Among the 2024 Local Flavor Awards winners pictured (from left) are: Bryant Valenzuela, The Cost of Opportunity; Christopher Saldaña and Ulises Córdova, Three Months in Star City (Ay Ay); and Edmund A. Lozano, Norma.
The El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival is accepting entries for its eighth annual Local Flavor showcase through June 20.
More than $3,500 in cash prizes will be awarded.
It’s sponsored by the El Paso Film and Creative Industries Commission and the Texas Film Commission.
Here’s what you need to know:
• Local Flavor is accepting short and feature-length films. Works-in-progress will not be accepted.
• Projects must have been completed on or after January 1, 2024 and must be made locally, set locally, or have a connection of some kind to the El Paso-Juárez-Las Cruces area, which should be noted in the entry form’s synopsis window.
• A panel of judges will review submissions and curate a program for the Local Flavor showcase and awards in the Plaza Theatre on July 27, the last day of the film festival. Awards will be announced at the end of the program.
• Prizes are: First, $1,500; Second, $1,000; Third, $750; Audience Favorite, $250; Student (college or high school), $100.
• There is no cost to submit a film. It’s FREE.
• Entry deadline is 11:59 p.m. Friday, June 20, 2025.
For the third year, Local Flavor will be curated by Emmy Award-winning Producer Javier Gonzalez of El Paso (Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, In the Summers), award-winning Las Cruces filmmaker and NMSU Creative Media Institute Associate Professor Ilana Lapid (Yochi, Red Mesa), and Asia Saucedo, a film aficionado, member of the El Paso Community Foundation staff and longtime PCFF contributor.
Call 915-533-4020 or email local@plazaclassic.com for more information.
The Plaza Classic Film Festival returns for its 18th year July 17-27, 2025.
Festival passes are on sale now.
