Attention local filmmakers!
For the eighth consecutive year, the El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival is accepting entries for our Local Flavor showcase and awards.
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.
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 select submissions 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.
First prize is $1,500, with a second prize of $1,000, $750 third prize, $250 audience favorite award, and a $100 student award for a college or high school student entry.
There is no cost to submit a film. It’s FREE. Entry deadline is 11:59 p.m. Friday, June 20, 2025.
Go to plazaclassic.com/localflavor to submit and for more information.
The Plaza Classic Film Festival returns for its 18th year July 17-27, 2025. Festival passes are on sale now.
Pictured: Our opening night reception 2024, one of the special events that comes with a Festival Pass.
Admission to almost all ticketed events. An express lane so you can skip the line. Invitations to special events. Discounts at nearby eateries. You get all that with a Festival Pass. It’s normally a $200 value, but for a limited time you can purchase a Festival Pass for $175.
It’s our annual holiday sale. The pass will be available at the discounted price from Black Friday through 11:59 pm Tuesday, December 31.
It makes a great gift for the movie lovers in your circle of family and friends.
Next year’s Plaza Classic Film Festival will be our 18th annual. The dates are July 17-27, 2025.
In the meantime, join us for our FREE Holiday Movies at WinterFest, which run most weekends through January 5, 2025, the last day of the City of El Paso’s annual WinterFest.
Next up: A Christmas Story at 1 pm and a 70th anniversary showing of White Christmas at 3:30 pm Saturday, November 30 at the El Paso Museum of Art.
They’ll be followed by Elf at 1 pm and It’s a Wonderful Life at 3:30 pm Sunday, December 8 in the Plaza Theatre; The Polar Express (20th anniversary) at 1 pm and Frozen at 3:30 pm Saturday, December 28 in the Plaza Theatre; and Ron Howard’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas at 1 pm and Ice Age at 3:30 pm Sunday, January 5.
They are FREE. No tickets are required. Just show up!
The Holiday Movies are presented in partnership with El Paso Live and the City of El Paso.
Buddy the Elf, Ralphie, and George Bailey will be there. So will the Muppets, Kevin McAllister, Jack Skellington, and even the Grinch. They’re all appearing in this year’s FREE Holiday Movies at WinterFest, presented by the El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival, El Paso Live, and the City of El Paso.
WinterFest runs November 23-January 5 in downtown El Paso and includes the annual tree lighting ceremony and Scherr Legate WinterFest Lights Parade on November 23, ice skating at The Rink beginning November 23, and more over seven weeks.
The 13th Holiday Movies series will screen over six weekends, with eight films in the Plaza Theatre and four at the El Paso Museum of Art.
Admission is FREE, no tickets are required.
Note: The Plaza Theatre is cashless and allows only clear bags and small purses. Go to elpasolive.com for details.
This year’s Holiday Movies are:
Sunday, November 24
Plaza Theatre
1 pm: The Nightmare Before Christmas (PG)
3:30 pm: Home Alone (PG)
Saturday, November 30
El Paso Museum of Art
1 pm: A Christmas Story (PG)
3:30 pm: White Christmas (PG)
Sunday, December 8
Plaza Theatre
1 pm: Elf (PG)
3:30 pm: It’s a Wonderful Life (PG)
Saturday, December 14
El Paso Museum of Art
1 pm: The Muppet Christmas Carol (G)
3:30 pm: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (PG-13)
Saturday, December 28
Plaza Theatre
1 pm: The Polar Express (G)
3:30 pm: Frozen (PG)
Sunday, January 5
Plaza Theatre
1 pm: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (PG)
3:30 pm: Ice Age (PG)
The 18th annual Plaza Classic Film Festival will be July 17-27, 2025. Passes are on sale now at plazaclassic.com.
Stephanie Valle and Lisa Elliott are back with season two of the Plaza Classic Podcast, which debuts September 26 with a special double feature devoted to this year’s Oculto Film Fest.
Stephanie and Lisa interviewed Oculto co-founders and filmmakers Cabe Tejada and Angel Benitez in English, and Jaime Mendez interviewed them in Spanish.
This is the sixth year for the Oculto Film Fest, an affiliate of the El Paso Community Foundation, but its second year in El Paso. It’s from October 4-6, 2024 at the Philanthropy Theatre, part of the Plaza Theatre Performing Arts Centre complex. Tickets are on sale at the Plaza Theatre Box Office and Ticketmaster. The Juárez portion will be October 11-13.
Opening night will feature a screening of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master in the Philanthropy, plus an appearance by the film’s star, Tuesday Knight, who also will appear at a post-screening reception in EPCF’s Foundation Room.
Go to the Oculto website for more details. Click here if you’d like to donate to Oculto.
The Plaza Classic Podcast is a sometimes irreverent, sometimes serious look into the many people, films and other aspects of the El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival, which returns for its 18th year July 17-27, 2025.
The podcast’s first season focused on some of the films in the 2024 edition of the film festival, including the annual The Rocky Horror Picture Show screening and the return of The Goonies, plus local filmmakers such as Josh Pulido, and various members of the Plaza Classic Film Festival Program Advisory Committee, which includes Stephanie (KVIA news anchor), Lisa (EPCC mass comm professor) and Jaime (UTEP’s Assistant Dean of Students).
A special bonus episode features Stephanie’s on-stage interview with Mira Sorvino before a screening of Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion at this year’s PCFF.
Look for new episodes every two weeks. It’s available just about everywhere, including here.
The Plaza Classic Podcast is a coproduction of the El Paso Community Foundation and El Paso Community College.
Pictured: Jaime Mendez (left) interviews Oculto’s Angel Benitez (center) and Cabe Tejada.
Horror icon Tuesday Knight, known for her starring role in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, will be a special guest at the sixth annual Oculto Film Fest in El Paso.
The El Paso portion of the highly anticipated horror and fantasy film festival will be October 4-6 in the Philanthropy Theatre, located above the Plaza Theatre Box Office in the Plaza Theatre Performing Arts Centre. The Ciudad Juárez portion will be October 11-13.
Knight has an extensive career in film, music, and television, but she is best known for playing Kristen Parker in Nightmare 4.
She will sit down for a Q&A at 6:30 pm October 4, followed by a screening of A Nightmare of Elm Street 4 at 7:30 pm, both in the Philanthropy Theatre. Knight also will appear at a reception at 9:30 that night in the Foundation Room, 333 N. Oregon.
She also is scheduled to take part in a filmmaker panel discussion at 5 pm October 5 in the Philanthropy Theatre and Oculto’s closing ceremony at 8 pm October 6 at the Alcantar Sky Garden, above the Philanthropy Theatre.
“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Tuesday Knight to this year’s Oculto Film Fest,” said Cabe Tejada, festival director. “Her role in A Nightmare on Elm Street defined a generation of horror fans, and her participation elevates what is already shaping up to be our most exciting festival yet.”
Oculto Film Fest will showcase more than 200 short and feature films from around the world, including selections from Argentina, Spain, Mexico, the United States, Brazil, and Turkey. This year’s complete lineup includes a mix of family-friendly content and films aimed exclusively at adult audiences, offering 10 hours and 36 minutes of captivating horror storytelling.
The El Paso portion opens October 4 with a red carpet ceremony at 4:30 pm, followed by 90 minutes of short films curated from this year’s submissions at 5 pm. Titles are The Biggest Fear (Argentina), Hado (Spain), Trick (U.S.-Mexico), Elote Man (U.S.), and Lucy’s Room (U.S.).
October 5 programming includes brunch at 1:30 pm in the Foundation Room, and 90 minutes of family friendly short films at 7 pm. Titles are The Torrential Melody (Mexico), Dolores (Mexico), Howl If You Love Me (U.S.), Les Bêtes (U.S.), and The Heart Beneath the Earth (U.S.).
Mark H. Rapaport’s bizarre dark comedy Hippo, which rogerebert.com described as “an unholy fusion of A Clockwork Orange and Napoleon Dynamite,” screens at 8:30 pm October 5.
The festival concludes October 6 with five short films at 5 pm. Titles are Sincopat (Spain), While I Sleep (Spain), The Red Stone (Mexico), Bookworm (Spain), and Arapuca Trampa Para Párajos (Brazil). They will be followed by Argentine filmmaker Facundo Escodero Salinas’ No Darkness Last Forever at 6:30 pm, all in the Philanthropy Theatre, with closing ceremonies at 8 pm at the Alcantar Sky Garden.
In a first for the festival, Oculto Film Fest will also be televised over Halloween weekend, allowing a wider audience to experience the event through Canal 44, Canal 66, and Canal 33.2. Fans who are unable to attend in person will still be able to enjoy some of the best horror shorts from the comfort of their homes.
Oculto Film Fest is an affiliate of the El Paso Community Foundation.
To donate to Oculto, click here.
Tickets for the El Paso portion of the festival are on sale at the Plaza Theatre Box Office and Ticketmaster.com.
More special guests will be announced soon. Follow Oculto Film Fest on social media or click here.
