San Miguel Women: Sarah Hoch — From San Miguel to the World’s Screens
For Sarah Hoch, San Miguel de Allende is both home and the starting point of a career that has connected Guanajuato with the world of cinema. Originally from Kansas City, she has lived in San Miguel since 1972, growing up surrounded by the art, music, and cultural exchange that would help shape her life’s work.
Her introduction to filmmaking came unexpectedly: a local production cast her as a Marilyn Monroe lookalike, but it was the work behind the camera that captured her interest. That curiosity led to a career as a producer, cultural leader, and champion of Mexican filmmaking.
In 1998, Sarah founded the Guanajuato State Film Commission, which she directed for 11 years, helping increase production in the state from seven to more than 80 projects annually. That same year, she launched Expresión en Corto, the short film festival that would become the Guanajuato International Film Festival, better known as GIFF. Today, the festival receives more than 4,200 film submissions from 140 countries and brings filmmakers, audiences, and industry leaders together in Guanajuato.
Yet some of Sarah’s most meaningful work happens beyond the festival’s screenings. Her Formación GIFF program has trained more than 2,100 young filmmakers, and her creative and executive producing credits span 214 short films, documentaries, and pioneering virtual reality works. Across these projects, her commitment remains the same: giving Mexican talent the tools, support, and opportunities to tell their stories.
As part of this chapter of our San Miguel Women series, Sarah reflects on the town that nurtured her creativity, the people who give her work purpose, and why community remains central to her vision for cinema’s future.
What role has San Miguel played in your success? How have its people, culture, creativity, or sense of place influenced your work?
Although I studied international finance, art and creativity have always been part of my life, and I credit so much of that to growing up in San Miguel. I participated in theater, led the band in high school, and was involved with the symphony.
Spending so much of my childhood in a place with such a rich cultural life gave me room to explore those interests. Creativity was all around me and it was part of everyday life. That foundation has stayed with me throughout my career.
What opportunities has San Miguel created for you, and how has your work grown beyond the city?
What began as a small film festival and what I thought would be a short stint leading the film commission grew into something much larger. So much of that growth comes from the talent in San Miguel and throughout Guanajuato. There was an extraordinary creative community here to build upon.
Today, GIFF receives between 4,000 and 5,000 submissions from as many as 121 countries. Through the festival, our local roots have grown into international connections.
Our guest country program has welcomed countries including Canada, Spain, Germany, Brazil, France, the United States, India, the United Kingdom, Argentina, South Korea, and the Netherlands. They bring their film, music, and culture, along with filmmakers and industry representatives who share their experience through workshops, conferences, and screenings. Those exchanges create relationships and opportunities for filmmakers from both countries to work together.
Over the years, GIFF has also welcomed partnerships with festivals and institutions including International Festival de Cannes, Tokyo International Film Festival, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and International Film Festival Roderdam . For me, that exchange is one of the most valuable parts of our work: bringing the world here while creating opportunities for Mexican talent to reach beyond our borders.
What has been one of the most meaningful moments in your journey? Is there a project, recognition, collaboration, or experience that made you especially proud of what you had created?
What makes me proudest is giving Mexican filmmakers and people working in the industry a place to learn, develop, and create. Through Formación GIFF, yearly we work with 120 participants—60 from Guanajuato and 60 from elsewhere in Mexico—helping them grow and bring their ideas to life. Our programs also develops and produces 12 films, including documentaries and shorts.
Being able to work and create with people every day fills my soul. That is the most meaningful part of this journey for me: seeing their talent develop and knowing we have helped make that possible is so inspiring.
It is difficult to sustain a creative career, and artists and filmmakers here in San Miguel face real challenges. Continuing to create takes enormous effort, which is why supporting them matters so much to me. When I look back on that work, I feel I have left a mark on Mexican cinema.
What comes next? How do you hope your work—and San Miguel’s place on the world stage—will continue to grow over the next few years?
Artificial intelligence is changing so many industries, and filmmaking is one of them. It can be frightening to think about what is coming. I recently watched an AI-generated film that I could barely distinguish from a traditionally made film and I have a very trained eye! Between these technologies and streaming platforms, both how we make films and how we watch them are changing dramatically.
But my hope lies in the experience of coming together. Online, there is already more content than any of us could possibly consume. What I hope we will continue to want is the shared experience of watching a film: sitting with other people, feeling something together, and talking about it afterward.
That is what GIFF creates. We bring audiences together with filmmakers, producers, and actors, and offer experiences that go beyond a conventional movie theater—from screenings in graveyards to the tunnels of Guanajuato. Storytelling and human connection will always be at the center of what we do. I believe the industry as we know it will change profoundly. For now, we will ride the wave and keep creating.
San Miguel will also feel the effects of global economic, environmental, and technological change. Yet this town has shown, time and again, that it can be an oasis and a sacred place of refuge with a strong community. We saw that during the pandemic, and that gives me hope for what comes next.
I am also encouraged by the younger generation, people in their twenties and thirties who are coming together here and helping renew the creative legacy San Miguel is known for. Between its artists, its nonprofit organizations, and the people who care deeply about this place, there is so much to build upon. Whatever changes come, keeping community at the heart of our work will guide us forward.
Fast Five
One word to describe this chapter of your life? Inward. I lost my husband and both my parents during the pandemic, and this has been a time of turning inward and rediscovering who I am. Even as I travel, give talks, and continue work that means so much to me, there is a quieter, more personal journey of self-discovery happening.
Your favorite place in San Miguel to feel inspired? Besides the movies? Outdoors. The Picacho mountains are beautiful and inspiring. Anywhere with a bird’s-eye view of San Miguel.
One local woman whose work you admire? Reva Brooks, a Canadian photographer who made San Miguel her home and became part of its early international artist community. Her photographs captured the people and everyday life of the town.
The San Miguel experience every visitor should have? Visit the Instituto Allende Casa Museum to discover the artists and stories behind San Miguel’s creative legacy. And experience the town during a celebration. Semana Santa, Día de Muertos, and Independence Day are some of my favorites. And, of course, GIFF in July! There’s no better way to see how we come together and keep our culture alive.
Complete this sentence: San Miguel is unlike anywhere else because… Of its people—their diversity, their generosity, and the community they create together.
Where to Connect with Sarah
Follow the Guanajuato International Film Festival and keep an eye out for the announcement of GIFF’s July 2027 dates and programming.
📲 @giffmx
Comments