Robert Rodriguez & Patricia Vonne
Profession: Filmmakers
Festival Year: 2019
Filmography: RED 11 | Cold Dark Hallow
We are grateful to the El Paso Film Festival for bringing us to our mother's hometown to share our films together. We hope people have a great time, to be inspired, to never lose their love for the arts, for music, for live entertainment, because without an audience the arts will wither away.
David Blue Garcia
Profession: Writer & Director
Festival Year: 2018
Filmography: Tejano | Texas Chainsaw Massacre
El Paso Film festival is a wonderful new fest founded and run by filmmakers who are active in building the West Texas film community. Go for the weekend and you will receive the star treatment, eat well, and make new friends. You may even be lucky enough to receive a guided tour of some hot spots El Paso and nearby Juarez, Mexico from the festival staff.
Valeria Contreras
Profession: Writer & Director
Festival Year: 2022
Filmography: Homesick | Seams
The El Paso Film Festival is fun and informative, with lots of opportunities to meet filmmakers! I had a blast and met so many people. This festival is top tier in terms of inclusiveness, hosting, opportunities to network, and overall content. The festival really cares about building community and ensuring that filmmakers are happy. Thank you for a wonderful experience!
Chihiro Wimbush
Profession: Director
Festival Year: 2022
Filmography: Ricochet
Carlos and the El Paso Film Festival are amazing, a wonderful experience from beginning to end. Carlos was in regular supportive contact, the festival was so generous in amenities, and while I sadly could not be there, our lead participant was and had a fantastic time there. Honored to win both the Grand Jury Prize and Best Documentary Feature here and hope to make it in person one day!
Izzy Shill
Profession: Writer & Director
Festival Year: 2022
Filmography: Face to Facetime | Going Nowhere
This was a super fun festival to attend. Carlos Corral, the festival director, went above and beyond to make all of the filmmakers feel welcome. He wined and dined us for three days and put us up in a beautiful hotel just across the street from the main theater.
All of the events were in the same 3 block radius (all centralized around the hotel) so it was super easy to get around. The films were really fun and there was a high filmmaker attendance because so much though had gone into helping us get there.
It's a young but already really vibrant and fun festival. Highly recommend!!
Robert Holguin
Profession: Producer & Director
Festival Year: 2023
Filmography: Blood, Sweat, Beers
An excellent festival and a true celebration of cinema. The organizers work hard to make sure the filmmakers and the audience the main focus while also managing to engage the community with a wonderful energy that's emblematic of the Southwest. The facilities are top notch. The attention to detail is easy to spot. And the fest really knows how to throw a party.
Alisa Yang
Profession: Artist & Filmmaker
Festival Year: 2021
Filmography: Sleeping with the Devil
I LOVE how community driven this festival is! Attended in person in 2021 and had a great time. El Paso Film Fest was warm and welcoming, Carlos and the staff went above and beyond to make sure the filmmakers were taken care of. The theater is beautiful as well.
Diego Rico
Profession: Writer & Director
Festival Year: 2023
Filmography: Sunrise | You, Us, & I
The El Paso Film Festival is a welcoming host to attendees, from filmmakers to single-ticket holders. The festival has great networking opportunities, and the dinners that are included in the price of your ticket are so much fun. I met some of my most important collaborators at this film festival!
Mark Dennis
Profession: Writer & Director
Festival Year: 2018
Filmography: Time Trap
Great venues, fun parties, and welcoming people. Everyone with the festival was really friendly and after the opening night movies played, we all went out to a bar down the street. If you can go to one of the filmmaker mixers before the screenings, you'll eat and drink like royalty. I've been to dozens of film festival Q&A's and countless other movies and have never seen so much excitement in a theater. Good job, EPFF Year One.
Nathan Crooker
Profession: Producer & Director
Festival Year: 2022
Filmography: #NoFilter | Isolation
This is a superb genre festival! Carlos and his team are the best. They truly care about the films they program and the filmmakers. I had such a blast attending and meeting so many amazing people. Such a great job setting up the venues and social events. Amazing communication the whole way through while also sticking to the timeline! Thank you so much for programming ISOLATION and #Nofilter. I would got back to this festival even if I didn't have a film screening. Don't miss it.
Sharon Arteaga
Profession: Writer & Director
Festival Year: 2020 | 2019
Filmography: When You Clean a Stranger's Home | Plane Pretend
I attended in person in 2019 and had to come back. This year, due to the pandemic, it went virtual. EPFF had one of the most unique virtual platforms I had seen this year. They set up a channel on Roku, Apple TV, and Fire devices, which gave us access to a different audience. It also made it very easy for me to leave my computer at the end of the day, get cozy on my couch, and consume night cap short films each day on my television.
As a panelist, I learned so much from my fellow panelists. I also tune into other panels that helped me on my production this past month. Cannot wait to keep attending this fest.
Julian Doan
Profession: Director | Editor | Assistant Editor
Festival Year: 2021
Filmography: Raspberry | Ballers
Carlos Corral and the team at El Paso were exceptional communicators - from the beginning we received very thorough communication, and quick personal responses when we had questions. We were honored to receive the Best Short Film Narrative award - it meant a lot to hear how the jury responded to Raspberry and from the start of making our film, our main goal was just to bring light to the absurd experiences of death. Thank you for allowing us to showcase our film to your audiences. I look forward to playing your festival again in the future!
Erin Mcgoff
Profession: Director & Editor
Festival Year: 2020
Filmography: Darrouzett, TX | This Little Land of Mines | New York is Silent
EPFF is a wonderful festival run by equally wonderful people! Although COVID impacted this year's event, they still were incredibly organized and programmed some excellent films. This is definitely a festival on the rise. I'm already excited for next year (where we can hopefully be in person!)
Andrew Shebay
Profession: Producer & Director
Festival Year: 2020
Filmography: Woke the Monster
We were very honored to be accepted and receive the Producer's Award at El Paso Film Festival this year. We wish we could have been there in person but due to Covid the festival had to make the decision to go virtual. However, it was an amazing experience and our film was able to reach more viewers.
The Q&A sessions hosted by Carlos Corral were great and we're very thankful that this festival stepped up to the plate and was able to proceed with such an amazing festival with everything else going on. Thank you to El Paso Film Fest and all the Staff for such a great fest this year! Look forward to seeing everyone in person next year.
Kevin Ford
Profession: Producer & Director
Festival Year: 2020
Filmography: The Pushback | SR.
El Paso Film Festival is an incredible festival, and I was honored that our film The Pushback was able to be a part of it this year. 2020 was so challenging for filmmakers, and I was inspired from afar watching how EPFF remained dedicated to helping filmmakers get their works seen, and created an entire virtual festival to keep many of our dreams alive!
The diversity of the programming is worth noting, and I believe it inspires a very wide audience to participate. I'll be keeping my eye on EPFF and hope to bring many more films there in years to come!
Denise Dorado
Profession: Actress
Festival Year: 2019
Filmography: Amalia
I can't tell you what an incredible time we had at the festival! Wow!! From seeing old friends, to meeting many wonderful new people, and finally sharing 'Amalia' with our city, it was truly a PERFECT experience. Thank you again for all of your hard work putting this together!
Chris Cole
Profession: Producer
Festival Year: 2019
Filmography: Porno | Elsewhere | I Am You
Great festival, with a great staff. Carlos, the director, organizes a very seamless and efficient series of screenings and events within the tight-knit community of El Paso, so you always know where to go, and actually get to know people. The venues are beautiful, with the main theater being a historic one that was beautifully renovated. Hosting it over a long weekend without a bunch of competing screenings, and plenty of local programming, creates a congenial atmosphere that is hard to find.
Sommer Saqr
Profession: Producer
Festival Year: 2019 | 2018
Filmography: Red Christmas | Sepia
Impressive new festival in the heart of downtown El Paso. Beautiful venues, friendly staff, dynamic films, engaging Q&A sessions. You’ll keep busy with short film blocks during the day and be treated to features at night. Plenty of time to explore the city between programs. Was fortunate to watch several films that have gone on to gain critical acclaim nationwide.
Festival organizers were warm and welcoming and they hosted a catered mixer opening night which was such a nice way to unwind, recharge and meet fellow filmmakers. Accomplished filmmakers were gracious and unassuming, open to chatting with their newer counterparts before and after screenings.
You get the feeling there’s a strong, supportive community here. A super fun experience! Texan hospitality at its best!
Michael Vukadinovich
Profession: Writer & Director
Festival Year: 2020
Filmography: The Priest | Kidding
This is a super cool, well-organized festival with great films, friendly and communicative people, and cash prizes! I loved the indie spirit of it and so happy to have been apart of it.
Michelle Moraveg
Profession: Writer & Director
Festival Year: 2019
Filmography: Just Us
I had such an amazing experience as a filmmaker at the El Paso Film Festival! All the filmmakers, staff, guest speakers, and volunteers brought so much life and passion to the festival. The films were played in a beautifully restored theatre which was conveniently located within walking distance to all the events. A lot of thought and love was put into all the details of the festival which made it run smoothly. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to discover a great community of filmmakers at the festival.
Rayell Abad
Profession: Director & Sound Mixer
Festival Year: 2018
Filmography: La Casita de Mati
This is a great space for filmmakers to connect with the audience as everyone gets to talk about their respective projects. The networking at the end of the projections is great. I'll look forward to this festival every year.
