Singer-songwriter Don McLean will provide a special introduction for a screening of the award-winning documentary about his own signature song, when the Las Cruces International Film Festival brings “The Day The Music Died: The Story of Don McLean's 'American Pie'” to the Rio Grande Theatre on October 17 at 7 p.m. The program doesn't stop at a simple film screening — it pairs the documentary narrative with onstage live performances, then transitions into a guided discussion about the film's creation and the song's cultural impact.
According to KTSM 9 News, LCIFF is presenting the program as an immersive experience, and the screening includes a question-and-answer session with the filmmakers that follows the film. General admission runs $30, while VIP admission costs $60 and includes reserved seats plus a special reception with the filmmakers after the event. Ticket information is available at lascrucesfilmfest.com, the outlet reports.
A Documentary Built Around a 50-Year Chart Record
The film being screened, directed by Mark Moormann, originally premiered on Paramount+ in July 2022 to examine the 50-year history and cultural impact of the classic 1971 track, according to Rotten Tomatoes. The 94-minute documentary was produced by Meteor 17 and MTV Studios and features commentary from record producer Ed Freeman and country star Garth Brooks alongside McLean's own lyrical revelations, per the same source.
McLean's “American Pie” held the record for nearly 50 years as the longest song, at 8 minutes and 42 seconds, to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart until Taylor Swift's “All Too Well” broke it in 2021, according to a Substack analysis of the song's legacy. The 1971 single spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 in early 1972, the same account notes. In 2017, the Library of Congress selected McLean's original recording for preservation in the National Recording Registry, two years after his original handwritten lyrics sold at auction for over $1.2 million.
The Historical Tragedy Behind the Song's Title
The documentary's title borrows the phrase McLean himself coined — “the day the music died” — a reference to the February 3, 1959 plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, that killed rock-and-roll icons Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, according to Britannica. The three musicians perished alongside 21-year-old pilot Roger Peterson when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza crashed in severe weather, the encyclopedia notes.
Inside the Nation's Only Two-Story Adobe Theater
The screening's setting carries its own history. Built in 1926 as a silent movie house, the Rio Grande Theatre in downtown Las Cruces is the nation's only operating two-story adobe theater and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to the Rio Grande Theatre. The venue survived a fire and an earthquake in the 1930s before undergoing a $2.2 million restoration, per the theater's own account.
Owned by the City of Las Cruces and managed by Visit Las Cruces, the theater seats 422 guests, split between 318 lower-level seats and 104 balcony seats, according to Visit Las Cruces. The venue regularly hosts classic film screenings, live theater, and municipal events, the tourism agency notes.
A Festival Riding a Local Film Boom
The Las Cruces International Film Festival, which is hosting the documentary screening, was founded in 2016 by New Mexico State University professor Ross Kagan Marks and has grown into the largest student-run film festival in the country, attracting approximately 12,000 attendees each year, according to the Las Cruces International Film Festival. The festival is operated by students in NMSU's Creative Media Institute and has drawn more than 80,000 visitors and 1,500 filmmakers since its inception.
This October screening is a special off-season event, distinct from LCIFF's flagship spring gathering. Hoodline previously reported that organizers set 2027 festival dates for April 14 through 18 on the NMSU campus. The Rio Grande Theatre has also served as a hub for the city's broader film ambitions — Hoodline reported in August that Las Cruces launched a self-guided film tour at the venue, capitalizing on a $19.5 million local production boom in Doña Ana County that has featured Executive Director Ross Marks alongside city officials.
