Few cities have shaped the entertainment industry quite like Los Angeles. As the global capital of filmmaking, Hollywood has long been fueled by the creativity of communities from around the world, with Mexican and Chicano artists playing a defining role both on and off screen.
Now, one of the city’s premier cultural institutions is shining a spotlight on that legacy. Opening at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in 2027, Cinelandia: Celebrating Mexican American Cinema is the museum’s newest large-scale exhibition exploring the impact of Mexican American, Chicano, and Mexican filmmakers on Hollywood and beyond.
Through hundreds of rare artifacts, the exhibition traces more than a century of filmmaking while celebrating the communities whose stories continue to redefine the industry.
Celebrating Mexican American Cinema
Cinelandia opens on September 25, 2027. Organized across five themed galleries, the exhibition follows the evolution of Mexican American cinema from Hollywood’s silent era through the Chicano Movement, the rise of influential Latino films in the 1980s and 1990s, New Mexican Cinema, and today’s animation, sci-fi, and fantasy films inspired by Mexican culture.
Visitors will find hundreds of original costumes, props, photographs, posters, and memorabilia from beloved films including Coco, Y Tu Mamá También, Babel, Cronos, La Bamba, Selena, From Dusk Till Dawn, The Book of Life, and many more.
The exhibition also highlights the work of acclaimed filmmakers, including Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, while placing Mexican American cinema in conversation with Mexican classics such as Santa and Enamorada.
Beyond the films themselves, Cinelandia explores how Mexican American artists have drawn inspiration from painting, literature, poetry, theater, and music to influence filmmaking around the world.
