Director Daniel Giménez Cacho has presented Juana, a thriller that denounces patriarchal violence and the impunity surrounding the numerous cases of femicide in Mexico, with a narrative that delves into the country's memory and political tension. This Mexican production is competing in the Official Competition of the Festival de Málaga.
 
At a press conference alongside lead actress Diana Sedano, and screenwriter Emma Beltrán, Giménez Cacho highlighted the film's strong political content. The story follows Juana, a journalist who, marked by a traumatic past, is drawn into an investigation that connects political power with networks of violence and exploitation. From this starting point, the film embarks on a personal journey in which the protagonist confronts not only a criminal plot but also the wounds she has carried for years.
 
The project stems from the director's need to reflect on a reality that permeates Mexican society. He has asserted that violence against women cannot be understood merely as a collection of isolated cases, but rather as a structure deeply rooted in a social and political system that has long allowed its normalisation.
 
Based on this premise, the thriller genre offered him a powerful narrative tool to explore this reality from the emotional perspective of the main character. Through the tension inherent in the genre, the film seeks to draw the viewer into a context where violence has become part of the everyday landscape and where the pursuit of justice faces enormous obstacles.
 
For her part, screenwriter Emma Beltrán explained that the script was developed from research into the power structures that sustain this impunity. In this process, the team wanted to construct a story that showed how patriarchal violence permeates different spheres of public life, from politics to the media, directly affecting those who try to denounce it.
 
From the perspective of its protagonist, Diana Sedano, Juana—a character with great emotional complexity—is a woman who has learned to live with the weight of a past that has never been resolved, and who, throughout the film, is forced to confront memories and decisions that had remained buried.
 
She also explained that the character's journey is marked by a process of awakening that transforms her relationship with the reality that surrounds her. As the investigation progresses, Juana begins to understand the structural dimension of the violence she is trying to denounce.
 
The Juana team also emphasised the importance of cinema directly addressing issues such as gender violence and institutional impunity. In this regard, Giménez Cacho defended the role of cinema as a space for collective reflection capable of generating debate and questioning certain social structures.
 
With Juana, the Mexican actor makes his directorial debut with a film that blends thriller suspense with a profoundly political perspective on contemporary reality. The result is an intense story that explores memory, fear, and the search for justice in a context marked by inequality and violence. After screening at the Morelia International Film Festival in Mexico, the Tallinn International Film Festival, and the Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia, it now opens in the Official Competition of the Festival de Málaga, where it competes with 21 other feature films.