Legendary writer and director Luis Valdez will appear at this year’s 18th annual El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival, which runs July 17-27 in and around downtown El Paso’s historic Plaza Theatre.
Valdez will appear for on-stage interviews before two of his classic movies — 1987’s La Bamba, about Mexican American rocker Ritchie Valens, at 7 pm Friday, July 18, and Zoot Suit (1981), considered the first major Chicano feature film, at 3 pm Saturday, July 19. Both events will be in the Plaza Theatre.
Tickets for each program will be $10, on sale with the rest of the Plaza Classic Film Festival schedule on Tuesday, June 10 at the Plaza Theatre box office (no service fees) and Ticketmaster.com (with service fees).
Valdez is one of the most important and influential American playwrights and filmmakers living today. He has enjoyed success in the worlds of theater, television and film. He founded the Obie Award-winning theater company El Teatro Campesino in 1965 in California’s Central Valley, joining Cesar Chavez in his United Farm Workers rights movement. It is the longest running Chicano theater in the United States. The prolific 84-year-old debuted his latest play Adiós Mamá Carlota on May 10 at El Teatro Campesino Playhouse.
Zoot Suit, which explored Los Angeles’ racially motivated Sleepy Lagoon murder trial of 1942 and “Zoot Suit Riots” of 1943, debuted in Los Angeles in 1978 and became the first Chicano play on Broadway a year later. La Bamba was written for the screen and starred Lou Diamond Phillips. Both films are preserved in the National Film Registry.
Valdez’s honors include the Presidential Medal of Arts, Mexico’s Aguila Azteca Award, and the Peabody Award for his 1987 PBS documentary, Corridos: Tales of Passion and Revolution.
This year’s Plaza Classic Film Festival will feature 100 movies over 11 days, including Cabaret, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Godfather Part II, Notting Hill, Saving Private Ryan, Toy Story, Schindler’s List, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and many more.
Call 915-533-4020 or email info@plazaclassic.com for more information. Festival passes are on sale now at plazaclassic.com/tickets. Tickets go on sale June 10 at the box office and Ticketmaster.
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.
