability to Lucila. Her performance anchors a rich and nuanced film about displacement and identity, which also touches on universal issues of growing up, letting go and making peace with the past in order to carve a path into the future. –Abbie Algarfter

DIR/SCR/PROD Diego Luna; SCR Abia Castillo; SCR/PROD Diego Rabasa, SCR from the novel by Brenda Navarro; PROD Inna Payán, Valérie Delpierre, Luis Salinas. Mexico/Spain, 2026, color, 98 min. In Catalan, English and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Special Presentation
CAMPEÓN GABACHO 
Friday, October 02 | 7:00PM. Tuesday, October 06 | 9:20PM

Q&A with filmmaker Jonás Cuarón and post-screening reception sponsored by the Mexican Cultural Institute on Oct. 2

Having crossed the Rio Grande in search of a better life, Mexican immigrant Liborio (Juan Daniel García Treviño, I’M NO LONGER HERE) settles in New York City without a penny to his name. He is taken in by a rough-and-tumble bookshop owner (Eddie Marsan, SHERLOCK HOLMES), who puts him to work doing odd jobs in exchange for a room in the attic. When Liborio spots the alluring Aireen (Leslie Grace, IN THE HEIGHTS) struggling against some thugs on the street, he takes action and fights back. This small act of kindness goes viral when social media influencer Doble-Ú (Rosario Dawson) posts the video on her feed, and Liborio is thrust into the world of boxing. Mexican filmmaker Jonás Cuarón (DESIERTO) returns with this bold, visually inventive story of love, resilience and transnational identity that won the Audience Award at the 2026 SXSW Film Festival and co-stars Rubén Blades, Rosario Dawson and Cheech Marin. –Josh Gardner

DIR/SCR/PROD Jonás Cuarón; SCR Aura Xilonen, from her novel; PROD Gabriela Rodríguez, Alfonso Cuarón, Nicolás Celis. Mexico, 2026, color, 108 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED

EVERYTHING ELSE IS NOISE (LO DEMÁS ES RUIDO)
Saturday, October 03 | 2:40PM. Sunday, October 4 | 1:15PM

Independent Mexican auteur Nicolás Pereda fashions a playful chamber piece, a biting comedy that gleefully skewers avant-garde musicians, filmmakers and especially the male ego. Tere (Teresita Sánchez) is an established musician and composer who never quite got the recognition she deserved, always living in the shadow of her male colleagues. But she is happy to play host to fellow composer Rosa (Rosa Estela Juárez), who is set for her first television interview and in need of a camera-ready background. However, when the hapless crew arrive (Pereda regulars Lázaro G. Rodríguez and Francisco Barreiro), nothing goes as planned. A dog barks, the power cuts out and Tere’s spirited daughter, another musician, keeps inserting herself. But as the afternoon wears on, the three women find common ground, laying bare the ridiculous posturing of their interviewers and the art world at large. –Josh Gardner

Official Selection, 2026 Berlin, Toronto and New York film festivals. DIR/SCR Nicolás Pereda; SCR Juan Francisco Maldonado; PROD Catalina Pereda. Mexico/Germany/Canada, 2026, color, 71 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Special Presentation
I AM MARIO (SO MARIO)  
Saturday, September 19 | 4:25PM

Q&A with filmmaker Sharon Kleinberg and producer Jaime Tiktin

Mario (Oustin de León) is a 40-year-old transgender cab driver, working to save money to continue his gender-affirming care. But when he cannot afford his medication, a chance encounter leads to an unexpected pregnancy that opens the possibility of fulfilling his dream of having a child. But this is not an easy choice; a pregnancy feels like a rejection of the masculine identity Mario has fought so hard for. With the support of his mostly understanding mother and two sisters, Mario must face his own prejudices and preconceptions and take a step toward the life he desires. De León, a nonprofessional actor, is a revelation as Mario, bringing a deep sensitivity to the role as a trans man himself. Sharon Kleinberg’s directorial debut is an intimate story about identity, body, masculinity and the possibility of reinvention. –Josh Gardner

Official Selection, 2026 Guadalajara and Toronto film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Sharon Kleinberg; PROD Jaime Tiktin. Mexico, 2026, color, 98 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED