Mexico’s Los Cabos festival returns with new funding after two-year hiatus (exclusive)

Almost exactly one year after top brass at Los Cabos International Film Festival cancelled the 2023 event due to lack of financial support, the renamed Los Cabos International Film Festival: Cinema Encounters in Mexico is posed to return to the circuit in December.

Backed by the culture ministry’s Profest programme and private partners, the festival will run December 4-8. Organisers promised “top feature films” as opening and closing selections when the line-up is announced.

This year’s event will take place in a new locale, San Jose del Cabo, which will host events and screenings. There will still be screenings at Cinemex Puerto Paraíso in Cabo San Lucas.

The festival’s long-running Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund returns with a focus on first features in development from emerging Mexican talents. Selected projects will participate in a workshop to help new filmmakers navigate the process of making a debut film.

Mexican Cinema will take pride of place in the film programme accompanied by post-screening Q&As.

In an effort to train the Baja California peninsula’s film community and build a network for filmmakers, the festival has arranged a workshop for regional filmmakers taught by prominent figures in Mexican cinema.

Prior editions of Los Cabos became a magnet for Hollywood and Mexican industry executives and drew high-profile talent, among them Oliver Stone, Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Spike Lee.

• Telluride 2024 line-up includes ‘Conclave’, ‘Nickel Boys’, ‘September 5’