What this section covers. Film screenings, premieres and cycles across the city.
The one address that matters. The Cineteca Nacional, in Xoco, is the national film archive and the best cinema in the country: several screens, a programme of retrospectives, festivals and restorations that changes every week, free open-air screenings in its plaza, a bookshop and a café. Metro Coyoacán, line 3, is a short walk.
The alternatives. The UNAM Filmoteca at the Centro Cultural Universitario; Cine Tonalá in the Roma, which combines a screen with a bar and a stage; and the Cinemex and Cinépolis chains for commercial releases, with some branches in restored historic cinemas.
What to know before booking. Foreign-language films screen subtitled in Spanish rather than dubbed, except in children's showings. Mexican films carry no subtitles. Tickets cost a fraction of European or US prices, and midweek is cheaper still. Programmes change on Thursdays, so check the same week.
