SUEÑO PERRO: A Film Installation by Alejandro G. Iñárritu (on view through June 21, 2026) bridges cinema, memory, and contemporary art. Conceived to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Amores Perros, Iñárritu’s groundbreaking debut feature, the installation brings to light never-before-seen 35 mm footage and re-imagines it as an immersive audiovisual labyrinth.
At its core, SUEÑO PERRO reflects the social and cinematic history of Amores Perros, a film that redefined contemporary Mexican cinema with its unflinching portrayal of urban life at the turn of the millennium. Released in 2000, Amores Perros interweaves three stories connected by a devastating car crash in Mexico City, capturing the city’s intense social contrasts from the raw struggles of the working class to the precarious aspirations of the middle class, all bound by themes of love, betrayal, and violence. The film was hailed for its candid snapshot of Mexico City, reflecting its modern, complex nature, which American movies had failed to capture until then. After earning over 50 awards and many nominations, it is now considered a cinematic landmark, the first installment in Iñárritu’s “Trilogy of Death” and the jumpstart of the “second Golden Age” of Mexican cinema.
As the relationship and cultural exchange between Mexico and the United States have evolved since the film first premiered, Amores Perros continues to resonate with a new generation of global audiences. Iñárritu felt compelled to revisit the film ahead of its 25th anniversary, asking himself how many films can exist within a film. What emerges when footage excluded from the final cut is isolated and observed on its own terms?
Now at LACMA, SUEÑO PERRO is a snapshot of Mexico City that has been brought to life for Los Angeles audiences in a fully immersive installation. Iñárritu draws from more than a million feet (approximately 16 million frames) of discarded, never-before-seen 35 mm footage shot for Amores Perros, which he unearthed in the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s archives. SUEÑO PERRO presents a dreamlike labyrinthine of light and sound for visitors to wander through. Projected on analog equipment and accompanied by a custom soundscape, this cinematic experience and its many sensory textures—whether it’s the scratches, flickers, or grain of analog film—emphasize the tactile, fragile nature of celluloid at a moment when digital recording dominates our everyday life.
Both Mexico City and Los Angeles are cities shaped by migration and cultural hybridity. The film and its pivotal, iconic score forged an even more tangible link between the two cities when they were created: its composer, Gustavo Santaolalla, recorded the film’s score in L.A., at his Echo Park studio. For SUEÑO PERRO, Iñárritu invited sound designers Martín Hernandez, Ken Yasumoto, and Nicola Baker to rescue old tracks of Mexico City’s everyday sounds and create a new, abstracted soundscape, which Hernandez further mixed on-site during the exhibition’s installation. Presenting this installation at LACMA underscores the role of both the museum and Los Angeles itself as conduits between local culture and broader global narratives, weaving together international cinema, Mexican social history, and diasporic imaginaries.
SUEÑO PERRO: A Film Installation by Alejandro G. Iñárritu is now on view in BCAM, Level 1, through June 21. A version of this article was first published in the spring 2026 issue of LACMA's Insider magazine.