Feature films Workers (pictured) by José Luis Valle and La Jaula de Oro by Diego Quemada-Diez were the winners at the 11th edition of the Morelia Film Festival. Workers received he prize for Best Film at the festival, while La Jaula de Oro received the prizes for Best First/Second Film, the Audience Award and the Press Award.
In Workers, these are the hours prior to Rafael’s long-awaited day of retirement as a janitor in a factory. Lidia, on the other hand, finds out that after 30 years of work as a maid in a mansion, the old lady has left the inheritance to the dog. Their past is connected by a love story, their future by an unexpected turn of events.
La Jaula de Oro tells the story of Juan, Sara and Samuel, who are all 15 years old, leave Guatemala to try to reach the United States. On their journey through Mexico, they meet Chauk, a Tzotzil man who does not speak Spanish and has no official documents. They all believe they will find a better world beyond the U.S.–Mexico border, but they soon must confront a very different reality.
In the documentary category the big winner of the festival was Nuria Ibañez's El cuarto desnudo / The Naked Room (pictured right) which was awarded the prize for Best Documentary, and Best Documentary by a Woman Filmmaker. The film portraits a whole world without leaving a single space: the doctor’s office at a children’s hospital in Mexico City. Listening to the children, their parents and the doctors allows us to have a deeper and more complex insight into both social reality and human frailty.
The 11th edition of the Morelia Film Festival took place October 17-28 in Mexico.
With this week's announcement of the expansion of the Ambulante Film Festival in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, there are now three annual film series focused on Mexican cinema in Los Angeles, which boasts the largest Mexican population in the country. 
The AFI FEST announced today its complete lineup for its annual celebration of international cinema in Los Angeles. For the 2013 edition, running November 7-14 and featuring 119 films representing 43 countries, three Latin American feature films have been selected for the World Cinema section: the Mexican films Heli by Amat Escalante and La Jaula de Oro (pictured) by Diego Quemada-Diez, and Chilean film Gloria by Sebastián Lelo. Both Heli and Gloria are representing their respective countries in the Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars.
Wolfe Releasing with DaDa Films have announced the U.S. theatrical release of Bruno Barreto's award-winning Reaching for the Moon / Flores Raras (pictured). The Brazilian film opens Friday, November 8 at the Paris Theater in New York City, and on Friday, November 29 at the Royal Theater in Los Angeles.
The Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland has announced that the fourth edition of its work-in-progress Carte Blanche program will focus in Brazil featuring between five and seven films in post-production from the South American country seeking funds for competition. Carte Blanche will take place during the 67th edition of the Swiss film festival running August 6-16, 2014. Launched in 2011, Carte Blanche has featured Colombia, Mexico, and Chile in the past. A jury composed of film industry professionals will select the winner of the Best Film with a cash prize of CHF 10,000 (about $11,100 USD).
