About the exhibition

Cinelandia will celebrate Mexican American, Chicano, and Mexican contributions to American filmmaking and its impact on identity and belonging within these communities.

Spanning five themed galleries and featuring hundreds of rarely-seen, original objects, Cinelandia will explore the fascinating relationship between Hollywood and Mexico in the silent and classical eras; filmmaking during the Chicano Movement of the 1960s; the rise of popular Chicano narrative films during the 1980s and 1990s, and the influence of New Mexican Cinema in the 1990s and 2000s; the popularity of genre movies from the 1960s to today; and present-day animated, sci-fi, and fantasy films that draw from Mexican culture to reimagine identity and history.

The exhibition will also examine how Mexican American filmmakers engage with other forms of artistic expression, including painting, literature, poetry, theater, and music, and how these influences shaped global filmmaking.

Cinelandia will showcase costumes, props, posters, photographs, and other objects from Babel (2006), The Book of Life (2014), Coco (2017), Cronos (1992), the Spanish-language Dracula (1931), El Norte (1982), Enamorada (1946), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), La Bamba (1987), Mexican Spitfire (1940), My Family/Mi Familia (1995), Salt of the Earth (1954), Santa (1932), Selena (1997), Sleep Dealer (2008), Yo Soy Joaquín (1969), Y Tu Mamá También (2001), and Zoot Suit (1981), among many more.

Cinelandia: Celebrating Mexican American Cinema is organized by Academy Museum associate curator Sophia Serrano, with assistant curator Emily Rauber Rodriguez and curatorial assistant Josue Lopez.

Cinelandia is guided by a 12-person advisory panel that includes Lalo Alcaraz, cartoonist and writer-producer; Rosa-Linda Fregoso, professor emeritus, UC Santa Cruz; Rita Gonzalez, curator and head of contemporary art, LACMA; Jorge Gutiérrez, animator-director; Cristina Ibarra, writer-director; Jesse Lerner, filmmaker and professor, Pitzer College; Carlos López Estrada, director-writer; Orquidea Morales, assistant professor, University of Arizona; Gregory Nava, writer-director; Chon Noriega, professor, UCLA; Charles Ramirez Berg, professor, University of Texas at Austin; Laura Isabel Serna, professor, USC.