Mexico’s leading film festival, founded in the capital of Michoacán in 2003 to celebrate auteur cinema, this year welcomes Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay as Jury President of the 23rd Morelia International Film Festival. This year’s festival runs October 10 – 19.
Co-founded by General Director Daniela Michel, President Alejandro Ramírez Magaña, and Vice President Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Batel, Morelia is recognized as Mexico’s most important film festival and one of Latin America’s most vital.
As Jury President, DuVernay will lead the panel responsible for selecting this year’s winning films. “To serve as Jury President of Morelia this year is a true privilege,” she told IndieWire. “I admire the power of Mexican cinema. Having been shaped so beautifully by Alejandro Ramírez Magaña and Daniela Michel, the essential place of this wonderful festival within the film world cannot be overstated. I’m eager to join my esteemed colleagues on the jury and to once again be embraced by Morelia’s warmth and wonder.”
While Morelia does not always designate a single jury president for its various sections, past editions have featured in leading juror roles Alexander Payne (2024), Rodrigo Prieto (2023), Paweł Pawlikowski (2022), Volker Schlöndorff (2021), John Bailey (2020), Lila Avilés (2019), and Lynne Ramsay (2018).
“The Morelia International Film Festival is honored to have Ava DuVernay — a filmmaker with boundless creative energy and a cutting-edge vision — preside over the festival jury,” said Michel. “Mexican cinema will benefit greatly from her perspective. It will be an immense privilege to welcome her back to Morelia.”
Additional members of the jury include Spanish filmmaker Pablo Berger, who will present his Oscar-nominated “Robot Dreams”; David Linde, co-founder of Focus Features and producer of films from Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu; and Italian filmmaker Andrea Pallaoro (“Monica”).
The 2025 program is a mix of Mexican and international feature films, alongside special events celebrating cinema. The festival will open with Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Brazilian Oscar entry “The Secret Agent,” and will also showcase established festival titles including Lynne Ramsay’s “Die, My Love,” Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” Bill Condon’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Bugonia,” Korean Oscar submission Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice,” Norway’s Oscar entry, Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value,” and the German Oscar selection, Mascha Schilinski’s “Sound of Falling.”
Confirmed guests include Juliette Binoche (“In-I: In Motion”), Rodrigo García with the cast of Netflix’s “Las Locuras” (premiering at the festival), Palme d’Or-winner Jafar Panahi (“It Was Just an Accident”), Lucrecia Martel (“Nuestra Terra”), Robin Campillo (“Enzo,” co-directed with Laurent Cantet), Oliver Laxe (“Sirat”), Alexandre O. Philippe, Tomás Corredor, Javier Espada, and Michael Almereyda.
DuVernay’s films include “Origin” (Neon), which DuVernay presented at last year’s festival; Best Picture nominee “Selma“; BAFTA- and Emmy-winning Oscar-nominated documentary “13th” (Netflix); Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time“; and Sundance directing award-winner “Middle of Nowhere.” She also created the BAFTA-, Critics Choice-, and Emmy-winning series “When They See Us.” DuVernay was the first African-American woman to direct a film nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The full lineup, including Mexican films in competition, can be found here.
DuVernay is also the founder of the narrative change studio ARRAY, recipient of the Peabody Institutional Award. She holds honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees from Yale University and Morehouse College. The Smithsonian awarded her in 2025 with its Great Americans Medal. DuVernay serves on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, representing the directors branch, and holds advisory roles with both the Directors Guild of America and the American Film Institute.
