Plaza Classic Film Festival Adds Disney Magic

The offerings for this year’s Plaza Classic Film Festival have been called “epic.” They can now be called “magical.”

The 4th annual festival has added rare screenings of animated Disney classics Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941) and Beauty and the Beast (1991), and will feature the original Tron (1982) and The Parent Trap (1961) starring Hayley Mills.

“We’ve shown a lot of great films at the festival and celebrated the history of Hollywood ‘s biggest studios, but this year’s focus on Walt Disney and the Disney classics will certainly be something special,” said the festival’s artistic director, Charles Horak. “You just can’t talk about the history of the cinema without discussing the enormous contribution of Disney…and this year we’re doing that in a big way.”

The festival will also offer a $30 discount to members of the Disney fan club, D23.

Organizers are hoping to maintain the festival’s loyal followers, while attracting fresh audiences with innovative offerings like a drive-in experience.

This year’s 11-day festival lineup in August will feature a “quasi” movie drive-in nine stories up, on top of a parking garage Downtown, El Paso Community Foundation Executive Vice President Eric Pearson said. The foundation is responsible for putting on the festival each year.

“The lineup is still in flux,” Pearson said. “We’re excited about the titles and making a bigger footprint.”

Part of that footprint includes “The Ten Commandments: Treasures from the Production Archives” exhibit at the El Paso Museum of Art starting July 17. The exhibit will include gowns, jewelry, conceptual drawings and correspondence from the acclaimed biblical epic’s production.

“That Ten Commandments’ exhibit is just huge in my mind,” Pearson said. “It is enhancing what we have been striving to do. We pride ourselves on showing great films and having people come down and have the opportunity to remember films they had seen. But it is also about the cultural enhancement and important perspective into the art of film making. I think the exhibit is a wonderful opportunity for this.”

The festival will run Aug. 4-14 and will feature more than 80 film screenings, celebrity appearances, film talks, concerts and the chance to view costumes and memorabilia from one of the festival’s headlining films. Nick Clooney, father of actor George Clooney, will once again be a special guest.

More than 80 films will be screened during the festival, including “Taxi Driver” (1976), “Blade Runner” (1982), “The Godfather, Part II” (1974), “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1953), “Dracula” (1931), and “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (1958). The festival will also celebrate the recent restoration of Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” (1956), starring Charlton Heston.

Tickets Festival Passes are available now at the El Paso Community Foundation for $200, and offer pass holders a list of perks, including free parking, preferred entry through the Festival Pass Express Lane, invitation to a preview opening of “The Ten Commandments: Treasures from the Production Archives,” an invitation to the Opening Night screening and after-party, and any film scheduled during this year’s Plaza Classic 11-day schedule.

Link:Plaza Classic Film Festival.

Leonard Martinez contributed to this story.