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Tijuana Film Festival 2025: Cinema Without Borders

October 31, 2025

Tijuana Film Festival Header

Where Stories Cross Borders and Cinema Revives a City

Four days of films, conversations, and creativity in Tijuana — celebrating border voices, emerging filmmakers, and a new wave of cultural tourism in Baja California.

November 6–9, 2025 | Tijuana, Baja California

The Tijuana Film Festival 2025: Cinema Without Borders was born on the border — where stories migrate, accents intersect, and voices resist. It’s a festival for films that don’t ask for permission: films that resonate, unsettle, and leave a mark. Stories made with whatever is at hand, but that carry everything they want to say. Keep up to date with the latest events and news by following the festival on Facebook here.

Casa de la Cultura Playas, Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura de Tijuana (IMAC)

From November 6 to 9, Tijuana will transform into a vibrant stage for filmmakers, students, artists, and audiences from across Mexico and beyond. The city’s cultural corridors — from the Playas Cultural Center to Cinépolis Tijuana Beaches — will host four days of screenings, conversations, masterclasses, and exhibitions that celebrate creativity and defiance in equal measure.

More than just a film festival, FCTJ is a catalyst for cultural tourism and creative revival in the region — a binational bridge inviting visitors to explore Tijuana’s evolving artistic scene, local gastronomy, and border-born storytelling. It’s a cultural spark designed to reignite northern cinema and attract travelers who want to experience the energy of Baja’s creative capital.

🎥 A Festival Born on the Border

The first edition of the Tijuana Film Festival received submissions in three core categories:

  • University Short Film — spotlighting emerging student filmmakers from across Mexico.

  • Cine Talents — dedicated to first works and fresh voices redefining Mexican cinema.

  • Plataforma Norte — celebrating creators whose stories are rooted in, or inspired by, the border experience.

Short films with an accent, a neighborhood feel, an edge, or anger has a place here.

Join acclaimed Mexican cinematographer Ximena Amann — graduate of the National School of Cinematographic Arts and Director of Photography for Sujo (2024), winner of the Grand Jury Prize — for Conversations in Cinematography on Friday at 9:00 AM at the Playas Cultural Center, alongside fellow cinematographer Adrián Durazo. Together, they’ll explore the craft, vision, and evolving art of cinematography in contemporary Mexican cinema.

Highlights from the 2025 Official Program

Four days of film, dialogue, and discovery await at venues across the city.

Thursday, November 6

  • Opening Red Carpet & Function (6:30 PM, Playas Cultural Center)

    • Launch of the University Short Film Competition – 101 minutes of fresh cinematic voices.

Friday, November 7

  • Conversations in Cinematography with Ximena Amann and Adrián Durazo (9 AM, Free)

  • The Academy & Mexican Cinema with Roberto Fiesco (10:30 AM, Free)

  • Killing It in Mexico City panel featuring Hoze Meléndez, Adrián Durazo, and David Pablos (12 PM, Free)

  • Screenings at Cinépolis Tijuana Beaches include Peter Hujar’s Day, Ivy, and On the Road with live Q&As.

  • Coffee Chats across the city: from Martha Sosa at Baristi Toasters to Alejandro Miranda at Nine Coffee Bar.

Don’t miss The Lovers Say Goodbye with the Glance (2025), directed by Rigoberto Perezcano. Set in a rural community marked by silence and goodbyes, the film follows a young man as he discovers love and desire while facing loss and the weight of tradition—a moving story about what remains when words no longer suffice. Join us on November 8, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. at Cinépolis Playas de Tijuana for a screening and Q&A with Director Rigoberto Perezcano and Producer Cristina Velasco. Free admission with registration at festivalcinetijuana.com.

Saturday, November 8

  • Masterclass: Cinema as Resistance with director David Pablos (9 AM)

  • The Art of Screenwriting with Juan Mora Catlett (12 PM)

  • Between Producers roundtable with Elena Fortes Acosta, Diana Luna, and Martha Sosa (3:30 PM)

  • Evening screenings of Copper, Vanilla, and The Lovers Say Goodbye with Their Eyes followed by Q&As.

  • Award Ceremony: Clippings 48 (5:30 PM, Free Admission)

Join acclaimed Mexican filmmaker David Pablos for a thought-provoking masterclass, Cinema as Resistance, on Saturday, November 8 at 9 AM at the Playas Cultural Center. Pablos, known for his celebrated films La Vida Después and Las Elegidas, will explore how filmmaking can serve as an act of defiance, memory, and survival. An active director, editor, and screenwriter since 2007, Pablos has been involved in six feature films, as well as several shorts and documentaries. His work stands out for its powerful storytelling and deep social awareness, reflecting the complexities and contradictions of contemporary Mexico. This session invites participants to discover how cinema can challenge systems, amplify marginalized voices, and resist silence through the language of images.

Sunday, November 9

  • Reflections from Stage to Screen with Silverio Palacios and Gustavo Sánchez Parra (11 AM)

  • Art, Aesthetics, and Visual Effects in Film featuring Jaime Jasso and Alejandro Miranda (12:30 PM)

  • Festivals of the Region panel (2 PM)

  • Closing Ceremony & Awards (5:30 PM, Playas Cultural Center)

  • El M screening and Q&A with Gustavo Sánchez Parra (2 PM, Cinépolis Tijuana Beaches).

Throughout the weekend, visitors can also explore gallery exhibitions such as Rooms: Transience, Illusion, and Apparitions by Julio Orozco, and Shows a Youthful Look by the Faculty of Arts at UABC.

Reviving Northern Cinema

The Tijuana Film Festival is more than an event — it’s a creative response from the North, a necessary jolt to revive Tijuana’s film industry and reaffirm its voice in global cinema.

It’s for those who believe in storytelling from the border, for filmmakers who want to create without leaving, and for audiences who want to experience the raw pulse of northern creativity.

Because cinema doesn’t need permission, funding, or borders — it needs will, collaboration, and a place to turn on the camera. And that place is Tijuana. Discover more about all the opportunities available here. 

Tijuana is the second largest city on the west coast of North America — after Los Angeles — with a population of almost 2 million. CECUT – Centro Cultural Tijuana (pictured here) is the most important museum and entertainment complex in Northwest Mexico.

 

Explore Tijuana’s Rich History, Beautiful Architecture, and Vibrant Cultural Scene

Now is the time to explore the Mexican border region around Tijuana — a city where history, creativity, and modern life converge at every turn. Beyond the theaters and festival venues, Tijuana offers a wide range of cultural experiences that complete your cinematic journey.

Discover Tijuana’s rich history through its museums and cultural centers, admire its beautiful and diverse architecture, and immerse yourself in its vibrant arts scene, where street art, independent galleries, and creative collectives express the unique spirit of the border.

Visit museums, galleries, aquariums, and more — from the CECUT (Centro Cultural Tijuana) and the Museo del Coleccionista to new experimental art spaces and the culinary routes that have made Tijuana a creative and gastronomic capital of the North.

Take this opportunity to cross cultural borders and experience the energy of the binational corridor that unites Baja California with San Diego. Explore the fun and discover Baja’s museums here: https://sandiegomuseumcouncil.org/baja-museums/

The Tijuana Film Festival 2025 invites you not only to watch films, but to experience the border itself — its art, its people, and its unstoppable creative pulse. Every story filmed here carries a piece of the North, and every visitor becomes part of its story.

Donde las historias cruzan fronteras y el cine revive una ciudad

Cuatro días de cine, conversaciones y creatividad en Tijuana — celebrando las voces fronterizas, los nuevos talentos del cine y una nueva ola de turismo cultural en Baja California.

6–9 de noviembre de 2025 | Tijuana, Baja California

El Festival de Cine de Tijuana 2025: Cine Sin Fronteras nació en la frontera — donde las historias migran, los acentos se cruzan y las voces resisten. Es un festival para películas que no piden permiso: películas que resuenan, que inquietan y que dejan huella. Historias hechas con lo que se tenga a la mano, pero que cargan con todo lo que quieren decir. Mantente al tanto de los últimos eventos y noticias siguiendo al festival en Facebook aquí.

Del 6 al 9 de noviembre, Tijuana se transformará en un escenario vibrante para cineastas, estudiantes, artistas y públicos de todo México y más allá. Los corredores culturales de la ciudad — desde el Centro Cultural Playas hasta Cinépolis Playas de Tijuana — serán sede de cuatro días de proyecciones, conversaciones, clases magistrales y exposiciones que celebran la creatividad y la rebeldía en igual medida.

Más que un festival de cine, FCTJ es un catalizador del turismo cultural y el renacimiento creativo de la región — un puente binacional que invita a los visitantes a descubrir la escena artística en evolución de Tijuana, su gastronomía local y su narrativa nacida en la frontera. Es una chispa cultural diseñada para reavivar el cine del norte y atraer a quienes desean experimentar la energía de la capital creativa de Baja.

🎥 Un festival nacido en la frontera

La primera edición del Festival de Cine de Tijuana recibió trabajos en tres categorías principales:

• Cortometraje Universitario — que destaca a los nuevos cineastas estudiantiles de todo México.
• Cine Talentos — dedicado a primeras obras y voces emergentes que están redefiniendo el cine mexicano.
• Plataforma Norte — que celebra a los creadores cuyas historias nacen o se inspiran en la experiencia fronteriza.

Los cortometrajes con acento, sabor de barrio, filo o enojo tienen aquí su lugar.

Destacados del Programa Oficial 2025

Cuatro días de cine, diálogo y descubrimiento te esperan en los distintos recintos de la ciudad.

Jueves, 6 de noviembre
• Alfombra roja y función inaugural (6:30 PM, Centro Cultural Playas)

  • Lanzamiento de la Competencia de Cortometrajes Universitarios – 101 minutos de nuevas voces cinematográficas.

Viernes, 7 de noviembre
• Conversaciones sobre cinematografía con Ximena Amann y Adrián Durazo (9:00 AM, Entrada libre)
• La Academia y el Cine Mexicano con Roberto Fiesco (10:30 AM, Entrada libre)
• Matando en la Ciudad de México, panel con Hoze Meléndez, Adrián Durazo y David Pablos (12:00 PM, Entrada libre)
• Proyecciones en Cinépolis Playas de Tijuana que incluyen Peter Hujar’s Day, Ivy y On the Road, con sesiones de preguntas y respuestas en vivo.
• Charlas de café en toda la ciudad: desde Martha Sosa en Baristi Toasters hasta Alejandro Miranda en Nine Coffee Bar.

Sábado, 8 de noviembre
• Clase magistral: El Cine como Resistencia con el director David Pablos (9:00 AM)
• El arte del guion cinematográfico con Juan Mora Catlett (12:00 PM)
• Mesa redonda Entre Productores con Elena Fortes Acosta, Diana Luna y Martha Sosa (3:30 PM)
• Proyecciones vespertinas de Copper, Vanilla y Los Amantes se Dicen Adiós con la Mirada, seguidas de Q&A.
• Ceremonia de premiación: Clippings 48 (5:30 PM, Entrada libre)

Domingo, 9 de noviembre
• Reflexiones del escenario a la pantalla con Silverio Palacios y Gustavo Sánchez Parra (11:00 AM)
• Arte, estética y efectos visuales en el cine con Jaime Jasso y Alejandro Miranda (12:30 PM)
• Panel: Festivales de la Región (2:00 PM)
• Ceremonia de clausura y premiación (5:30 PM, Centro Cultural Playas)
• Proyección de El M y Q&A con Gustavo Sánchez Parra (2:00 PM, Cinépolis Playas de Tijuana).

Durante todo el fin de semana, los visitantes también podrán disfrutar de exposiciones de galería como Rooms: Transience, Illusion and Apparitions de Julio Orozco, y Shows a Youthful Look de la Facultad de Artes de la UABC.

🔥 Reavivando el cine del norte

El Festival de Cine de Tijuana es más que un evento: es una respuesta creativa desde el norte, un impulso necesario para reactivar la industria cinematográfica tijuanense y reafirmar su voz en el cine global.

Está hecho para quienes creen en el poder de narrar desde la frontera, para cineastas que desean crear sin tener que irse, y para audiencias que buscan experimentar el pulso auténtico de la creatividad del norte.

Porque el cine no necesita permisos, financiamiento o fronteras: necesita voluntad, colaboración y un lugar para encender la cámara.
Y ese lugar es Tijuana. Descubre más sobre todas las oportunidades disponibles aquí.

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