This post was revised on August 9, 2020 to update incorrect information about Local Flavor I and II programming.
This year’s 13 Local Flavor selections will be programmed into two blocks that will stream as part of the Plaza Classic Film Festival Online. Click here to check out the PCFF Online schedule. Admission is $5 per program, or $30 for an online Festival Pass, which allows viewing of all the online live streams.
Local Flavor I will screen at 7 pm Friday, August 7. It consists of eight short films by local and locally connected filmmakers. The program will run 64 minutes.
Local Flavor II will screen at 7 pm Saturday, August 8. It features five short films, totaling 57 minutes.
Each program will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers, led by curators and filmmakers Zach Passero and Lucky McKee.
The showcase will culminate with the big reveal of this year’s Local Flavor Awards winners at 1 pm Sunday, August 9. Two of the films in the Local Flavor I and II blocks have been selected by the curators for the $1,000 Local Flavor Award winner and the $500 second prize. Their selection will be revealed when they are shown in the awards stream. The audience favorite award will be announced soon after the festival concludes August 9.
In addition, a special out-of-competition screening of Joshua Lozano’s Rest Stop, an adaptation of a Stephen King short story, will screen at 3:30 pm August 8. It will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker.
More than 40 films were submitted for this year’s Local Flavor showcase.
The Local Flavor Awards are sponsored by El Paso Electric. The Local Flavor showcase is sponsored by El Paso Electric and the Texas Film Commission.
Genres represented in this year’s showcase include narrative drama, comedy and thriller, documentary and music video.
This year’s Local Flavor I and Local Flavor II selections are listed below.
LOCAL FLAVOR I
7 pm August 7
• El Chacharero
Documentary
Krisstian de Lara, director
6:37
El Chácharero tells the story of Edras, a man who survives by picking up trash in downtown Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
• A Long Walk Home
Experimental
Seth Van Matre, director
6:49
On a bright afternoon, a young woman finds herself having car troubles. With no way to fix the issue, she decides to take a strange and much longer route back home, rekindling bittersweet memories and realizations along the way.
• Reply All
Comedy
Josh Pulido, director
8:05
Ashley has to figure out what to do when she accidentally sends everyone she knows the same love letter, as she presses “Reply All.” Shot in El Paso, TX.
• Slow Suicide
Music video
Trey L. Broomfield, director; Rodolfo Rodriguez, producer
3:45
A music video from El Paso hip-hop duo The Counter Culture showcasing the increasing difficulties of living with mental illness and how society can often make it more difficult to cope.
• How to Make Kimchi (or How to Be Korean)
Documentary
Jonathan Lee, director
13:43
A film serving as both a record and document of how one family makes kimchi, with deeper layers concerning questions of family, heritage, and roots. How do we choose to see ourselves? How are our identities created and how is that passed through future generations? Jonathan Lee, a filmmaker from El Paso, wrestles with these questions in this personal documentary.
• The Noise and the Silence
Drama
Jon-Carlo Diaz, director
2:31
An unknown presence manifests as a man’s reflection.
• The Music Box
Drama/horror
Ryan Riddle, director
24:17
A girl and her father move to America after experiencing a personal tragedy. They both cope in their own self destructive ways before being haunted by the one they lost.
• Un Dia Mas (One More Day)
Comedy
Carlos H. Tejeda, director
1:00
A man decides he will kill himself no matter what.
LOCAL FLAVOR II
7 pm August 8
• Stillborn
Drama
Brandon Gass, director
9:43
A girl’s mother dies after having a stillbirth, and her grandmother becomes obsessed with their bathtub.
• Seen City
Music video
Carlos H. Tejeda, director
4:32
A woman from a psychedelic world keeps ghosting her previous lover.
• En Tus Brazos Esta Noche (In Your Arms Tonight)
Drama
Jonathan Gonzales, director
24:12
A young maid contemplates her future after having an affair with her rich employer, who is struggling to reconnect with his wife after she was sexually assaulted over a year ago.
• Cuarto Obscuro Paso del Norte
Drama
J. Genaro Limon, director
5:13
A mysterious briefcase is followed around the city by a detective.
• Goin’ For Picture
Comedy
Ryan Riddle, director
13:35
An aspiring director must work alongside a group of inexperienced filmmakers to complete production on a grandiose Arabian musical.
LOCAL FLAVOR AWARDS
1 pm August 9
The finale of the Local Flavor showcase is the third annual Local Flavor Awards, sponsored by El Paso Electric. The awards program will reveal the $1,000 first prize and $500 second prize winner with encore screenings of the films, which were chosen by curators and filmmakers Zach Passero and Lucky McKee, and Plaza Classic Film Festival director Doug Pullen. The audience favorite award winner will be announced after the Plaza Classic Film Festival’s August 9 conclusion. Local Flavor is sponsored by El Paso Electric and the Texas Film Commission.
The deadline for submissions has passed. Thank you for your interest!
