39th Guadalajara International Film Festival

The 39th Guadalajara International Film Festival took place from June 7 to 15, 2024, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Spanish documentary film This Excessive Ambition served as the festival's opening film, screened at the opening ceremony at Telmex Auditorium. Directed by Santos Bacana, Rogelio González and Cristina Trenas, the film follows the tour Sin cantar ni afinar by Spanish rapper C. Tangana. Yorgos Lanthimos anthology film Kinds of Kindness served as the closing film.

Pierre Saint Martin's We Shall Not Be Moved won the Mezcal Award for Best Film in the Mexican films section. Brazilian-Portuguese film Toll, directed by Carolina Markowicz, won Best Ibero-American Film, while Chilean-Dutch film The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine, directed by Alfredo Pourailly De La Plaza, won Best Ibero-American Documentary Film.

Background
The Community of Madrid was chosen as the guest of honor for this year's edition. Spanish filmmaker Álex de la Iglesia and Spanish directing duo Los Javis (Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi) will receive the International Mayahuel Tribute and the Maguey Lifetime Achievement, respectively. Additionally, Chilean actor Alfredo Castro will be honored with the Mayahuel Iberoamerican Tribute, Mexican filmmaker and actress Ángeles Cruz will receive the Maguey Activism Award, and Mexican actor Diego Luna will received the Mayahuel Honorary Award (Mayahuel de Plata).

The festival will be directed by Estrella Araiza, who took over the festival's direction from Raúl Padilla López, who served as president for the festival until his death in 2023. Padilla López was honored for his work during the festival's previous edition.

The festival's poster, featuring a woman surrounded by nopales, was designed by Mexican graphic designer and tattoo artist Tata Mucino, and was inspired by "the facial featured of Mexican women".

Official selections
The following films were selected for the official competitions:

Mezcal Award

 * Highlighted title indicates section's best film winner.


 *  (MG)  indicates eligible for the Maguey Award, for films that include LGBTQ+ themes.
 *  (HeJ)  indicates film eligible for the Hecho en Jalisco Award.

Ibero-American Fiction Feature Film

 * Highlighted title indicates section's best film winner.


 *  (MG)  indicates eligible for the Maguey Award, for films that include LGBTQ+ themes.
 *  (MIT)  indicates film also screened as a part of the Mayahuel Iberoamerican Tribute, presented to Alfredo Castro.

Ibero-American Documentary Feature Film

 * Highlighted title indicates section's best film winner.


 *  (GH)  indicates film also screened as a part of the Madrid, Guest of Honor section.

Ibero-American Short Film

 * Highlighted title indicates section's best film winner.


 *  (HeJ)  indicates film eligible for the Hecho en Jalisco Award.

Maguey Award
The following list consists of the films eligible for the Maguey Award that are not listed in the previous competition tables. The films in contention for both the Maguey Award and other competition section appear with the symbol (MG) next to it.
 *  (HeJ)  indicates film eligible for the Hecho en Jalisco Award.

Hecho en Jalisco
The following list consists of the films eligible for the Hecho en Jalisco that are not listed in the previous competition tables. The films in contention for both the Made in Jalisco and other competition section appear with the symbol (HeJ) next to it.
 * Highlighted title indicates section's best film winner.

Socio-Environmental Cinema Award
The following list consists of the films eligible for the Socio-Environmental Cinema Award that are not listed in the previous competition tables. The films in contention for both the Socio-Environmental Cinema Award and other competition section appear with the symbol (SE) next to it.
 * Highlighted title indicates section's best film winner.

International Animation Feature Film

 * Highlighted title indicates section's best film winner.

Rigo Mora Award

 * Highlighted title indicates section's best film winner.


 *  (HeJ)  indicates film eligible for the Hecho en Jalisco Award.

Tribute Screenings

 *  (MG)  indicates eligible for the Maguey Award, for films that include LGBTQ+ themes.

Official awards
The following awards were given:

Mezcal Awards

 * Best Film: We Shall Not Be Moved by Pierre Saint Martin
 * Best Directing: Isabel Cristina Fregoso for The Muleteer
 * Best Performance: Juan Ramón López for Shame
 * Best Cinematography: María Sarasvati Herrera for The Muleteer

Ibero-American Fiction Feature Film

 * Best Film: Toll by Carolina Markowicz
 * Special Mention: The Other Way Around by Jonás Trueba
 * Best Directing: Bernardo Florim & Maju de Paiva for Seaside Avenue
 * Best Performance: Maeve Jinkings for Toll
 * Best Screenplay: Fernando del Razo & Santiago Lozano Álvarez for I Saw Three Black Lights
 * Best Cinematography: Juan Velásquez for I Saw Three Black Lights
 * Best First Film: Natural Phenomena by Marcos Díaz Sosa
 * Special Mention for New Actor: Franklin Aro Huasco for The Dog Thief

Ibero-American Documentary Film

 * Best Film: The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine by Alfredo Pourailly de la Plaza
 * Best Directing: Macu Machín for The Undergrowth
 * Best Cinematography: Laura Basombrío for Souls

Maguey Award

 * Best Film: Toll by Carolina Markowicz
 * Special Jury Prize: Crossing by Levan Akin
 * Special Mention: Seaside Avenue by Bernardo Florim & Maju de Paiva
 * Best Performance: The cast of The Astronaut Lovers

Animated Film

 * Best Animated Feature Film: Flow by Gints Zilbalodis
 * Special Mention: Tender Metalheads by Juanjo Sáez, Carlos Pérez-Reche & Joan Tomás Monfort

Rigo Mora Award

 * Best Animated Short Film: The Family Portrait by Lea Vidakovic
 * Special Mention: Percebes by Alexandra Ramires & Laura Gonçalves

Hecho en Jalisco

 * Best Film: Corina by Urzula Barba Hopfner
 * Best Short Film: Bumbumpapá by Alexis Gómez
 * Special Mention for Best Short Film: The Dog's Highway by Carlos Rueda

Socio-Environmental Cinema Award

 * Best Film: The Battle for Laikipia by Peter Murimi & Daphne Matziaraki
 * Special Mention:
 * Wild, Wild by Emilio Fonseca Martín
 * Rising Up at Night by Nelson Makengo

Young Jury

 * Best Film: The Invisible Contract by Luciana Kaplan
 * Special Mention for Best Performance: Luisa Huertas for We Shall Not Be Moved

Audience Award

 * Audience Award: We Shall Not Be Moved by Pierre Saint Martin

FIPRESCI Awards

 * Best Film: The Invisible Contract by Luciana Kaplan

FEISAL Awards

 * Best Film: The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine by Alfredo Pourailly de la Plaza
 * Special Mention for Best Film:
 * Shame by Miguel Salgado Parra
 * We Shall Not Be Moved by Pierre Saint Martin