Program

When a young Mexican politician loses his presidential bid, he retreats with his wife to their countryside estate. There, their lust for power festers, and they reinvent themselves as monarchs; ruling over their employees with cruelty, delusion, and decadence

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.

What do we carry, what do we protect, and what do we pass on? This year's Documentary Shorts Competition spans the Americas in search of answers. Four films explore tradition, survival, memory, and the transformative power of art across Chile, Argentina, Cuba, and the United States.

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!

A weathered tribal cop (Lou Diamond Phillips) and his new trainee (Dana Namerode) must find a ruthless fugitive, whose return to their rural Indigenous reservation has exposed its darkest secrets and could ignite a violent gang war. Featuring a predominantly Indigenous cast including Irene Bedard, Lane Factor, and Elisha Pratt.

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.

An auteur emerges from America’s underclass: from migrant farmworker to revolutionary artist, Luis Valdez changed American culture. In the 1960s, his El Teatro Campesino performed on flatbed trucks and helped mobilize workers to win the first farmworker union contract. His production Zoot Suit was the first Chicano play on Broadway. Despite critical rejection that killed the show, he persevered, creating La Bamba—a breakout blockbuster that authentically depicted Mexican-American life to the world. Now in its 60th year, El Teatro continues to be a beacon for Latino/a creators. This is the story of an artist who gave voice to the overlooked and opened pathways for generations.

After being separated from their sacred stone for nearly a century, the Kaw (Kanza) Nation reunites with In ́zhújé waxóbe, a 28 ton quartzite boulder, marking a new era of accountability for the city of Lawrence, Kansas and healing for the Kaw people. This film documents the honorable cooperation between community and governmental stakeholders in Lawrence, Kansas and the Kaw people in rematriating In ́zhújé waxóbe. The film follows the events leading up to and culmination of the Red Rock’s relocation to Allegawaho Memorial Heritage Park in Council Grove, Kansas.

After 30 years denying her pain, Angela is confronted by her past when her father appears to her in a dream, asking her to find him. With her sister Juliana, she embarks on a trip across Colombia to the Indigenous lands where their father, a farmer of Afro-descent, became a victim of forced disappearance. The journey from Medellin to Caloto, in the challenging Cauca’s province, confronts the sisters with paradoxes of the land, family emotions, and the Indigenous spirituality that will connect Ángela with her father's activism.

STREET SMART: Lessons from a TV Icon is a feature documentary about Sonia Manzano — known to millions as ''Maria'' from Sesame Street. The film follows Sonia’s remarkable journey, from a young girl in the South Bronx finding refuge in television, to becoming the first Latina on American TV in a regular role, through 44 years on screen on Sesame Street, and now as the creator of Alma’s Way. Featuring interviews with luminaries, original animation, and scripted scenes that blend humor and heart, this inspirational documentary invites viewers to learn once again from this beloved icon.

It's hot, and the public hospital is the worst place to spend the afternoon. But El Ciego has a terrible headache, and it's been going on for a while. Discharged from the police force, he lives off his sister's charity. His friend Román offers him a way out: work for Cesar. With no time for doctors anymore, he spends his days in the neighborhoods of Buenos Aires taking care of his new boss's business. But this afternoon, his work ends up being a real headache.

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.