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Before we begin our list of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World, 2024 edition, you’re probably asking yourself a question that we ask ourselves every year: What is cool Assembling this list, we’ve found many answers, including the El Paso Film Festival.

Created in 2018, the El Paso film festival has been the preeminent film festival in West Texas. This September, the social event spawned by the love of movies, made its grand return.

Carlos M. De La Torre's short film, fresh off a major win at the Mindfield Film Festival in Albuquerque, NM, will be screened at the El Paso Film Festival alongside his participation in a panel about producing low-budget films.

David Saucedo is an actor who plays the role of Don Pedro in the upcoming screening of a short film titled Canta Santiago at the El Paso Film Festival.

El Paso Film Festival returns to downtown El Paso for three days of films and special events, including another collaboration with the Creating Ways Conference for filmmakers.

The El Paso Film Festival, recognized by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the top 50 festivals worth the entry fee, is set to return to downtown El Paso from September 26-28. The festival has once again partnered with El Paso Film & Creative Industries Commission to offer a vibrant mix of films, panels, and special events that celebrate the art of filmmaking, making it one of the fastest-rising and friendliest film festivals in the country.

Each year, we prepare our list of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee in hopes of introducing you to festivals you may not have realized are great matches for you — or re-introducing you to festivals that you might have thought were out of reach, but perhaps aren’t. El Paso Film Festival is on our Top 50 List for 2024.

Holguin’s documentary is among the 20 films included in The 2024 Popcorn List, an annual survey of “highly enjoyed, independently produced feature films that do not currently have domestic theatrical or digital distribution,” according to creators Lela Meadow-Conner and Barbara Twist.

El Paso is a perfect example of a welcoming city where you can afford to make your own films with like-minded collaborators. Located along the U.S.-Mexican border, across from Ciudad Juarez, this thriving West Texas metropolis is joining our list for the first time thanks to a fast-growing community with an emphasis on experimentation.

Jeni Robins, an accomplished filmmaker, comedian and actress, is set to impart her expertise in the art of improv to her hometown of El Paso. Despite residing in Los Angeles, Robins frequently returns to El Paso for comedy shows and film projects, fostering a connection with her roots.

Zach Passero started thinking about The Weird Kidz, his new animated horror-comedy coming-of-age film, when he and his wife were expecting their first child.

This past weekend, The El Paso Film Festival was held at the Plaza Theater & I'd say it was a success. One of the biggest films debuting this year was the premiere of Blood Sweat & Beers: The Making of a Comedy-Rock Classic produced by Robert Holguin, who you know from KFOX 14.

Blood Sweat and Beers is a hard movie to explain, but a very easy movie to love. It tells the story of musician and producer “Money Mark” Ramos Nishita — a musical mastermind known for his work with everyone from The Beastie Boys to Beck to the Red Hot Chili Peppers to the Rolling Stones — and his brief, bountiful collaboration with The Sloppy Boys, a comedy-rock act you may have never heard of.

Lance Larson, the director and co-writer of the supernatural border thriller Deadland, first got the idea for the story from an article about a U.S. Border Patrol agent whose own parents had crossed into the United States illegally.

Elizabeth Avellán has produced films that have earned more than a billion dollars at the box office, including the Sin City and Spy Kids franchises. But she’s still so tapped into the indie-film ethos that on the latest film she’s produced, Deadland, she cooked for the whole production.

Film enthusiasts and creators from all parts of the country will converge in El Paso with their shoot bags filled with viewfinders, light meters and storyboards in preparation of the sixth El Paso Film Festival.

Katherine Propper, critically acclaimed writer-director, brings her film "Lost Soulz" to El Paso after its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival along with local El Paso artist and rapper Krystall Poppin.

This year’s documentary spotlight features El Paso Filmmaker Robert Holguin, veteran journalist and filmmaker, best known for his Emmy award winning show, Built in the Borderland.

This year’s festival will feature special guest Elizabeth Avellan, renowned producer best known for her role in producing Desperado, Spy Kids, Sin City, Machete, Death Proof and Predators. 

El Paso, as opposed to Las Cruces, N.M., has yet to garner a lot of interest from the film industry due to New Mexico’s competing and more appealing state tax incentives. But that has not stopped local film production companies like Tower Productions from highlighting the wonders of the Sun City on the silver screen.

After more than eight years in the making, El Paso filmmaker Zach Passero will debut his animated film, “The Weird Kidz,” the first animated feature film made in El Paso, at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Plaza Theatre. The screening, presented by the El Paso Film Festival and Creative Industries Commission and the El Paso Film Festival, is free for everyone.

El Paso’s First Animated Feature - The Weird Kidz - Gets Free Special Screening May 11th at the Historic Plaza Theatre May 2, 2023 – EL PASO, TX – CreativElPaso and El Paso Film Festival are hosting a special screening and celebration for El Pasoan Zach Passero’s full length hand-animated feature, The Weird Kidz. The event is FREE and will be taking place on May 11th at 7:00pm at the Plaza Theatre downtown.

The Weird Kidz characters – which Passero describes as “amalgamations of friends that I’ve had and of personalities I had or hoped to have” – are mostly kids: Dug, Mel, Fatt, Dug’s older brother Wyatt, and his girlfriend Mary. The group goes into the desert for an overnight camping trip where they catch wind of a local monster legend that takes the story to some unexpected places.

The upcoming comedy Going Nowhere, which premieres via VOD on April 25th, hopes to follow that trend, perhaps more in the vein of Christopher Guest's great mockumentary, For Your Consideration, or David Mamet's satire, State and Main, than Fellini or Truffaut.

I love animated films. You can create so much with animation—animals, explosions, car chases, and of course, bloody gruesome deaths—without the added expense of traveling, location scouting, permits, lodging… Sure, it might not have the same impact on your audience, especially if they’re the kind of people who think “cartoons are for kids.” But I can tell you first hand that animation can work for horror just as well as live action does.

A crew of El Paso filmmakers needs the community's help to take their comical winning short about incompetent serial killers to the next level. Subharmonic City Productions, made up of local filmmakers and musicians, won the local contest of the 48-Hour Film Project in August. The competition challenges crews to create a seven-minute short film based on genres that are assigned to them.

For decades, the movie industry has been moving away from Southern California to other regions, including the Southwest. New Mexico has become a film production magnet, thanks largely to big tax incentive programs. That's having a big impact on the local film scene here in the Borderland, where creatives are seeing an opportunity to turn their passion into a profession.

Tom is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and prescribed psychiatric medication, but a strange accident alerts his mother as to its side effects.

Actor Stephen Lang kicks off the 5th Annual Film Festival at the Philanthropy Theatre inside the Plaza Theatre downtown. This year the Hollywood star was the special guest for day one of the El Paso Film Festival, previewing his new film, Old Man.

Stars Stephen Lang and Marc Senter, along with famed horror director Lucky McKee, speak with MovieWeb about their new film Old Man.

The Other Tom delicately tackles an issue that is usually painted in broad strokes. Elena (Julia Chavez) is a Latina single mother living with the aid of Social Services in El Paso, Texas. Tom has behavioral issues and is stigmatized at school as a problem child. He is soon diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) leading to a strange accident that alerts Elena to the side effects of the drug.

From a Hollywood heavyweight to dozens of documentaries and short films, the El Paso Film Festival returns to downtown next week. The festival is the brainchild of local filmmaker Carlos Corral, who has worked to grow the festival into a premier event.

Host Charles Horak welcomes filmmaker, artistic director, and founder of El Paso Film Festival, Carlos Corral, to discuss upcoming events of this year's festival that will take place between October 13 and 16.

Stephen Lang Announced as Special Guest of the 2022 El Paso Film Festival. This year’s festival will feature special guest Stephen Lang, renowned actor best known for his role as ‘Colonel Miles Quaritch’ in James Cameron's seminal 2009 film AVATAR.

The red carpet turned green at the "Green Ghost and the Masters of the Stone" movie premiere Wednesday night in East El Paso. Actor Danny Trejo attended the event at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema East.

Roland Esparza and Austin Savage, are grant recipients of the Hornitos and Black List’s Take Your Shot Short Film Program. They were awarded a $15,000 grant to shoot a proof-of-concept short film.

The Paso del Norte Community Foundation has been there to help these individuals create designated funds and agency funds under our umbrella. Funds, such as the El Paso Film Festival and Femme Frontera, trust us to provide the backend support needed for their funds to grow so that they can continue to help make local filmmakers’ dreams a reality.

Aguilas (Eagles in Spanish) is a bilingual short documentary film written and directed by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan. Co-directed by Maite Zubiarre, Aguilas is the story of the non-profit search and rescue organization: Aguilas del Desierto. Searching the Arizona desert along the US/MX border for missing migrants.

The El Paso Film Festival has announced its 2021 programming line-up. The festival is scheduled to start Thursday night October 14, 2021 and run though Sunday October 17, 2021 at the Philanthropy Theater in downtown El Paso.

The 23rd annual Cine Las Americas International Film Festival (#CLAIFF23) will be held June 9-13, 2021 online and in Austin, Texas. CLAIFF will once again provide a rare showcase of films and videos from Latin America (North, Central, South America, and the Caribbean) and the Iberian Peninsula.

Announced last year,Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead) is producing a feature film that will bring The Texas Chainsaw Massacre back to the big screen, with an official website recently being launched for the upcoming movie. David Blue Garcia (Tejano) directed the movie for Legendary, which was written by Chris Thomas Devlin and filmed last year. David Blue Garcia won Best Narrative Feature at the 2018 El Paso Film Festival.

Magnolia's Magnet is planning a release for First Date later this year. Visit Films, which also debuted feature Superior at this year's Sundance, was behind the First Date, with Crosby, Knapp, Brandon Kraus, Lucky McKee and Charles Horak acting as producers.

Dirty Feathers, Carlos Alfonso Corral’s feature documentary about El Paso's homeless, will debuts at the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival Panorama program. Carlos Alfonso Corral, Roberto Minervini, Denise Ping Lee, and Denise Dorado produced. Slingshot Films is handling world sales.

Rendez-vous, which screened at the 2020 El Paso Film Festival, can now be seen via OnDemand in both the USA and Canada. Director Pablo Olomos Arrayales was a featured guest at last year's film festival. Check out his interview with Artistic Director Carlos Corral.

On the streets of border towns El Paso and Ciudad Juárez we meet people living without a home. In intimate, unbiased black-and-white images, the film captures their everyday lives on the streets, as well as their hopes and their faith.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced shortlists in nine categories for the 93rd Academy Awards®, which include two short films that screened at the 2020 El Paso Film Festival. White Eye & Call Center Blues will be competing in the Live Action Short Film and Documentary Short Subject categories in 2021.

Directed by Big Bend Sentinel editor in chief Maisie Crow, who produced the film alongside fellow Marfa residents Abbie Perrault and Hillary Pierce (The River and the Wall, Tower), At The Ready follows the criminal justice club at Horizon High School, whose student population is 97 percent Hispanic, as it prepares for the annual Border Challenge competition against other high schools from the region.

White Eye, which won the Best Narrative Short Film Award at the 2020 El Paso Film Festival, is available to watch for free on Short of the Week. Based on a real-life incident involving Shushan, the writer/director explains that after discovering his stolen bike in the middle of the street an “aggressive instinct came out of me, and I couldn’t go away without the bike”.

After buying a questionable ’65 Chrysler, Mike’s (Tyson Brown) first date with Kelsey (Shelby Duclos) snowballs into an epic night of cop chases, criminals, and cat ladies. Editor Zach Passero explains how they snipped a nearly three hour cut down while preserving the movie’s irrepressible personality.

We’re now open for EPFF’s 2021 season. Visit our website or hop on FilmFreeway to submit your film to the far edge of Texas and compete for over $5,000 in cash prizes.

Maisie Crow’s At The Ready, which follows the story of students at Horizon High School in El Paso who are training to become police officers and Border Patrol agents.

Deathcember is out now on Digital & On Demand. Two of the short films featured are directed by EPFF Alumni, which include Lucky McKee's "They Once Had Horses" and Pollyanna McIntosh's "Getting Away From It All".

Level 33 Entertainment has acquired worldwide sales to the Mexican single-shot thriller and festival award-winner Rendez-Vous. The feature film recently screened at the 2020 El Paso Film Festival.

Winning Oscar-qualifying Awards at South by Southwest and Urbanworld Film Festival, and recently also winning Best Short Film at El Paso Film Festival, Writer-Director Tomer Shushan rethinks the principles of morality in White Eye; a short film following a man’s efforts to retrieve his stolen bike, now in possession of a stranger.

Robert Rodriguez shares the first images from his upcoming film WE CAN BE HEROES, which will be releasing globally on Netflix on January 1, 2021!

Lucky McKee (The Woman) will direct a new thriller Old Man, which will star Avatar actor Stephen Lang. Marc Senter (Starry Eyes) will co-star.

Actors from El Paso offer their advice when it comes to navigating the casting process and how your location in Los Angeles, New York, Austin, or Albuquerque affect your chances of being cast in television and film productions.

El Paso Filmmakers continue to make strides when it comes to producing their own feature films. These filmmakers will discuss how they produced their movies in their hometown of El Paso and what the future of filmmaking will look like in the borderland.

Latina/x/o Filmmakers continue to create amazing work that has traveled to several film festivals across the country. We'll be discussing how we build community by building each other up, sharing resources, and tackling challenges together as Latinas.

How do festivals curate ​programming for their festival ​lineup? ​How does a shift towards a virtual festival experience have an impact on that process? Filmmakers are invited to chat with festival ​representatives from across the state about how they approach their selection process.

As Fall approaches, film festivals around the world are still coming up with ideas about how to screen their curated selections. Our local film festival is at the forefront of innovation within this field. Artistic Director and Founder, Carlos Corral, streamed in this week to discuss the upcoming film festival.

What does the future of film production in Texas look like in a post COVID-19 world? Texas film productions have ​been significantly impacted by the pandemic in recent months and ​state and local representatives are now adapting to help productions with new ​health and safety protocols.

Borderland film lovers are getting a special treat this year. The 2020 incarnation of the El Paso Film Festival is going virtual and will be available to stream through Amazon Fire TV, Roku TV and Apple TV channels from Oct. 16 – 25.

The El Paso Film Festival is changing with the times so the show can go on but from the comfort and safety of your own home. Since we're still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the El Paso Film Festival has adjusted the way they will be reaching their audience for this year's movies.

We've adapted our festival to keep you, staff and filmmakers, safe. Find out how. 

When UTEP digital media major Sergio Muñoz started writing the script for his short film “Ayúdame, Por Favor”, he dreamed of the best-case scenario: it would be well-received and win awards. When he finished filming, his dream came true. 

EPFF Alumni David Blue Garcia, who's film Tejano can be seen on HBO Max and won Best Narrative at our 2018 festival, is now directing Legendary’s new sequel to Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Building the American Dream, which won the Best Documentary and Best of Show awards at the 2019 El Paso Film Festival, will be debuting on PBS September 15th, 2020 at 10pm ET. Congratulations to EPFF Alumni Chelsea Sonnen Hernandez and her team!

El Paso Filmmakers Zach & Hannah Passero will have their latest short film "Gust" featured as part of a Horror Anthology Film "Isolation".

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the Borderland, community members are finding creative ways to adapt.

Film Festival Strategy. A conversation with El Paso Film Festival Director Carlos Corral and Crossroads Film Festival Director Rene Rhi.

In The Pushback, filmmaker Kevin Ford follows Veronica Escobar, in her bid to represent the state’s Sixteenth Congressional District, as well as Natasha Harper-Madison, the only black woman to run for an Austin city council seat in 2018.

Lucky McKee's suspense thriller, Kindred Spirits, won the Producer's Award at the 2019 El Paso Film Festival. Check it out on Amazon, YouTube, and Google Play.

Take a look back to when the El Paso Film Festival celebrated its sophomore year in the heart of El Paso with special guest Robert Rodriguez.

The Pushback is a roving celebration of the Texans—particularly women of color—who are fighting to make our state reckon with its racist past while pushing it toward a more just and equitable future.

PORNO, which won Best Narrative Feature at the 2019 El Paso Film Festival is now available on Alamo On Demand. Directed by Keola Racela and produced by Chris Cole.

Will there be a sequel to the popular sci-fi film Time Trap on Netflix?

The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) announces Ramón Villa-Hernández from El Paso, Texas, as the recipient of the Adán Medrano Legacy Award in Film.

David Blue Garcia is producer and director of the new movie “Tejano.” Garcia is from Harlingen, but has lived in Austin ever since he moved there to go to the University of Texas 15 years ago.

Mark Dennis & Ben Foster's Time Trap is now available on NetFlix. Time Trap won the Producer's Award at the 2018 El Paso Film Festival.

David Blue Garcia remembers growing up surrounded by corn fields and around farmland near La Feria. Today, the Harlingen native is an award-winning film director breaking out in the industry with his movie “Tejano.”

This week on Studio 9 we feature a special sit down interview with filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, who was in town for the El Paso Film Festival.

With the help of, local filmmakers, Carlos Corral and Angie Reza Tures, Tracy Yellen came by the KTEP studios to talk about the monumentous charitable event.

On an unusually cold night in the Sun City, Robert Rodriguez – a revered independent filmmaker – hosted a screening of his new movie “Red 11” and gave a master class in low-budget filmmaking.

Internationally acclaimed director, producer, writer, and cinematographer, Robert Rodriguez, stopped by the KTEP studios to discuss his life of filmmaking and his newly released feature film, Red 11.

With the debut of his new film, "Red 11," on Thursday night at the El Paso Film Festival, director Robert Rodriguez said he is coming full circle.

Patricia Vonne still remembers the determination her maverick brother Robert Rodriguez had even as a child.

The El Paso Film Festival is rolling into its second year stronger than ever.

The visionary filmmaker behind action hits such as “El Mariachi,” “From Dusk Till Dawn,” “Desperado,” “Spy Kids” and “Alita: Battle Angel” is bringing his movie magic to the borderland.

El Paso never had until last year, when filmmaker Carlos Corral organized the first one. Now his second annual El Paso Film Festival, running from Oct. 24-27, steps up in a big way. 

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — This year’s El Paso Film Festival will feature special guest Robert Rodriguez, director of “Sin City,” “Spy Kids,” “Once Upon a Time in Mexico,” and “El Mariachi.”

The El Paso Film Festival recently announced the schedule and list of feature films and short films that will be screened at this year's event and now we know who will be the special guest in attendance.

Announcing the 2019 El Paso Film Festival 

El Paso Film Festival promises to enrich fans of films shown and told by Texans.

You Can’t Say No is now available for streaming on SHOWTIME. Filmmaker Paul Kramer was awarded the Best Director award at EPFF 2018 for YCSN.

The El Paso Film Festival will return October 24th - 27th, 2019 to the El Paso Museum of Art and Philanthropy Theatre.

We have some awesome news to report! After Running with Beto Doc had its World Premiere at SXSW, the documentary will be available for streaming on HBO in Spring of 2019.

Running with Beto will be having its World Premiere at the SXSW 2019 Film Festival.

Texas Standard: David Blue Garcia, who won the "Best Narrative Film" award for his feature film Tejano at the 2018 El Paso Film Festival, recently sold out (5) screenings in Austin, TX.

Did you miss Time Trap at the El Paso Film Festival back in Sept? Have no fear! It’s now available on iTunes.

As part of the organization’s annual voting, the Austin Film Critics Association awards titles with local ties — works made in Austin and/or directed by a filmmaker living in town during their film’s production.

The El Paso Film Festival, in a partnership with the El Paso Museum of Art, will take place Sept. 14-16 in Downtown El Paso and will feature 43 independent short films and five feature films.

Dr. Victoria Ramirez, director of the El Paso Museum of Art, will be partnering with Artistic Director Carlos Corral in hosting the 1st El Paso Film Festival this fall in Downtown El Paso. With the philanthropic help of the Paso Del Norte Charitable Foundation, the El Paso Film Festival and its Sponsors will be awarding up to $5,000 in cash prizes to independent filmmakers.

Carlos Corral is creating more opportunities to showcase films made in the borderland and filmmakers from the borderland.  He’s created the El Paso Film Festival, a new festival that hopes to bring the best from the El Paso area to the big screen, while also showcasing emerging indie filmmakers from around the country, and perhaps the world.

EL PASO, Texas - The first El Paso Film Festival, set to kick off this fall, will screen 10 short films from independent filmmakers. And there seems to be trend among the movies -- filmmakers who grew up along the border, telling the story of life along the border from their perspective. Carlos Corral is the artistic director for the El Paso Film Festival

El PASO, TX (El Paso Inc.) - Local filmmaker Carlos Corral has an ambitious goal to make his latest project, the El Paso Film Festival, a launchpad for the city’s reputation as a movie-making hub.

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) - Artist Director Carlos Corral hoping to highlight the best from the El Paso area to the big screen with the El Paso Film Festival. The Artist Director partnering with the El Paso Filmmakers Organization and the Paso del Norte Charitable Foundation.

Listen to the ON FILM interview with Charles Horak and Carlos Corral on KTEP 88.5FM. This week we visited with Carlos Corral, filmmaker and founder of the El Paso Film Festival, as he discussed a premier event for the El Paso Film Festival, as well as the long-term goals he hopes to achieve with this new project.

The El Paso Film Festival was created by filmmaker Carlos Corral in 2018 with the support of the El Paso Filmmakers organization. With the philanthropic help of the Paso Del Norte Charitable Foundation, the El Paso Film Festival screens original film showcases for aspiring filmmakers and for all who look to enjoy independent work that they won't see in a mainstream theater.