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The El Paso Film Festival is back for 2021 with over (50) new films and some fabulous special guests. Check out 2021's festival agenda and don't forget to purchase your Film Pass or VIP Badge for this year's festival.

Special Guests

Lizette Barrera

Producer & Director

Lizette Barrera is a filmmaker based in Dallas/Fort Worth with ties in Austin. Her films have played at festivals and networks worldwide, including her HBO previously licensed short film MOSCA (FLY), ESPN licensed short documentary film MR. PASTOR JONES, and short film CHICLE (GUM) World premiering at South By Southwest.

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Lucky McKee

Award-winning screenwriter, director, and novelist

McKee is best known for the 2002 cult hit May, the 2006 schoolgirl chiller The Woods and the notorious 2011 Sundance shocker The Woman as well as noir-thrillers such as Blood Money starring John Cusack and the upcoming Kindred Spirits starring Caitlin Stasey, Thora Birch and Macon Blair.

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Denise Dorado

Producer

In 2017, after starring in many short films and TV guest spots, she was cast in her first leading role in a feature film, “Amalia” (2018), Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s latest psychological thriller, and her second lead shortly thereafter, Graham Streeter’s “I May Regret” (2018) and currently resides in Los Angeles.

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Carlos Alfonso Corral

Director

Carlos Alfonso Corral dove into professional filmmaking within the camera department of Roberto Minervini’s Stop the Pounding Heart and The Other Side, both premiering at Cannes and at the Venice Film Festival. Dirty Feathers is his debut feature length documentary which had its world premiere at the 71st Berlinale Film Festival

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Silvana Lázaro

Cinematographer | Writer & Director

Silvana is a Mexican cinematographer, screenwriter and director who studied at the Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos (CUEC, UNAM).

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Angie Reza Tures

Femme Frontera Director

Filmmaker and documentary film instructor Angie Reza Tures, received her B.A. in Media Studies with a minor in Music from the University of San Francisco in 2003. For nine years,  she worked as an independent filmmaker, producer, and editor in the San Francisco Bay Area studying under and working with award-winning filmmakers such as Sam Green (Oscar-nominated The Weather Underground), Tiffany Shlain (Sundance-winner Connected) and Carlos Bolado (Like Water for Chocolate).

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Diana Mata

Producer & Editor

Diana Mata is a Mexican editor and producer, graduated from the Center for Science Studies of the Communication. She is co-founder of Elipse Films, a focused audiovisual collective for the development and production of cinematographic projects.

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Ximena Alvarez

Producer & Director

Ximena Alvarez is a producer based in Los Angeles, California with experience in both the theatre and film industry. She finished production on a new TV series with Romina Puga titled “Club Mundo Kids,” which debuted May 2021. She currently works for A24 Films' documentary production division.

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Persia Campbell

Writer & Director

Persia Campbell is a female director and photographer who grew up and has developed on both sides of Mexico's northern border (El Paso and Ciudad Juárez). Her photographic work explores female self-representation through color and production design.

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Winners

Dirty Feathers

  • Grand Jury Prize
  • Best Documentary Feature

With two homeless lovers' journey as the through-line, 'Dirty Feathers' weaves in and out of an overwhelmed shelter and a forsaken landscape with fervent echoes of the unheard and neglected.

Canción De Invierno | Wintersong

  • Best Narrative Film (Feature)
  • Femme Frontera Award

Two broken hearts, two friends, a road trip, and a new lover. Danielle, a young musician, sets off on a journey with Diego, her best friend, while both of them face the pain of a break up with their partners. Ending up at the northern border of Mexico, they’ll have to use their abilities as musicians to survive as they get to know the complicated context between the US and Mexico.

First Date

  • Producer Award

After being conned into buying a shady '65 Chrysler, Mike's first date plans with girl-next-door Kelsey implode as he finds himself targeted by criminals, cops, and a crazy cat lady.

Broken Gaiete

  • Best Director

Lost in an unknown and timeless land, IDIR finds himself with KASHOU a woman who claims to be his mother, crossing through a village that lives by absurd and maniacal rules. Not remembering his past Idir convinces Kashou to settle there and start a new life, but to do so he must get an -ASIV- which is to marry from the village. Beda, a woman who shares secrets with Tsicar (the village leader) marries Idir and quickly things take a decidedly strange turn when the rule about new borns is unveiled.

Raspberry

  • Best Narrative Film (Short)

Undertakers wait on a family's final farewells, as one son struggles to say goodbye to his dead father.

Águilas/Eagles

  • Best Documentary Film (Short)

Amidst rising political repression and cartel violence, as well as the eternal difficulties of travel in the Sonoran Desert, the Águilas/Eagles carry out their solemn task.

Disrupted Borders

  • Reel South Short Award
  • El Paso Filmmaker Award

This is a coming-of-age story about two best friends living on the US-Mexico border in a scarred landscape of racial tensions, family wounds, and lack of opportunities as they embark on their extraordinary journeys in 3D innovation and artistic creativity to heal themselves, their families, and their community.

Bedridden

  • Audience Award

Teri, a weary widow, faces the painful task of rebuilding her life as a single mother, following a traumatic encounter with an armed assailant. When her worst fears seemingly come true, Teri finds herself bedridden and trapped in a cat and mouse game of life and death.

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Films

Read up on all the films screening as part of our 2021 season to plan your festival experience.

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Schedule

See the full 2021 schedule to plan your festival experience.

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