US-Mexico Relations: Battle for Cultural Sovereignty

In early 2025, diplomatic tensions between the United States and Mexico escalated to what many experts describe as the worst bilateral crisis in decades.

At the heart of the issue is SB4, a controversial new Texas law that authorizes state police to arrest and deport undocumented migrants. Mexican officials have denounced the law as a direct affront to national sovereignty, calling it “racist” and “inhumane.”

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has publicly vowed that Mexico will not accept any deportations carried out under SB4. Meanwhile, Washington finds itself in a balancing act — managing rising domestic political pressure while trying to preserve one of its most important partnerships in Latin America.

But this political standoff is just the surface of a deeper, structural imbalance — particularly in the cultural realm. Despite geographic closeness and a shared history, Mexico remains sidelined in an entertainment industry heavily shaped by US dominance.

To better understand the creative and commercial challenges Mexico faces in this space, Wyoming Star (WS) spoke with Epigmenio Ibarra, renowned Mexican producer, journalist, and founder of Argos Comunicación, a prominent television and film production company.

WS: Considering your extensive experience in Mexican television and film production, what are the biggest challenges and opportunities facing Mexican cinema today?

One of the biggest obstacles facing both film and television in Mexico is the struggle to reach truly massive audiences.

Hollywood productions dominate nearly 90% of screen time in theaters — not just in the United States, but also in Mexico. A similar pattern emerges on streaming platforms, where American television content remains the top choice among viewers.

Despite producing around 250 films annually, fewer than 20% of Mexican films make it to theaters. And while some Mexican series gain local traction, very few break through internationally, prompting platforms to reduce the number of Mexican projects they greenlight each year.

Yes, a handful of Mexican filmmakers enjoy global prestige and build successful careers in Hollywood.

But for the local industry to thrive, Mexico must produce, exhibit, and distribute more quality content at home.

Today, romantic comedies dominate the Mexican box office. These films are considered a safe bet by distributors and exhibitors. But while they may perform well domestically, they rarely export successfully and often fail to connect with audiences outside the region.

To change this, a joint strategy is needed — one that targets the 39 million Mexicans living in the United States.

If Mexican films and series can win over Hispanic audiences in North America, they stand a much greater chance of becoming global hits.

WS: You were instrumental in creating innovative telenovelas that challenged traditional formats. Do you see a similar wave of innovation happening in Mexican cinema now, and if so, in what areas?

Mexican cinema (aside from a handful of titles destined for the festival circuit) is overwhelmingly dominated by the box office. That’s why romantic comedies remain the go-to genre: they’re perceived as safe bets.

But in chasing commercial success, we’ve sacrificed relevance. The complex, urgent realities of contemporary Mexico are rarely depicted on screen. Budgets are tight, and risk-taking is minimal.

If cinema is shaped by ticket sales, television is governed by algorithms. Platform executives follow data-driven trends, and content is greenlit based on predictive models — not originality. Even when “revolutionary” formats succeed, they’re rarely repeated. Creativity takes a back seat to market calculus.

Unlike countries like the UK, Israel, or South Korea — nations known for creating innovative formats that get adapted worldwide— Mexico has yet to become a global format exporter. We rarely take conceptual risks. Instead, we lean on established molds, limiting our artistic and commercial reach.

There’s a shortage of boldness among creators and executives alike.

WS: What is your overall impression of the quality and impact of US cinema in the global market today?

Like much of the world, Mexico is hypnotized by Hollywood’s commercial machinery: superhero movies, reboots, and globally engineered franchises dominate the box office and public attention. In that wave, it’s hard to even spot the more ambitious, high-quality films, whether made in Mexico or Hollywood itself.

They exist, but they’re drowned out by the noise of what’s safest and most bankable.

And despite Mexico having one of the largest exhibition infrastructures in the world, only a handful of theaters take the risk of showing these kinds of films. Distributors and exhibitors overwhelmingly play it safe.

The pandemic, industry strikes, and economic uncertainty have only made them double down on the most risk-averse content.

WS: In light of the current political climate and complex relationship between the US and Mexico, do you foresee any obstacles to meaningful collaboration in cinema?

Despite the historical and geographical proximity between Mexico and the United States, genuine co-productions remain rare.

American studios continue to shoot in Mexico because they find everything they need here — talent, crews, infrastructure — but still treat the local industry as a service provider, not a creative partner.

Mexico is the most robust production hub in Latin America, and we’re just a three-hour flight from Los Angeles, yet American producers often overlook our creative potential.

What to expect with US President Donald Trump’s return

I don’t know.

But what’s clear is this: the relationship between the US and Mexican film industries is deeply asymmetric. They dominate our market, while we struggle to enter theirs — despite the fact that Mexican-Americans are among the most frequent moviegoers in the United States, according to market studies.

But there’s a way forward. If we sharpen our focus and intentionally create for that vast, underserved Hispanic audience in the US, we could replicate the success television has already begun to see. The influence of the Hispanic viewer is growing — and if we can reach them, we can begin to influence the broader American audience too.

What Mexican cinema and television need now are audacity and imagination. We have the talent, the stories, the landscapes, and the history. We can match Hollywood in craft — but we must bring our own voice, our own stamp. And we must demand to be seen not as a backdrop, but as the protagonists of our own narratives.

Too often, when Hollywood films in Mexico, it reduces the country to its worst stereotypes — “the land of narcos, sicarios and cowboys,” as the great Emmanuel Lubezki put it, always filtered through a sickly yellow lens.

Message is clear

As border politics grow more volatile and US-Mexico relations face unprecedented strain, voices like Epigmenio Ibarra’s serve as a critical reminder: this is not just a political crisis, but a cultural one. The imbalance between the two nations extends beyond trade and migration — it permeates how stories are told, who tells them, and who gets heard.

One thing is certain: if Mexico is to reshape its place in the global narrative, it must assert its creative identity — not as a service provider to Hollywood, but as a sovereign storyteller with something urgent and universal to say.

The world is watching. It’s time to speak up.