Reviews and Events

Los Angeles, CA – October 7, 2026 – The Guadalajara Film Festival in Los Angeles (GLAFF) today announced its 2026 Official Selection and opened ticket sales for the festival, which runs November 5–7 at venues across Los Angeles. The festival will open on November 5 at the United Theater on Broadway with Watermelon Pictures’ Ashes directed by Diego Luna and close on November 7 with a 35mm screening of Mexicanamerican at the Linwood Dunn Theater directed by Eddie Sánchez.

Diego Luna’s Ashes follows Lucila who moves to Spain with her brother to reunite with the mother who left eight years earlier. Confronted with discrimination and family obligations, she struggles to claim her independence while facing the wounds of her past. Ashes is distributed by Watermelon Pictures in the U.S.

Mexicanamerican tells the story Lalo and Beby, a Mexican couple who achieved the American Dream and slowly lost the culture, language, and traditions they once shared with their children.

The Centerpiece Gala will present Netflix’s 14th, from acclaimed Oscar nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay. Look closely at the constitutional crises dominating headlines today and a pattern emerges, hardwired into 160 years of history. 14th exposes an unfinished battle to define America, now taking on drastic new dimensions. The film will screen at Vidiots.

“We are proud to bring these films to Los Angeles,” said Ximena Urrutia, GLAFF executive director. “They tell our stories, honor our cultures, and present some of the finest work of the year from Mexico, Latin America, the United States, and beyond.”

GLAFF will also mark the 25th anniversary of Alfonso Cuarón’s Y Tu Mamá Tambien with a special screening at Vidiots. Starring Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal, and Maribel Verdú, the Mexican road movie became an international landmark of contemporary Mexican cinema.

In collaboration with Local 800 The Art Director’s Guild Diversity, Equity’s and Inclusion Committee, GLAFF will present Model Behavior: Crafting High-Concept Satire & Sets for I Love Boosters, a special master class with director and screenwriter Boots Riley, production designer Christopher Glass, and art director and model/set designer Christopher Warren Lee. The conversation will explore the visual world of I Love Boosters and how production design, models, costume, and architecture come together to build the film’s distinctive universe and social satire.

Additional Official Selection titles include:

Adam’s Apple, directed by Amy Jenkins. A transgender teen and his mother chronicle their lives in an intimate portrait of a family in transition. Two decades of footage follow a boy’s path to manhood and his parents’ reckoning with change.

Chicas Tristes (Sad Girlz) directed by Fernanda Tovar. A striking coming-of-age drama seen through the eyes of two best friends whose bond is put to the test when they have drastically differing reactions to a traumatic experience at a party.

City of the Dead (Ciudad de Muertos), directed by J.M. Cravioto. When a body is found inside a suitcase, forensic photographer Enrique is drawn into a secret agent’s hunt for a serial killer.

Dear Fátima (Querida Fátima), directed by Lorena Gutiérrez, Jesús “Don Chucho” Quintana, Rodrigo Reyes, Dawn Valadez, and Su Kim. A decade after the feminicide of her 12-year-old daughter Fátima, Lorena Gutiérrez camps outside Mexico’s National Palace and demands an audience with the country’s first female president.

Shooting Stars directed by director Daniel Poler, follows Adrián Solano, a 22-year-old Venezuelan in search of meaning who inadvertently enters the 2017 Nordic World Ski Championships despite having never seen snow in his life. The film is executive produced by John Leguizamo, produced by ESPN, ESPN Deportes and Tribeca Studios.

The short film program includes the Cannes Palm d'Or Winner “Para Los Contrincantes,” directed by Federico Luis, as well as “He’s Out There,” directed by Kurt Andrew Schneider and Oscar-winning filmmaker Sam Davis; “Busy Bodies” by Kate Renshaw-Lewis; “The Long Con” by Aitch Alberto, starring Emmy winner Nava Mau; “La Mar” by Jean Chapiro Uziel; “Lucrecia y Las Brujas” by Eduardo Lecuona; “Marga en el DF” by Gabriela Ortega; “Miriam” by Karla Condado; “Stalin Boys” by Ora DeKornfeld and Bianca Giaever; “Still Standing” by Victor Tadashi Suarez and Livia Albeck-Ripka; “The Motive” by Jorge Molina; and “Vyann/Carne” by Adolfo Margulis.

The 2026 edition will include red-carpet premieres, panel conversations, master classes, industry and community events, and special screenings throughout Los Angeles. Additional events and participating talent will be announced later.

For tickets, passes, press credentials, and the full schedule, visit https://glaff.org/

GLAFF is presented by the University of Guadalajara Foundation USA, the Guadalajara International Film Festival, Grodman Legacy, and the University of Guadalajara.

*Press Credential Application live at glaff.org