More than 80 new films are heading to downtown El Paso this week as the El Paso Film Festival returns Thursday through Saturday, Sept. 24-26, with confirmed screenings at the Plaza Theatre and Philanthropy Theatre. Among the special guests this year is Academy Award-nominated film editor Sandra Adair, whose credits include School of Rock and a decades-long collaboration with director Richard Linklater.
The festival's 2026 lineup was confirmed by the El Paso Film Festival itself, which described the event as returning with over 80 new films and amazing special guests. According to KTSM, the festival was founded in 2018 by El Paso filmmaker Carlos F. Corral and typically presents more than 40 feature-length and short films each year, spanning both narrative and documentary work. The station also reports the festival has now been named to MovieMaker Magazine's annual list of “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” for the third year in a row.
An Oscar Nominee Joins the Borderland Lineup
Sandra Adair's connection to Richard Linklater runs deep. The festival's own guest page credits her with cutting Dazed and Confused, School of Rock, the 2012 comedy Bernie, the Before trilogy of Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight, and the 2023 release Hit Man, with their latest joint project, Blue Moon, arriving in 2025.
Adair told KTEP she is looking ahead to her El Paso visit, where she will take part in a 12th-anniversary screening of Boyhood and share her experience with Borderland filmmakers during the Creating Ways Conference. Her festival biography also notes she won the American Cinema Editors' Eddie Award for Best Editing, Drama, for Boyhood and had earlier been nominated for an Eddie for School of Rock in 2004. Adair made her directorial debut with the documentary The Secret Life of Lance Letscher, which premiered at SXSW in 2017.
Free Screenings and a Binational Ambition
The festival's community-facing programming extends beyond ticketed premieres. Per 93.1 KISS FM, through a partnership with Creative El Paso, the festival offers free screenings and educational industry panels alongside its main slate of films. The station has also highlighted the festival's location in El Paso.
The festival has also received recognition for its dedication to showcasing independent cinema and supporting creative storytelling by filmmakers worldwide, according to KTSM.
The festival's footprint on the indie circuit has shown up in other coverage too. The Houston Chronicle has reported that the film Due West picked up an award at the El Paso Film Festival. With downtown venues locked in and Adair's Boyhood anniversary screening on the schedule, this week's festival adds another chapter to the festival's history.
