Program

Renato, Abel, and Gabriela are a family divided by emotional borders; for them, thedesire to be happy and break free from their current situation seems unattainable.The decisions they make independently will have an impact on each other's lives,demonstrating how fragile and delicate the way they are connected is.

Isabel’s life takes an unexpected turn when her daughter, Madalen, asks her to visit Ramón, her ill ex-husband. After fifteen years apart, Isabel now sees him as a stranger, and old resentments resurface. Yet as she accompanies him through this vulnerable time, she begins to view their past differently. What once felt like failure now offers a new perspective—one that helps Isabel focus on the present and move forward in her own life.

Set in Panama City, this delicate drama follows two lonely souls who form an unexpected bond. Ana María, a Colombian immigrant working as a caregiver, harbors a secret, while Mercedes (Paulina García, GLORIA), a high-class woman, faces the slow onset of dementia that erases her identity. As their lives intertwine, they begin a journey of mutual discovery, delving into the complexities of mother-daughter relationships. Together, they navigate caregiving’s challenges and the deep need for connection, learning to survive and care for one another amid personal struggles.

As Peru spirals into political unrest in 1992, Lucía and Aurora prepare to leave for a better life in the U.S. with their mother. But to go, they need their estranged father, Carlos, to sign consent papers. What begins as a bureaucratic necessity becomes a reckoning, as the sisters confront the charm and contradictions of a man they hardly know. Over one final summer in Lima, childhood innocence slips away and buried truths surface. As Carlos struggles to reclaim a place in their hearts, each family member must face what this departure truly means—letting go of illusions, rewriting family history, and embracing the pain of saying goodbye.

In Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala, sisters Lesli and Lupe use art and performance to inspire local youth and heal deep wounds. After 41 girls are killed in a State-run ''Safe Home'' and the government refuses to act, they respond with a community comparsa — towering puppets, fire-breathing stilt walkers, and thundering drums. With brave vulnerability, they expose a system that permits violence against women while confronting their own survival. Their youth movement takes to the streets, reclaiming public space through joy and community care.

In the heart of Argentine Patagonia, Emma and her teenage granddaughter Alicia share a life built around dance — a bond as beautiful as it is controlling. The sudden arrival of Barbara, Alicia's mother, from a psychiatric facility disrupts their quiet world. As tensions, desires, and secrets surface among three generations of women, the film becomes a fairy tale of sorts — a reflection on motherhood, happiness, and the space between desire and art.

From the jungles of Guatemala to the borderlands of the US Southwest, this year's Narrative Shorts Competition gathers fiction filmmakers who prove that the short form is anything but small. These are complete worlds, told with intention and precision: love, loss, resistance, and the everyday courage of ordinary people.

This year's Hecho en Tejas Competition celebrates Texas filmmakers capturing lives rarely seen on screen. Intimate, urgent, and rooted in real communities, these films ask what it means to survive, remember, and resist. The films in this showcase are eligible for both an Audience Award and a Jury Award, presented in partnership with the Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI). Meet the directors, cast your vote, and stay for the party!