Umbrales Festival de Cine (2)

Festival start: 15 August 2026      Festival end: 22 August 2026

The Umbrales Film Festival opens its 2025 call for entries, inviting filmmakers, audiovisual artists, and emerging creators to participate with works that explore innovative narratives, perspectives, and formats in Mexican cinema.

For this second edition, only works in short film and cineminute formats will be accepted. The maximum running time is 20 minutes and 1 minute respectively, including credits. Winners in each category will receive the festival statuette, as well as honorable mentions.

Umbrales encourages freedom of expression. Therefore, within our categories, we accept cinematographic works of any theme. However, we do not tolerate racism, homophobia, or gender-based violence. Likewise, we reject the use of works for political party propaganda. These are fundamental considerations for the acceptance of submitted films.

Categories
Fiction

Works based on a non-real story or, alternatively, reimagined within a staged narrative created from scratch by the authors or collaborators of the film.

Documentary

Works that present the creators’ own perspective on reality for informational or entertainment purposes. It is important to note that while this category may draw on interviews, its narrative is not entirely based on them.

Animation

This category includes works created using 3D, hybrid, traditional, stop-motion animation, or combinations of these techniques.

Experimental

Works that employ non-conventional and/or abstract narratives grounded in symbolism, often with cryptic tones, and therefore tending toward Dadaist or surreal expressions.

New Media

Short films and one-minute films that use artificial intelligence in their creation are accepted, provided that its use is limited to images and character voices. The story must be original and creative; the piece should stand out for its narrative, not for the use of AI itself.

This year, Umbrales seeks to promote proposals that expand the boundaries of cinematic and audiovisual language, integrating both traditional cinema and innovative expressions. Therefore, works from any category are welcome in single-channel or alternative formats:

Alternative Formats
Multiscreen

Exclusively short films with a maximum of three video channels in Polyvision aspect ratio are considered.

Augmented Reality (AR) | Virtual or Mixed Reality

Works in 360° virtual reality (3DOF), free-movement VR (6DOF), or augmented reality for tablet or mobile devices are accepted. The maximum duration for this alternative format is 15 minutes.

Selection and awards

Selected projects will be screened during the festival and will compete in the categories listed above. These works will be evaluated by a jury of specialists in cinema and visual arts. The jury for each category will be announced on all Umbrales Film Festival social media channels.

awards will be granted for Best Short Film and Best One-Minute Film in each category (fiction, documentary, animation, experimental, and new media), as well as Best Alternative Format Proposal (multiscreen and Augmented Reality (AR) | virtual or mixed reality).

The jury’s decision will be final. The committee will present a statement explaining the reasons for its selections, naming the winner in each category and justifying its decision.

Participation Requirements

Cinematographic works and audiovisual projects produced between 2023 and 2025 are accepted, created by teams with at least one Mexican member. The short film may have been produced in another country.

Up to two works per participant may be submitted.

Only .mov and .mp4 video formats are accepted.

Project links must be submitted through Festhome.

The call for entries opens on December 19, 2025, and submissions will be accepted until February 28, 2026. Selected projects will be notified by email and announced on the festival’s social media on April 25, 2026. Any changes to the notification date will be communicated via the festival’s official social media channels.

Complete Your Submission!

Please remember that the year of production must be shown in the video.

Participants agree that selected works may be used for festival promotion purposes in digital and physical media. If selected, you will receive an email requesting materials for your work and an authorization letter, in which we also commit that dissemination will be the sole purpose of the festival regarding your work.

Submitting a project implies full acceptance of the terms and conditions of this call for entries.