3 Celebrities Coming In For The El Paso Plaza Classic Film Fest

The Plaza Classic Film Festival kicks off this month with a stellar movie lineup and Hollywood celebrities for the 2-week event in the heart of downtown El Paso.

If you didn't know, the Plaza Classic Film Festival is the world's largest classic film festival. Come July 28, the film fest will take over the Plaza Theatre and surrounding area, screening over 90 classic films and hosting celebrities.

Apart from its impressive movie lineup, this year's special guests include native El Pasoans such as Germaine France from the Disney blockbuster animated film Encanto and award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham.

The third guest is EGOT winner Rita Moreno, who has ties to the renovation and revival of the Plaza Theatre.

Meet The Stars & Featured Movie Screening Details: 

Germaine Franco

Germaine Franco is a former El Pasoan who attended Irving High School and recently made history as the first woman to score a Disney animated feature film and is the first woman of color to receive an Oscar nomination for best original score.

Franco was also involved in Disney's 2017 hit Coco, where she co-wrote and produced five of six original songs, including Un Poco Loco and Proud Corazon. She also wrote the score for the video game Kung Fu Panda Land of Awesomeness and Kung Fu Panda: The Emperor's Quest, theme park attractions that play daily at Universal Beijing Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood.

The former El Paso Youth Symphony Orchestra percussionist is a composer, producer, and arranger who has scored the Netflix films Work It, The Sleepover, and Someone Great. She also co-wrote and produced the main title theme song for Nickelodeon's The Casagrande's and scored the movies Little, Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Tag, and Dope, among others.

Germaine Franco will appear before the screening of Encanto at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 30, in the Plaza Theatre. Tickets are $10

F. Murray Abraham

After years of attempts – the Plaza Classic Film Festival will finally feature El Paso High School 1958 graduate and Academy Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham in person.

Abraham has starred in some of Hollywood's biggest films, including Serpico, Scarface, and the critically acclaimed SHOWTIME Original Series Homeland. He will also star in the upcoming Disney+ series Moon Knight, voicing the evil Khonshu.

The award-winning actor also won the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance as composer Antonio Salieri in director Milos Forman's Amadeus.

F. Murray Abraham will appear in the Plaza Theatre for a pre-screening interview with the director's cut version of Amadeus at 7 p.m. Friday, August 5.

Enter to win a 4-pack of tickets to see the Amadeus showing at the Plaza Theatre. Contest ends on August 3rd at 12AM. Winner will be picked at random.

He will follow that with a pre-screening interview with director Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel at 4 p.m. Saturday, August 6, in the Plaza Theatre.

Rita Moreno

The EGOT winner returns to the Sun City for this year's Plaza Classic Film Festival screenings of Singin' In The Rain and West Side Story (2021).

Rita Moreno won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress portraying the fiery Anita in Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins's West Side Story (1961). In the new musical adaption of West Side Story, she stars and serves as an executive producer, directed by Steven Spielberg, and appears in the recent Latinx reboot of Norman Lear's One Day At a Time.

The iconic singer, dancer, actor, and honorary El Pasoan was also one of the key players that helped restore El Paso's historic Plaza Theatre.

Moreno will appear before the screening of Singin' in the Rain (1952) at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 28, and Steven Spielberg's 2021 version of West Side Story at 7 p.m. Friday, July 29, both in the Plaza Theatre.

This year's 15^th annual Plaza Classic Film Festival will take place July 28-August 7 in and around the Plaza Theatre featuring tons of classic films, free movies, concerts, and events, throughout its 2-week run in downtown El Paso.

For more information, passes, or individual tickets, visit plazaclassic.com.