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FICM Brings 17 Screenings to Pátzcuaro as FICM Presenta Takes Cinema to Michoacán and Across Mexico Year-Round

The 24th Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) brings 17 screenings to Pátzcuaro at the Teatro Emperador Caltzontzin, including eleven free screenings. The program begins on October 16 at 7:30 pm with Campeón Gabacho. After that, there will be two screenings from the Michoacán Section on October 21, and two screenings dedicated to the festival’s winning films on October 25.

Since February 2014, Pátzcuaro has hosted 2,364 screenings, drawn nearly 330,000 attendees, and featured 640 films. Collectively, the FICM Presenta programs have drawn more than 400,000 attendees over more than a decade. This year, the Teatro Emperador Caltzontzin has a new screen, server, and audio processor.

In Michoacán, Cine Mexicano en Acción has held free screenings in ten municipalities documented in its final reports: Ario de Rosales, Erongarícuaro, Huiramba, Lagunillas, Morelia, Pátzcuaro, Quiroga, Salvador Escalante, Tacámbaro, and Tzintzuntzan. These events have brought a total of 36,192 attendees across 943 free screenings. The project has also brought screenings to 18 P’urhépecha communities in the Pátzcuaro lake region, including schools and community centers on the islands of Janitzio and La Pacanda.

Other programs also extend this work throughout the country. Cine para todxs, for example, held 959 screenings and drew 41,011 attendees across its six editions from 2021 to 2025. FICM Presenta: Short Films in Competition will show sixteen programs featuring fiction, documentary, and animated shorts in 2026. These programs recorded 8,699 attendees by October 13, with 3,992 of them in Michoacán.

These programs aim to foster new audiences for Mexican auteur cinema within communities. As well as screening films, they seek to facilitate a dialogue after each screening, allowing attendees to share their thoughts on what they saw. Just like at FICM.

Outside of Mexico, FICM has maintained a partnership with the Cannes Critics’ Week since 2003, where more than 60 Mexican filmmakers have presented their work. It also brings restored classic Mexican films to MoMA, Cannes Classics, Bologna, and Lyon. In terms of academic training, it has offered at least one workshop or course per month in Morelia since 2006. This year, it held three workshops on Mexican animation and Indigenous Mexican cinema in Pátzcuaro, attended by 58 participants.

There are plans for new editions of Cine para todxs and Cine Mexicano en Acción Michoacán in 2027, with 160 and 264 screenings scheduled, respectively. In addition, Cinetravesía will offer another 324 screenings at IMSS cultural venues. Collectively, the three projects are expected to host 748 free screenings and attract an estimated 32,000 to 51,100 attendees.

This is how FICM Presenta continues to promote Mexican cinema after the festival has ended. It brings films to Pátzcuaro, communities all over Michoacán, and venues across the country.

About FICM Presenta

FICM Presenta is a platform created by the Morelia International Film Festival to promote film culture and build audiences throughout the year, beyond festival dates.