Ambulante is a travelling documentary film festival carried out by the non-profit organization Documental Ambulante A.C , in collaboration with Canana, Cinepolis and the Morelia International Film Festival. It was created in 2005 by Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna, and Pablo Cruz, with the purpose of promoting the exhibition of documentaries in Mexico, as well as documentary production. During the tour, both Mexican and international documentaries are shown in Cinepolis theatres and more than 60 additional venues, in several cities around the country, between February and May every year.

The festival’s different sections investigate and examine social and cultural issues, which are brought to the attention of a wide range of spectators accross the country. The program also includes parallel screenings and activities with guest filmmakers, film industry professionals, academics, and representatives of non-profit organizations. Ambulante has also extended its horizons by presenting programs from past editions in countries like Argentina, Norway, Cuba, Spain, United Kingdon, Japan, and Tanzania.

Ambulante is a non-competitive festival which gives a percentage of its box income or a flat fee to the owners of the rights of the documentaries. The Festival and its associates beleive that cinema can be a tool for change and contribute to promote basic human rights. For this reason, it has developed strategic alliances with both contributors and associates;  every stage of the festival, including fundraising, attempts to be consistent with its mission and values.

Vision

Documentaries capture neglected fragments of reality, piecing them together in order to reveal the complexity of our surroundings. Documentaries are inextricably bound to our ability to understand and transform the world, and to challenge its current social, political, and environmental situation.

Ambulante adopts an interventionist, rather than merely an expository stance, by taking documentary films to places where they are rarely seen in order to help develop an audience that can actively participate in the re-imagi(ni)ng of a diversified media culture. Along its course, Ambulante will create its own particular narrative, paving the way for dialogue and controversy, gathering people and images, hoping to simultaneously mobilize public opinion and transform the cinematic landscape in Mexico. Within its mobility, Ambulante hopes to breed the capacity to gaze and think beyond borders.

Objectives

• Descentralize the exhibition of documentary film in Mexico: Extend the current circuits of exhibition and open new spaces in theaters, academic and cultural institutions, museums, and public spaces in order to attract new audiences and democratize the access to documentary film. 
• Raise awareness around the documentary genre:  To explore the documentary genre and provide a space for its most recent and innovative manifestations, in order to dispel misconceptions of the genre. The documentary genre has evolved in the past few decades, it no longer occupies a fixed territory, it is a flexible genre that fluctuates between reality and fiction. 
• Foster documentary film production in Mexico through workshops, conferences, roundtable discussions, and informal talks with industry professionals and filmmakers. 
• Build strong ties with the international documentary community: Ambulantecontinues its  efforts to take a selection of Mexican documentaries to other countries every year, and to generate professional exchanges with foreign filmmakers in order to acquire the know-how for adopting more efficient models for a documentary market in Mexico. 
• Ensure and promote the interaction between audiences and filmmakers by favoring the exchange of experiences and points of view, as well as co production and collaboration among filmmakers through informal and academic encounters, in order to maintain an ongoing dialogue, and to create a tight cinematographic community that may lead to a more open and informed society.  
• Promote documentary distribution in Mexico Ambulante programs films that would not otherwise obtain a significant distribution in Mexico, boosting their market potential for film distributors and TV broadcasters in Mexico. Since April 2008, Ambulante began to distribute several documentaries in commercial theaters, independent circuits, TV and DVD through Canana Films.
• Mobilize public opinion through  round table discussions and debates that tackle issues  related to the selected documentaries. 
• Reach out to new audiences by programming free screenings in alternative forums, (schools, cultural centers, plazas) and in marginal geographical areas where access to the genre is limited. 

History

Ambulante emerges at a time when Mexico is in most need of a diversified cinematic landscape. Far from being a passing fad, the new wave of documentaries is attracting significant attention in Mexico and the rest of the world. Given the rising controversy regarding media manipulation, and government control of information, more people are turning to documentaries for reliable or at least alternative sources of information. This makes it all the more pressing to support the effort of filmmakers wishing to document the problems we are facing, and to reach out to audiences who might otherwise be only exposed to the most biased or controlled media sources. Documentaries help harvest a critical vision and a common awareness in relation to how we understand and perceive reality. With Ambulante, we hope to offer a fresh alternative to other festivals in Mexico; to adopt an active, rather than a merely expository stance, and to bring documentary films to places where they are rarely seen. The festival is geared primarily at the younger audiences across the nation—audiences who support and inform documentary culture, and who will be at the helm of new documentary production. 

We envisioned Ambulante as a traveling festival with the intention of decentralizing the exhibition of documentary films in Mexico in order to expand the nature and number of venues (most of which are often limited to few cultural and academic institutions). We also believe that documentaries serve as an important channel of expression and contribute to reinstate the presence of long marginalized groups (immigrants, indigenous communities, women, etc.). By bringing directors to different cities, Ambulante provides the opportunity for audiences to interact directly with filmmakers, whose work is otherwise difficult to access in our country, opening new spaces for dialogue and reflection, and creating a close-knit community with a broad outreach.

Moreover, a festival like Ambulante proves to be particularly necessary in face of an industry that offers few financial strategies, infrastructure, and planning to support upcoming projects. Documentaries are considered a precarious business in Mexico due to the misguided assumption that they lack an audience. However, based on our experience, it has become clear that the future sustainability of a documentary culture in Mexico is not a question of lack of audience or enthusiasm in production, but rather, of building a lasting infrastructure for exhibition and distribution that can generate the economic incentives to stimulate further production. 

We are certain that over the years, Ambulante will grow to consolidate itself as a significant vehicle of expression across the nation and abroad, reclaiming the value of documentaries, and building a lasting and participant audience.

DOCUMENTAL AMBULANTE A.C

Non-profit organization founded by Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, and Pablo Cruz, that seeks to further the promotion and distribution of documentary films across different media in Mexico.

CANANA FILMS S.A. DE C.V.

A film and television production and distribution company based in Mexico City, founded by Gael García Bernal, Pablo Cruz, and Diego Luna. The company focuses on story-based projects of Latin American origin, with a worldwide market perspective. Canana aims to open doors to already existing, but perhaps unexposed talent in Latin America; to develop stories and films that respect their context, the audience, and the director’s vision; to produce film and TV with honesty and originality; to create a true bond between the Spanish speaking world and other audiences.