The 12th annual El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival is accepting submissions for Local Flavor, the region’s largest showcase of locally made and connected films.
This year’s film festival will be August 1-11, 2019 in and around the Plaza Theatre.
Local Flavor entry is FREE.
The film series, sponsored by the Texas Film Commission, features short and feature-length films of various types, including fiction, documentary, animated, experimental and music video.
More than $1,500 in cash will be handed out in the second annual Local Flavor Awards, sponsored by the Public Relations Association of the Southwest.
Entry deadline is 11:59 p.m. Sunday, June 16, 2019.
Submissions may be made at plazaclassic.com/localflavor.
Any type of film may be submitted. No works-in-progress will be accepted. Projects must have been completed January 1, 2018 or after, and must be made locally, locally set or have a connection of some kind to the El Paso-Juarez-Las Cruces area (such as a director originally from El Paso).
Entries selected for the Local Flavor series will be announced in July and screened during the festival.
Returning to curate Local Flavor are El Paso filmmakers Zach Passero (The Weird Kidz, The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot, Wicked Lake, Motel, Glimpse), who has been involved with the Plaza Classic Film Festival since it began in 2008, and Lucky McKee (Kindred Spirits, The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot, The Woods, The Woman), who first appeared at PCFF with his All Cheerleaders Die in 2014. That’s Zach pictured on the left, Lucky on the right at last year’s PCFF.
Call 915-533-4020 or email us at local@plazaclassic.com for more information.
Best-selling author Ron Stallworth will appear at a benefit screening of the Oscar-nominated 2018 film BlacKkKlansman at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 21 in the Foundation Room, 333 N. Oregon. Doors open at 6 p.m. Ron and his wife Patsy Terrazas-Stallworth will participate in a Q&A, moderated by journalist Bob Moore, after the screening.
Hosted by the El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival, the screening is a benefit for the Migrant Families Relief Fund in the El Paso Community Foundation.
Tickets are a suggested donation of $50, available at epcf.org/bkkk and at the door if available.
Stallworth is the El Paso-based author of the best-selling memoir Black Klansman, which details how the Austin High School graduate and Colorado Springs police detective infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. It was published independently in 2014 and reissued in 2018 by McMillan’s Flatiron Books, becoming a New York Times best-seller.
Pre-signed copies will be available for sale at the event.
Director Spike Lee’s film version, BlacKkKlansmen, has grossed more than $90 million since its Focus Features release on August 10, 2018. It received a standing ovation and the Grand Prix award at France’s Cannes Film Festival last May. It is nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Lee’s first Best Director nomination. The Oscars are February 24. The movie is rated R.
The Migrant Families Relief Fund was created in 2018 to assist four El Paso nonprofits that provide shelter, legal services, advocacy and other support for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in the U.S. — Annunciation House; the Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee; Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services; and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center.
Go to epcf.org/families to donate.
It is hard to believe that the holiday season is just about over. But wait, there’s one more way to bid adieu to them — with one more installment of the FREE Texas Gas Service Holiday Movies at the Plaza Theatre.
We’ll close out the City of El Paso’s third annual WinterFest with free showings of Disney’s Frozen at 1 p.m. and the first installment of the Ice Age series at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 6 in the Plaza Theatre.
That’s the last day that the ice rink in Arts Festival Plaza and other WinterFest activities will be offered.
We’re doing it Plaza Classic Film Festival style, with Laurie Koval performing on the theater’s original Wyler Mighty Wurlitzer Pipe Organ at 12:30 p.m. and Rick Garven at 3 p.m.
Admission is FREE. No tickets are required. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Thanks to our sponsor, Texas Gas Service, and our partners at El Paso Live.
The 12th annual Plaza Classic Film Festival will be August 1-11, 2019. We are in the process of booking movies now that we know you’ll want to see then!
In the meantime, Festival Passes are available at plazaclassic.com/tickets or by calling 915-533-4020.
The pass sells for $200 and includes admission to all ticketed events, special events, reservations in the Philanthropy Theatre, discounts at nearby eateries and a jump-the-line express lane.
Looking for something special for the film lover in your world this holiday season?
How about a 2019 Plaza Classic Film Festival Pass?
Festival Passes for the 2019 edition of the El Paso Community Foundation’s Plaza Classic Film Festival are now on sale for the discounted price of $175.
The 12th annual Plaza Classic will be August 1-11, 2019 in and around the Plaza Theatre.
Remember how much fun the 2018 PCFF was? Sam Elliott, Bruce Dern, Ali MacGraw and theater organist extraordinaire Walt Strony all made appearances. Classic movies such as The Godfather, Amadeus, Vertigo, The African Queen and Lady and the Tramp all played the Plaza Theatre. For a recap of last year’s festival, click here.
A Festival Pass is your ticket to all things Plaza Classic Film Festival. It includes admission to all ticketed events, invitations to receptions and other special events, discounts at nearby eateries and your own express lane so you don’t have to stand in line.
And the pass is transferable, meaning you can loan it to a friend or family member.
The sale ends at 11:59 p.m. Monday, December 31. Go to plazaclassic.com/tickets or call 915-533-4020 to purchase yours now.
Festival Passes will be available for sale at the full price of $200 beginning January 1, 2019.
One special way to keep warm at this year’s third annual WinterFest — enjoy the FREE Holiday Movies at the Plaza Theatre. Beloved classics It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street will be shown along with modern favorites such as Elf and Frozen, over five Sundays beginning November 18 and ending January 6.
Texas Gas Service is sponsoring the FREE Holiday Movies at the Plaza in partnership with the El Paso Community Foundation, the Plaza Classic Film Festival and El Paso Live. WinterFest is presented by The Hospitals of Providence and Providence Children’s Hospitals.
The series opens with Elf, starring Will Ferrell, at 3 p.m. Sunday, November 18, followed by a double bill of the 1966 TV special How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and Robert Zemeckis’ animated The Polar Express, starting at 3 p.m. Sunday, November 25.
The movies continue two weeks later with 1947’s Miracle on 34th Street, starring then child-actor Natalie Wood, at 3:30 pm Sunday, December 9, followed by a double bill of 1983’s A Christmas Story at 1 p.m. and Jimmy Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, December 16.
The series concludes with two wintry titles, Disney’s Frozen at 1 p.m. and Ice Age at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, January 6, the last day of WinterFest.
In true Plaza Classic style, organists Ken Fedorick, Richard Garven and Laurie Koval will perform on the Plaza Theatre’s original, restored Wyler Mighty Wurlitzer Pipe Organ before each movie.
WinterFest, which includes ice skating in Arts Festival Plaza, runs November 17 through January 6. The 12th annual Plaza Classic Film Festival will be August 1-11, 2019.
Go to epwinterfest.com and plazaclassic.com for more information.
Holiday Movies at the Plaza Theatre
Free
Sunday, November 18
2:30 p.m. — Organist Laurie Koval
3 p.m. — Elf (2003)
Sunday, November 25
2:30 p.m. — Organist Richard Garven
3 p.m. — How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
3:30 p.m. — The Polar Express (2004)
Sunday, December 9
3 p.m. — Organist Ken Fedorick
3:30 p.m. — Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Sunday, December 16
12:30 p.m. — Organist Ken Fedorick
1 p.m. — A Christmas Story (1983)
3 p.m. — Organist Richard Garven
3:30 p.m. — It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Sunday, January 6
12:30 p.m. — Organist Laurie Koval
1 p.m. — Frozen (2013)
3 p.m. — Organist Richard Garven
3:30 p.m. — Ice Age (2002)
