Providing new media tools and channels to create equitable and engaged communities where underserved voices are heard.

Changing Lives and perspectives through media arts.

Our programs, events, and film festivals are diverse and inclusionary; they are designed with participants and community collaboration in mind. Showcases for LGBTQ films and filmmakers, Jewish-Latino filmmakers, women filmmakers, and others address film artists and audiences who are often disenfranchised.

Media Arts Center San Diego (MACSD) evolved out of the San Diego Latino Film Festival (SDLFF), which originated in 1993. Incorporated in 1999, MACSD has grown from a festival to a mid-size organization with diverse statewide programs and services for residents, visitors, and independent and amateur filmmakers. MACSD is thrilled to usher in a new era with its new location! Its doors reopened on May 6, 2022, inside the state-of-the-art facility – UCSD at Park & Market, the University’s new building located in the heart of downtown San Diego.

MACSD features a movie theater, a storefront community technology center, and the presenter of the globally-acclaimed annual San Diego Latino Film Festival (now in its 30th year). MACSD serves all ages through instructional programs and services, focusing on underrepresented voices and communities. MACSD programs, events, and film festivals are diverse and inclusionary.

MACSD has been teaching media arts classes and workshops to youth for 17+ years–both in and outside the classroom—and has been serving the people of marginalized communities by using media as a tool for social change and artistic expression. Our decades of experience conducting youth media classes and workshops allow us to continue to refine our delivery to meet the needs of the populations we serve and provide the context for the development of the Youth Media Workshops.

Media Arts Center San Diego (MACSD) evolved out of the San Diego Latino Film Festival (SDLFF), which originated in 1993. Incorporated in 1999, MACSD has grown from a festival to a mid-size organization with diverse statewide programs and services for residents, visitors, and independent and amateur filmmakers. In 2012, MACSD moved into a new space in North Park. Renovating a derelict building, now known as the Digital Gym, has brought vitality and inspired new businesses to open in this once-blighted area. The Digital Gym allowed MACSD to expand core programming to better serve the community.

MACSD features a movie theater, a storefront community technology center, and the presenter of the globally-acclaimed annual San Diego Latino Film Festival (now in its 25th year). MACSD serves all ages through instructional programs and services, with a focus on underrepresented voices and communities. MACSD programs, events, and film festivals are diverse and inclusionary.

MACSD has been teaching media arts classes and workshops to youth for 17+ years–both in and outside the classroom—and has been serving the people of marginalized communities by using media as a tool for social change and artistic expression. Our decades of experience conducting youth media classes and workshops allow us to continue to refine our delivery to meet the needs of the populations we serve and provides the context for the development of the Youth Media Workshops.

A summary of our programs and services can be broken down into three categories:

WATCH: Our acclaimed San Diego Latino Film Festival (SDLFF) celebrated its 25th anniversary in March 2018. The SDLFF introduces viewers to contemporary U.S.-Latino and Latin American cinema. Other film programming includes Exitos del Cine Latino Series, Que Viva Outdoor Cine Latino Series in San Ysidro, and daily screenings of independent and foreign films at our very own movie theater, the Digital Gym Cinema.

LEARN: Extensive education programs offered for youth and adults. Programs include: Teen Producers Project, Youth Media & Tech Camps, and in-school media programs for young students. Amateur to professional media makers have access to one-to-one training and professional development.

CREATE: Tools for community-based media production and collaboration through programs including: Speak City Heights, Talking Food Systems: Land & Freedom, Pulse for Life, #InCityHeights, Frontera Filmmakers, a grassroots group that brings together independent filmmakers from both sides of the border; Digital Gym, a multipurpose all-ages facility for media arts experimentation; and Video Production Services, to help community groups connect with audiences by making a digital media presence accessible and affordable.

Media Arts Center San Diego is ADA compliant. If you have questions about accessibility or require accommodations, please call 619.230.1938 or email info@mediaartscenter.org