Soco Aguilar begins filming Sandra Cisneros documentary in Guanajuato

Filmmaker Soco Aguilar has started production in Guanajuato, Mexico, on the first feature documentary about writer Sandra Cisneros. The film follows Cisneros from Chicago to San Antonio to San Miguel de Allende and is slated for release in 2028.

Why it matters: - The film is the first feature documentary focused on Sandra Cisneros, one of the most influential U.S. and Mexican writers of the last four decades. - The project ties Cisneros’ life story to Guanajuato, the Mexican state her family left more than a century ago and where she now lives. - The documentary could expand how audiences see Cisneros beyond The House on Mango Street and into her broader cultural and personal legacy.

What happened: - Filmmaker Soco Aguilar has begun production in Guanajuato on Sandra Cisneros: Neither From Here, Nor There (Sandra Cisneros: Ni de aquí, ni de allá). - Aguilar is producing and directing the film. - The documentary is scheduled for release in 2028. - The film follows Cisneros from Chicago to San Antonio to San Miguel de Allende. - Aguilar says the film aims to show a side of Cisneros the public has not seen before.

The details: - The House on Mango Street, published in 1984, has sold more than eight million copies and has been translated into more than 25 languages. - PEN America has identified the book as one of the most frequently banned in U.S. classrooms. - Cisneros’ other major works include Caramelo and Woman Hollering Creek. - Cisneros is a MacArthur Fellow and received the 2015 National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama at the White House. - Cisneros’ family left Loza de Barrera in the municipality of Silao in 1913 during the Mexican Revolution and later settled in Chicago. - Cisneros moved to San Miguel de Allende in 2013, about 100 kilometers from the family village. - Cisneros is writing her next novel, Infinito, in San Miguel de Allende. - More than 50 hours of footage have already been shot in the United States and Mexico. - Filming has included The Glimmerglass Festival in New York, Chicago, and Urbana, where Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker presented Cisneros with the Order of Lincoln. - The film will include oneiric sequences inspired by the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. - A planned sequence at Guanajuato City’s Teatro Juárez will portray Cisneros as the opera singer she once wanted to become. - The film will combine candid footage, family archives, 2D animation and stop-motion.

Between the lines: - Aguilar is framing Guanajuato as more than a backdrop, using the state as a central emotional force in the story. - The structure suggests a hybrid documentary that blends biography, memory and visual fantasy rather than a straight chronological profile. - Aguilar’s own ties to Guanajuato and her experience with animated storytelling point to a film that could lean heavily on visual invention. - The project also connects to a broader interest in Cisneros as a cross-border cultural figure, not just a literary icon.

What’s next: - The teaser is set to premiere in the first week of December. - Early access to the teaser will go to people who sign up at socoaguilar.com. - Production will continue in Guanajuato, including at Teatro Juárez. - The film is expected to build toward its 2028 release.

The bottom line: - Aguilar is making a documentary that treats Sandra Cisneros’ life as a border-crossing story shaped as much by place and memory as by literary fame.