Because of financial constraints, Álvarez closed the "Galeria de Arte Contemporáneo" in 1958. Then for a while, she stopped taking photographs after a 1961 heart attack. In 1964, she received the "Premio José Clemente Orozco" (José Clemente Orozco Prize), a commemorative plaque given by the State of Jalisco, for her contributions to photography and her interest in cultural preservation. She sold to the federal government over 2,500 negatives of her work and organized a presentation of her portraits at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City in 1965. This exhibit at the Palacio de Bellas Artes was her first individual exhibition, which was entitled "Galería de mexicanos. 100 photos by Lola Álvarez Bravo". For a majority of her career she had a passion for film and was influenced by cinematic techniques. Álvarez dreamed of making films but ultimately had limited success in the field.