Magdalena and her cousin Carlos appear in the 2006 film Quinceañera.
Written and directed by Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer, Quinceañera follows Magdalena as her family prepares for her fifteenth-birthday celebration in Los Angeles. The film connects the party’s public traditions with private questions about family, identity, sexuality, religion, and community.
Emily Rios plays Magdalena, while Jesse Garcia plays Carlos. The film was made in English and is set in a Mexican American community, showing that quinceañera customs have developed in the United States as well as Latin America.
It premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, where it received both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award in the Dramatic Competition. The film is sometimes confused with other Latino coming-of-age movies, but its title is specifically Quinceañera.