Chile, Guest of Honor at FICG with Five Documentaries in Competition

13 marzo, 2026

● The Guadalajara International Film Festival will spotlight Chilean cinema during its 41st edition.
● Two Chilean feature documentaries are part of the Official Selection for Ibero-American Documentary Feature: Where the Silence Is Heard and Calle Cuba.
● They are joined by three non-fiction short films in competition: The End of Time, Dead Tongue, and Cold Water.
● In the industry section, The Boy Girl and the Goth Orca will take part in Doculab.

Chilean cinema will play a leading role at the upcoming Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG), following the announcement of Chile as this year’s Guest Country of Honor. The festival’s 41st edition will take place from April 17 to 25, 2026, in Guadalajara, Mexico, and will include a special program focused on Chilean film, featuring retrospectives, screenings, industry meetings, and training and networking activities.

Chile’s Minister of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, Carolina Arredondo Marzán, highlighted the importance of this invitation for the national audiovisual sector: “This announcement is good news for the sector and for the country as a whole. Culture and the creative industries not only represent our identity and who we are; they are also a key sector for advancing toward more comprehensive and sustainable economic, social, and cultural development.”

Participation as the focus country strengthens the position of Chilean cinema within the Ibero-American circuit and consolidates a longstanding relationship between the Mexican festival and Chile’s audiovisual production.

“There is a close relationship between Chile and FICG, which has become an essential platform to showcase and promote our cinema, find new partners, develop co-productions, and open financing and distribution opportunities,” says Paula Ossandón, director of Chiledoc.

Documentary Features in Competition

Alongside the special program dedicated to Chile, national documentary filmmaking stands out with productions included in the Official Selection for Ibero-American Documentary Feature, one of the region’s main showcases for non-fiction cinema. Where the Silence Is Heard, directed by Gabriela Pena and Picho García and produced by Paz Ramírez and Pablo Greene (Chile–Spain), is an intimate documentary in which a young filmmaker returns to Valparaíso to recover the family home abandoned after her parents’ exile during the dictatorship of the 1970s. As she renovates the house and rescues memories, the film explores the impact of silence, fear, and inherited trauma on family relationships and identity, creating an aesthetic reflection on memory and affection.

Calle Cuba, directed by Vanessa Batista and produced by Claudia Olivera Peña (Chile–Cuba–Mexico), also competes for the Maguey Award for films addressing LGBTIQ+ themes. On a street bearing the island’s name in Havana, four women from different generations struggle to improve their lives, determined to shape their own destinies, protect their loved ones, and face the uncertainty of a country surviving against all odds.

Short Film Competition

In the Ibero-American Short Film Competition, The End of Time, directed by Mao Osorio and Ismael Morales, follows participants in a film workshop at a psychosocial rehabilitation center as they attempt to shoot a movie about the end of the world.

Also in this section, Dead Togue, directed by José Jiménez and produced by him alongside Sebastián Sánchez, revisits the story of a farmer marked by his past as a dog trainer under the orders of Ingrid Olderöck during the Chilean dictatorship.

Finally, the documentary Cold Water, directed and produced by Meme Cabello and Antonia Martínez Valls, follows Ángel and Kimberly, two children shaped by migration, who transform a parked van into an imaginary spaceship to embark on a journey in search of a friend who had to return to Colombia, exploring themes of memory, identity, and belonging.

High Visibility for Chilean Audiovisual Production

Chile’s recognition as Guest Country of Honor in Guadalajara comes amid a period of strong international presence for Chilean audiovisual works, with premieres, selections, and projects in development participating in major festivals and markets worldwide.