Se lo Merecía, a black-and-white short by El Paso filmmaker Brandon Herrera, took the $1,500 First Prize in this year’s Local Flavor Showcase and Awards at the 19th annual El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival.
Herrera wrote and directed the nearly 14-minute film, about a schoolyard incident that exposes the cultural differences between two 12-year-old Mexican American boys. It was shot at St. Joseph Catholic School, of which Herrera is an alumnus.
A 7 1/2-minute comedic short by El Paso writer-director Jorge Villarreal, La Entrevista, took the $1,000 Second Prize. It’s about a young female tennis player who is not prepared for the media circus that follows her rise to fame.
This year’s $750 Third Prize winner was Training Wheels, a 23-minute sports comedy by El Paso writer, director and editor Skyler Carreon. It’s about a boy who challenges a bully to a bike race, capturing the world’s attention in the process.
The $250 Audience Favorite Award went to Ulises Córdova’s colorful short Tito Ritmo, which features zoot suits, dancers, music and a prized car won in a 1941 dance contest that a troubled young man tries to sell for the money in 2009.
No college or high school entries were singled out for awards this year. More than 60 films were submitted for this year’s Local Flavor, which was sponsored by the El Paso Film and Creative Industries Commission (CreativElPaso) and the Texas Film Commission.
Eight films were chosen by a panel of judges for this year’s program. For the fifth straight year, it was held on the final day of the film festival, July 26, in the Plaza Theatre. More than 600 people attended the showcase and a free reception that followed in the Community Foundation’s Foundation Room.
This year’s selections are listed in alphabetical order by title, with the genre, run time, and the name of the person who submitted it:
• Back to Blackdom, documentary, 15:00, Zoe Colfax, director
• Bullsh–, 11:35, narrative/drama, Cabe Tejeda, lead actor
• La Entrevista, narrative/comedy, 7:26, Jorge Villarreal, director
• Punk Rockula: The Curse of UGLOR, documentary, 29:46, Christopher Rakas, director
• Se lo Merecía, narrative/drama, 13:55, Brandon Herrera, director
• This Note Will Make You Teleport, experimental, 4:50, Scott Carrillo-Logan, co-director
• Tito Ritmo, narrative/drama, 14:38, Ulises Córdova, director
• Training Wheels, narrative/comedy, 23:00, Skyler Carreon, director
This year’s panel was made up of Emmy Award-winning Producer Javier Gonzalez of El Paso (Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, In the Summers); Jaime Mendez, Ed.D, the UTEP Assistant Dean for Student Support and a longtime PCFF program advisory committee member; and Sophia Santos, a 2024 UCLA film school graduate from El Paso.
The festival ran July 16-26. The Plaza Classic returns for its 20th year in July 2027. Festival passes are on sale now here.
Pictured: Local Flavor prize winners (from left): Brandon Herrera, First Prize, Se lo Merecía; Jorge Villarreal, Second Prize, La Entrevista; Skyler Carreon, Third Prize, Training Wheels; and Ulises Córdova, Audience Favorite, Tito Ritmo.
The deadline for submissions has passed. Thank you for your interest!
