Pictured: Entre Fronteras writer-producer Julian Nunez (right) with Drew Mayer-Oakes of the El Paso Film and Creative Industries Commission and Doug Pullen of the El Paso Community Foundation.
Entre Fronteras took the $1,500 first prize in this year’s Local Flavor Showcase and Awards during the 16th annual El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival.
The first installment of Entre Fronteras (Between Borders), a live-action narrative film that follows the fates of migrants on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, was shown on July 29 in the El Paso Museum of Art Auditorium. It was announced as the first prize recipient at the Local Flavor Showcase and Awards on July 30 in the Plaza Theatre, sponsored by the El Paso Film and Creative Industries Commission (Creative El Paso) and the Texas Film Commission.
Writer and producer Julian Nunez of New Mexico was on hand to receive the awards from El Paso Film Commissioner Drew Mayer-Oakes and film festival program director Doug Pullen.
Filmmaker Josh Pulido was a two-time winner, taking the $1,000 second place with his genre-bending comedy The Film Cafe and the $250 Audience Favorite Award. Audiences members voted for their favorite film by text-to-vote.
The $750 third prize went to the evocative short film Platonico by El Paso-Juarez filmmaker Alecs Roman.
Nine films out of more than 40 submissions were selected for this year’s showcase. Two feature films were shown on July 29 at the El Paso Museum Art. The other was Allen Otto’s On Guard: A Story of American Youth, which chronicles the lives of members of the Bel Air High School color guard after the 2019 mass shooting and the COVID-19 lockdown. Seven short films were shown in the July 30 showcase, including Alexander Georges’ Share for Me, Kim McKean’s MONAH, Drew Bierut’s Liftoff, Annie Ersinghaus’ The Symbiosis of Creativity, and Victoria Naranjos Montoya’s No Pasa Nada.
This year’s selections were made by a panel consisting of filmmaker and New Mexico State University film professor Ilana Lapid of Las Cruces, film producer Javier Gonzalez of El Paso, and El Paso Community Foundation staff member Asia Saucedo, a veteran of the Plaza Classic Film Festival.
Submissions for the 17th annual Plaza Classic Film Festival Local Flavor Showcase and Awards will be announced in March. Next year’s PCFF will be July 18-28 in and around the Plaza Theatre.
The deadline for submissions has passed. Thank you for your interest!
