Mexican folk horror awarded at Ventana Sur 2024 and premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival.
Lahaye Media handled the image post-production and DCP mastering of El Ritual del Nahual, the debut feature of Mexican director Carlos Matienzo Serment and one of the most significant bets in Latin American genre cinema in 2026. Filmed in 2024 on location in the natural landscapes of the Sierra Huasteca Potosina, the film falls within the folk horror subgenre: terror deeply rooted in Mesoamerican indigenous mythology, reviving the figure of the nahual — a being capable of shapeshifting between human and animal form — to build a meditation on justice, guilt, and the bond with the land.
The story follows Gabriel (played by Gerardo Oñate), a wounded outlaw who takes refuge in a village deep in the forests of San Luis Potosí, where a wave of child murders has thrown the community into terror. In parallel, a federal agent (Gerardo Trejoluna) investigates the crimes, unaware that the answer lies beyond any institutional logic: in the heart of the forest, an ancestral force has awakened. The film is spoken in Spanish and Tének, the indigenous language of the Huasteca region, reinforcing its cultural authenticity.
Main cast: Gerardo Oñate as Gabriel, Alejandra Herrera, Caraly Sánchez, and Gerardo Trejoluna as federal agent Vicente del Parral.
Lahaye Media’s Work
Lahaye Media was brought in for two of the most critical technical processes in the finishing chain of El Ritual del Nahual. Color grading and visual treatment of the film were carried out by the Lahaye Media team — a key process in bringing to screen the dark atmosphere and ancestral weight the production sought to convey. The Huasteca forests, shot entirely on natural locations, required meticulous image post-production work to preserve the organic texture and visual tension of the story.
Lahaye Media also handled the DCP mastering (Digital Cinema Package), the technical standard format for worldwide theatrical distribution. This process ensured that El Ritual del Nahual met the quality specifications required for its release across more than 500 screens in Mexico through Cinemex Distribución, as well as for its international festival screenings. The result was a film that reached cinemas with the image its creators envisioned: a visually powerful folk horror work, faithful to indigenous mythology and competitive in the international market.
The Lahaye Media Award at Ventana Sur 2024
The relationship between Lahaye Media and El Ritual del Nahual began at the 16th edition of Ventana Sur — held for the first time outside Argentina, at the Teatro Solís in Montevideo, Uruguay — where the film was honored with the Lahaye Media Award in the Blood Window section, dedicated to Latin American fantasy and horror cinema. This recognition in film post-production services was the starting point of a collaboration that would give the film its definitive visual form.
From Short Film to Feature
The origins of El Ritual del Nahual trace back to 2020, when the director shot the short film Tekenchu in just 60 hours during the Fantastic Short Rally at the Feratum Film Festival. That exercise accumulated over 90 official selections at international festivals and 16 awards, including the British Horror Film Festival in the UK and the Festival Internacional de Cine de Horror: Aurora in Mexico. It was also featured in IMCINE’s statistical yearbook as one of the most internationally awarded Mexican short films of the year. The short’s success drove the development of the feature, which inhabits the same universe — in the director’s own words, the short works as a sequel to the film.
A Top-Tier International Circuit
Before reaching Mexican theaters, El Ritual del Nahual built a strong presence on the international festival and market circuit. It participated in Blood Window at Ventana Sur, Latin America’s most important genre film market. It was screened at the Blood Window Showcase of the Marché du Film at Cannes 2025 and selected for the Work in Progress program at the same festival. Its world premiere took place in January 2026 at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it received a positive critical reception. International sales are handled by AltaTensión Films, specialists in Ibero-American genre cinema.
A Bold Bet on Mexican Horror Cinema
El Ritual del Nahual marks a milestone for independent filmmaking in San Luis Potosí: the first independent film from that region to reach 500 commercial screens nationwide. Its May 7, 2026 release made it the flagship bet of Mexican genre cinema for the year. For the director, the key was building a film where fear came not only from the creature, but from the weight of an ancestral worldview that remains alive — a work that connects contemporary horror with the identity, spirituality, and collective memory of Mexico’s indigenous peoples. The image post-production and DCP mastering by Lahaye Media were instrumental in bringing that vision to the big screen intact.
Technical sheet: Director: Carlos Matienzo Serment. Producers: Milko Luis Coronel, Santiago Rangel. Cinematography: Roberto Chávez Bañuelos. Music: Juan Carlos Enríquez. Production Companies: Alta Tensión Films, Ki Visual. Mexico Distribution: Cinemex Distribución. International Distribution: AltaTensión Films. Image Post-Production & DCP: Lahaye Media. Runtime: 80 minutes. Languages: Spanish, Tének. World Premiere: International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2026. Mexico Release: May 7, 2026.