Happy new year!
2023 ended on a high note for the El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival. Attendance for our 2023 Holiday Movies at WinterFest totaled 3,516, our third highest turnout since we brought the holiday movies back in 2016 (we also showed them from 2008-2012).
We showed a total of nine movies, seven in the Plaza Theatre, the Holiday Movies’ traditional home, and two at the El Paso Museum Art, a first for the series.
Nearly 24,000 people have attended the free movies since we brought them back in 2016 (we did not show any in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown).
This year’s top draws were Home Alone, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Elf, and It’s a Wonderful Life, all of which were screened in the 2,040-seat Plaza Theatre.
We also showed The Polar Express and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation in the Plaza, with Miracle on 34th Street and Frozen in the 220-seat El Paso Energy Auditorium at the El Paso Museum of Art.
We thank everyone who helped out, including our partners at El Paso Live, the City of El Paso, SouthCoast Audio, the El Paso Museum of Art, and organists Rick Garven and Ken Fedorick.
And we thank you taking part in the 2023 Holiday Movies experience!
A holiday tradition continues. Our Festival Pass is now on sale.
It’s a great gift for the film lover in your circle of family and friends.
Normally $200, the pass includes admission to almost every ticketed event during the El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival, which will be July 18-28, 2024. With celebrity guests (like Edward James Olmos, pictured, in 2023) and about 100 movies over the festival’s 11-day run, that’s a lot of bang for your bucks.
That’s not all. It also includes invitations to special events, an express entry line (so you don’t have to wait in line) and discounts at various businesses near the Plaza Theatre.
The Festival Pass is on sale now at the discounted price of $175.
Go to plazaclassic.com/tickets or call 915-533-4020 to make your purchase now.
The sale ends at 11:59 pm Sunday, December 31 (New Year’s Eve).
And don’t forget: our free Holiday Movies at WinterFest open Sunday, November 26 with Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas at 1 pm and Home Alone at 3:30 pm in the Plaza Theatre, followed by Elf (1 pm) and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (3:30 pm) on December 3 in the Plaza Theatre, Miracle on 34th Street at 3 pm December 9 at the El Paso Museum of Art, Frozen at 3 pm December 16 at EPMA, The Polar Express (1 pm) and Ron Howard’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas (3:30 pm) on Dec. 21 in the Plaza Theatre, and a 1 pm matinee of It’s a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve in the Plaza Theatre.
The Holiday Movies are FREE. No tickets are needed. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
The El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival’s FREE Holiday Movies return to the Plaza Theatre — and expand to the El Paso Museum of Art.
Part of the City of El Paso’s eighth annual WinterFest, the Plaza Classic’s 12th seasonal series features anniversary screenings of The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Elf (2003), and Frozen (2013), plus the return of It’s a Wonderful Life after a one-year hiatus.
The series begins Sunday, November 26 and runs on various days through Sunday, December 24.
All movies are FREE. No tickets are required.
Seating is first-come, first-served.
The Holiday Movies at the Plaza Theatre will be presented “Plaza Classic style,” including a 30-minute performance by Richard Garven on the Wyler Mighty Wurliltzer Pipe Organ before each movie.
The movies are presented in partnership with El Paso Live and the El Paso Museum of Art. Go to plazaclassic.com/schedule for details.
WinterFest runs November 18-January 1.
Here’s the Holiday Movies schedule:
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26
Plaza Theatre Kendle Kidd Performance Hall
1 pm: The Nightmare Before Christmas (PG)
3:30 pm: Home Alone (PG)
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3
Plaza Theatre Kendle Kidd Performance Hall
1 pm: Elf (PG)
3:30 pm: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (PG-13)
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9
El Paso Museum of Art EP Energy Auditorium
3 pm: Miracle on 34th Street (Not rated)
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16
El Paso Museum of Art EP Energy Auditorium
3 pm: Frozen (PG)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21
Plaza Theatre Kendle Kidd Performance Hall
1 pm: The Polar Express (G)
3:30 pm: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (PG)
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24
Plaza Theatre Kendle Kidd Performance Hall
1 pm: It’s a Wonderful Life (PG)
The Oculto Horror Film Fest celebrates its fifth anniversary and El Paso debut on October 13-14 in the Philanthropy Theatre by celebrating one of the leading creature actors in horror — Doug Jones.
Jones will take part in a Q&A at 6 pm Friday, October 13 before a screening of Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth at 7 pm in the Philanthropy Theatre, inside the Plaza Theatre Performing Arts Centre. He also will appear at a meet-and-greet at 9 pm Friday at the Mesa Street Grill, 3800 N. Mesa. The versatile Jones will receive Oculto’s Lifetime Achievement Award at 9 pm Saturday, October 14 on the Alcantar Sky Garden, part of the Plaza Theatre complex. A ticket is required for all events with Jones.
The Indianapolis-born Jones, 63, has played various creatures, monsters, and ghouls in more than 50 films and television series, including del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, Hellboy, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and Mimic. Other notable credits include movies Hocus Pocus and Hocus Pocus 2, Mystery Men, Batman Returns, and Adaptation, and TV series Star Trek: Discovery and What We Do in the Shadows.
The festival continues at 5:30 pm Saturday, October 14 with a screening of the 1986 horror cult classic Chopping Mall, which will be narrated Mystery Science Theater 3000-style by Juarez comedy podcasters Leyendas Legendarias.
The Oculto 2023 Official Film Selections program at 7 pm features 18 shorts by filmmakers from around the region and world. Both events are in the Philanthropy Theatre. Tickets are required for admission.
Tickets are $30 for one day, $50 for both days, on sale at the Plaza Theatre Box Office and Ticketmaster.com.
This is the fifth year for the Juarez-based Oculto, but its first in El Paso. The international festival, which is an affiliate of the El Paso Community Foundation, was started by a group of filmmakers and creatives, led by filmmaker Carlos “Cabe” Tejeda. Their mission is to promote horror cinema and the Borderland region.
The Juarez edition will be Oct. 20-22, with coverage on Mexican TV channels 44 and 66 from Oct. 26-28.
Donations may be made at epcf.org/oculto.
Three teams. Five days. One $10,000 winner.
The Film Race — Borderland Edition is on.
Based on earlier Film Races in Illinois and Indiana, The Film Race — Borderland Edition is a reality-based film competition that pits three five-member film teams from El Paso and Ciudad Juarez against one another. It is produced by Film 765.
The three competing teams will have their films screened and the $10,000 winner will be announced at the Closing Ceremony at 7 p.m. September 26 in the Plaza Theatre, sponsored by the El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival. It is FREE and open to the public.
Gyro Studios (led by Josh Pulido), Human Beans (Alecs Roman), and Intelia Films (Roberto Ramirez) will showcase the beauty that is El Paso by shooting their films from September 15 to 19 at various locations in El Paso and Socorro.
The films, which can run no longer than 12 minutes, must be edited and submitted by September 22. Each team will be accompanied by a film crew to capture all the behind-the-scenes action and drama.
All three films will be judged by a panel of film and TV industry veterans, including actors Rae Dawn Chong (The Color Purple) and Misha Kushnetsov (Stranger Things). Also on the panel are: producer-director Naveen A. Chathapuram; actor-director-writer Myles Clohessy; El Paso-born actor/producer Damon Dayoub; Camera Ambassador founder Erica Duffy; and Pride of Gypsies producer James Mendoza.
The finished films and behind-the-scenes footage will be shown in the Closing Ceremony on September 26.
The Film Race — Borderland Edition is sponsored by the El Paso Community Foundation Plaza Classic Film Festival, Flo Networks, El Paso County, Destination El Paso, Hunt Companies, JKB Family Limited Partnership, Rudolph Auto Group, and Tammy Vasilatos CPA.
To donate to The Film Race, go to epcf.org/filmrace.
