I was making a documentary series for a local television channel in Mexico and, by pure chance, one of those episodes led me inside the world of truckers… I began to see how fascinating and peculiar this world was… From that moment, something caught me… and I began to try and understand the rules of that world… Because they are in a territory that is quite dangerous… I told the story of an emotional connection between two men in that hypermasculine world. I believe that the LGBT world is quite embedded in this [trucker culture]… there are many trans women [sex workers]. There are also many men who sleep with men. — David Pablos
Among the many standouts at this year’s Hola Mexico Film Festival, EN EL CAMINO—written and directed by David Pablos—is a remarkable twist to the standard lovers-on-the-run genre. Veneno (Victor Prieto), a cachimba (truckstop) sex worker, latches onto Eduardo—“but they call me Muñeco” (Osvaldo Sanchez)—a straight but amiable driver whose job provides him a form of intoxicated escape from his alienated family. Soon enough, an incident from Veneno’s past catches up to the pair, and the film moves into thriller mode. An explicit revelation of both the tenderness and extreme brutality of life on the road, EN EL CAMINO lays bare a world where affinities are provisional and expedience is all.
Winner of both the Orizzonti Award for Best Film and the Queer Lion at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, the recipient of 13 Ariel Award nominations, and Mexico’s official 2026 Academy Award submission for Best International Feature Film, EN EL CAMINO will screen twice during the festival. Please see info and links below.
EN EL CAMINO
Written and directed by David Pablos
Hola Mexico Film Festival 2026
Saturday, September 26, at 7:15 pm
Monday, September 28, at 7:10 pm
Regal LA Live
1000 Olympic Boulevard, downtown Los Angeles
holamexicoff.com/festival-2026
The David Pablos quotations are from his 2025 Venice Film Festival interview with David Martos, FRED Film Radio.
David Pablos, En el camino / On the Road (2026), from top: Victor Prieto; Osvaldo Sanchez (right) and Prieto; Sanchez; Prieto and Sanchez; Prieto; Prieto and Sanchez; En el camino scene; Prieto.
Photos courtesy and © Strand Releasing.
