Ambulante

Founded in 2005 by Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna and Elena Fortes, Ambulante works with communities to develop and promote documentary films. Their model of working is deliberately designed to support the people affected by the stories, using documentary as a tool for social and cultural change. They work in places where documentary film and training are rarely available in order to develop filmmakers and audiences with critical and participatory approaches. They host an annual 2-month international film festival that tours Mexico, presenting over 100 documentaries and holding screenings in over 150 venues all over the country. The tour seeks to expand the traditional exhibition circuits in Mexico, beyond the commercial venues, in order to reach new and underrepresented audiences. The festival is non-competitive and offers more than 60% of its programming for free, as well as public discussions and conversations around the films, nurturing a more holistic approach to the traditional documentary model. Ambulante’s training department, Ambulante Más Allá (Ambulante Beyond) trains new filmmakers from wider Latin America who have limited access to the tools to share their stories with a broad audience. Modular workshops promote independent filmmaking to ensure that these stories are told from a cultural and aesthetic perspective – not arising from the imposition of conventional film parameters.