Spanish directors Carlos Saura and Julio Medem will be the stars of the 36th edition of the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG). This Monday, Sept. 13, the festival's president, Raul Padilla, announced that Saura will premiere his film El rey de todo el mundo, and celebrate his 90th birthday with the Mayahuel Lifetime Achievement Award. Julio Medem will also receive the Mayahuel Award for Ibero-American Cinema and participate in a master conference.

Similarly, the career of Mexican actress Elsa Aguirre will be recognized with the Silver Mayahuel Award for Mexican cinema, while Carlos Cortés, winner of an Oscar for Best Sound for his work on Sound of Metal, will give a talk to film students.

Mexican actresses Ilse Salas and Regina Blandón, and actor Joaquín Cosío and Spanish actor Brays Efe will participate as part of the jury of the Maguey Award, which recognizes films with LGBTQ+ themes.

Guatemala will be the guest country, and there will be an exhibition of heritage films as well as a film series with more than 20 short and feature films, two of them participating in the official competition.

The festival will open with Dune, by Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, which recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival. At the moment, there is no confirmation of the director's attendance. 

The 36th edition of the festival is taking place despite it having been difficult to raise sufficient funds for its production, and after the blow the COVID-19 pandemic has left on the film industry. Although the program has been reduced by 30% in scale compared to previous years, the organization has worked hard to move forward with the festival, which will be held from Oct. 1 to 9.