Michel Franco was born in Mexico City in 1979 and has helped put Mexican cinema in the global spotlight. The films he has written, directed, and produced include New Order (2020), which won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival; Chronic (2015), which took the Best Screenplay Award at the Festival de Cannes; April’s Daughters (2017), which won the Jury Prize of the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes; and After Lucia (2012), which took the main prize in Un Certain Regard. Sundown, a drama starring Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg, had its premiere in Venice in 2021. In September 2023, Franco returned to Venice with Memory, starring Academy Award winner Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard.