EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The Plaza Classic Film Festival is back for its 19th year, which seemed “unfathomable” when the festival first started.
That’s how long-time festival director Doug Pullen describes this year’s 19th anniversary, with the two-decade mark just around the corner in 2027.
Pullen has been the festival director since 2014 and before that he covered it when he was an entertainment writer with the El Paso Times.
Ann-Margret, Gregory Nava to headline Plaza Classic Film Fest
Photos courtesy of Plaza Classic Film Festival
This year’s festival will run from Thursday, July 16 through Sunday, July 26. The chief venue is the historic Plaza Theatre, which reopened in 2006 after a major renovation project.
The main theater at the Plaza holds 2,000 people and seeing a film there with a large audience can be a “communal experience,” Pullen said.
“It is very immersive,” he said. “You will find it easy to keep your cellphone in your pocket when you watch a movie (there). You tend to react as a group instead of as an individual.
“One of my favorite memories of this festival, from when I was covering it as a reporter, they were showing ‘Jaws,'” Pullen remembered. “There was a scene at night, out on the water, where a boat was turned upside down. They flip it over and there is a dead body. It sounded like the entire crowd screamed in unison, over 1,000 people.”
Over the years, the Plaza Classic Film Festival, which focuses on movie history and classic films, has grown into what many consider to be one of El Paso’s signature events.
Pullen said the primary audience continues to be from the El Paso-Juarez-Las Cruces region, but more and more people are coming in from outside the area to check it out.
“Prior to the pandemic, we probably averaged getting ticket buyers from 30 to 35 cities outside of the El Paso-Juarez-Las Cruces area,” Pullen said. “Last year, it was 90.”
This year, the film festival will feature more than 100 movies and has three main themes or threads running through it, Pullen said.
The main one is called “Music Movies” and will feature a mixture of documentaries, concert films and biopics, Pullen said.
Other themes are “Disaster!” which looks at classic 1970s era disaster films and more contemporary ones, and “Americana,” which celebrates American history and culture in an acknowledgment of the USA’s 250th birthday.
“Most film festivals are contemporary and a lot of people, especially younger, indie filmmakers, are trying to get their works into them because they want to get more exposure,” Pullen said.
“This one, that is not the focus. It is unique in that it is a classic film festival, by nature and by name,” he said.
This year, celebrity guests will be Ann-Margret, who will be making an appearance before two of her signature movies – “Bye Bye Birdie” and “Tommy.”
Noted Chicano filmmaker Gregory Nava will appear with two of his films – “Selena” and “El Norte.”
New this year, there will be a showcase of films made by UTEP and El Paso Community College students on July 18. That will be part of a day of locally connected films that will be running in the smaller Philanthropy Theater.
Pullen says he hopes that the local college student showcase grows into something bigger.
You can find a chronological schedule page on the festival website and a downloadable PDF version that you can click on and download to your desktop or phone if you want.
Tickets for individual movies are available at the Plaza Theatre’s box office or at Ticketmaster. Pullen recommends buying them at the box office and avoiding service charges.
There are also two different types of passes that are available.
A Festival Pass costs $200 and includes all movies, special events, an express lane feature to avoid lines to get inside and discounts at partner businesses.
A Movies Only Pass – which is exactly what it sounds like – costs $125. It is the same as a Festival Pass but without all the perks.
You can learn more about the festival, tickets and its schedule by clicking here.
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