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Wondering what it would be like to attend? Check out our past 2018 festival's winners, special guests, film programming, and much much more, below.

The El Paso Film Festival has grown into one of the largest showcases of independently made narrative and documentary films in the southwest. 

Special Guests

David Blue Garcia

Filmmaker

David Blue Garcia is an Emmy award-winning Director / Cinematographer based in Austin, Texas and makes a living directing and shooting television commercials, product videos and feature films. David Produced and Directed his first feature film, "Tejano", which had its world premiere at the Dallas International Film Festival. 2018.

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Mark Dennis

Filmmaker

Mark Dennis is an American director, editor, producer and composer. His debut feature, Strings, won him Best Director awards at the Tulsa International Film Festival and Long Island International Film Expo (shared with collaborator Ben Foster) and was an Official Selection at the Hollywood Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, Gotham Film Festival, and Ventura Film Festival. Strings also won Audience Awards at the Breckenridge Film Festival, White Sands International Film Festival, and Silver City Film Festival.

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Ben Foster

Filmmaker

Benjamin Jacob Fernandez Foster is a first generation Cuban-American film director and activist who helmed the award-winning independent films Time Trap (2017) and Strings (I) (2011) and produced the social awareness documentary Lunch Hour. Foster's great-uncle was iconic Cuban filmmaker, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, known for Strawberry and Chocolate (1993), Guantanamera (1995), Stories of the Revolution (1960), Hasta cierto punto (1983).

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Paul Kramer

Filmmaker

Paul Kramer is a Writer, Director, and Cinematographer based in Sacramento, California. He graduated from San Francisco State University where he majored in Film Production. Paul debuts his first feature film, "You Can’t Say No", which won the Best Director award at the 2018 El Paso Film Festival.

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Matt Ogens

Filmmaker

Matthew Ogens is an American film director, creative director, photographer and artist. He directed and produced the feature documentary Confessions of a Superhero, which premiered at SXSW. Ogens also earned three Emmy Award nominations for work he directed for two original series on ESPN (The Life and Timeless).

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Winners

HOME + AWAY

  • Grand Jury Prize
  • Best Feature Film (Documentary)

This is a story about the search for the American dream on the extreme edge of the nation. For the kids of El Paso’s Bowie high, it’s a dream inspired by family, fueled by sports, and deeply complicated by the US/Mexican border – the fault-line between two worlds. 

YOU CAN'T SAY NO

  • Director Award

Just days from signing divorce papers, Hank and Alexandra give their relationship one final shot by playing a game with only one rule: no matter what they ask each other to do, they can't say no.

Desperate for inspiration, Hank takes off on a road trip to visit his eccentric father, Buck (Peter Fonda), in the wine country of Sonoma, California. Finally feeling a sense of freedom on the road, Hank meets Allison (Ingrid Vollset), whose wanderlust represents what Hank thinks has been missing from his life.

TIME TRAP

  • Producer Award

While searching for their missing archaeology professor, a group of students discovers a cave where time passes differently than it does on the surface.

TEJANO

  • Best Feature Film (Narrative)

Desperate for money to save his sick Grandfather, a South Texas farmhand resorts to the extreme: He breaks his own arm to smuggle a cast made of cocaine across the Mexican border.

Para Ellos

  • Femme Frontera Award

On the night her father goes missing, Maria, along with her little brother Juan, embark on a journey across the U.S./Mexico border in hopes of bringing him back home, but not without the guidance of three curious, yet meddling desert creatures.

La Eliminadora

  • Best Short Film (Narrative)

The Eliminadora is the inspiring story of a little girl with a big dream to be a luchadora, who proves that she has what it takes, and becomes a hero along the way.

Parade of Dreams

  • Best Short Film (Documentary)

A young man takes us through his journey of coming out, becoming a drag-queen, and the dangers that this lifestyle created.

Foober

  • El Paso Filmmaker Award

Imagine a service that would come to your house, deliver food, and cook it right in front of you, all from the luxury kitchen of a beat up old car. It’s like putting Food and Uber together. FOOBER!

Nacido De Nuevo

  • Audience Award

On the anniversary of his young son's death, border patrol agent Ramon Nunez (NARCO'S Juan Pablo Raba) finds redemption at the hands of an illegal alien in a single polarizing and life-altering night.

Award Sponsors

Films

Read up on all the films that screened at the 2018 El Paso Film Festival.

VIEW FILMS

Schedule

See our full 2018 schedule.

VIEW SCHEDULE