The Golden Age of Mexican Cinema and Its Global Stars

By the ULTIMATE Mexico City Editorial Team

From the Golden Age to the Three Amigos

From the late 1930s, Mexico’s studios made the films that filled cinemas across the Spanish-speaking world. Emilio “El Indio” Fernández and the cameraman Gabriel Figueroa created its look of vast skies and sculpted faces, and their María Candelaria, with Dolores del Río, won the Grand Prix at the first Cannes festival in 1946. Luis Buñuel made Los olvidados here, and won best director at Cannes in 1951.

A new generation broke through around 2000. Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Amores perros and Alfonso Cuarón’s Y tu mamá también announced them; Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth followed. Between them the three friends have since won the Oscar for best director five times, and the cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki won three years running.

Must-watch films

To understand Mexican cinema, start with these.

• María Candelaria (1943): Emilio Fernández’s tragic love story, winner at Cannes.
• Los olvidados (1950): Luis Buñuel’s unflinching film of children on the streets of Mexico City.
• Amores perros (2000): Iñárritu’s three stories linked by one car crash in the capital.
• Y tu mamá también (2001): Cuarón’s road movie with Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna.
• Roma (2018): Cuarón’s black-and-white memory of a 1970s childhood, winner of the Golden Lion and three Oscars.

The stars

Mexico’s stars have been loved across the world for nearly a century.

• Dolores del Río (1904–1983) and María Félix (1914–2002): the great divas of Hollywood and the Golden Age.
• Pedro Infante (1917–1957) and Jorge Negrete (1911–1953): the singing idols of the Golden Age.
• Cantinflas (1911–1993): the comic genius, and Passepartout in Around the World in 80 Days.
• Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna and Salma Hayek: the stars of today, from Mexico City to Hollywood.
• Guillermo del Toro: director of Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, winner of the Oscar for best picture.

Where to watch in Mexico City

The Cineteca Nacional in Coyoacán, founded in 1974, keeps the national film archive and runs several screens and an open-air screen in its gardens, with tickets at modest prices. Its international showcase each autumn brings the best of the festivals to the city, and each October the Morelia festival, in Michoacán, is the home of new Mexican film.

Our advice: see a Mexican classic at the Cineteca, then walk to the centre of Coyoacán.

Cineteca Nacional →

Hidden on the silver screen: international productions filmed in Mexico City

Mexico City’s great avenues and studios have hosted some of the biggest productions in the world.

• Spectre (2015), the Centro Histórico: James Bond’s Day of the Dead opening, which inspired the city’s real parade, held since 2016.
• Total Recall (1990), Estudios Churubusco and Insurgentes: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s future city was built and filmed here.
• Roma (2018), Colonia Roma: Cuarón rebuilt the street of his childhood for his Oscar winner.

Mexico in Hollywood

Mexicans have shone in Hollywood since Dolores del Río in the silent age. Today Cuarón, del Toro and Iñárritu are among its most honoured directors: Gravity, The Shape of Water, Birdman and The Revenant all won major Oscars, and Lubezki shot three of them. Salma Hayek was nominated for best actress for Frida, and Yalitza Aparicio for Roma.

Questions and answers