The Plaza Classic Podcast

A Dinner To Love

"A Dinner To Love" is the theme of this year's Dinner and a Movie, a special event during the Plaza Classic Film Festival.
The theme is loosely based on a quote from the 2003 romantic comedy "Something's Gotta Give." It stars Diane Keaton as divorced playwright Erica Barry and Jack Nicholson as eternally single businessman Harry Sanborn. (Here's that quote, courtesy of a romance-avoidant Harry to Erica: "You are a woman to love.")
Plaza Classic Film Festival Advisory Committee member Rebecca Mendez joins hosts Stephanie Valle and Lisa Elliott to talk about this movie that Keaton called one of her favorites, and the late actress herself, who really was a woman to love both on-screen and off.
The Plaza Classic Podcast is a production of the El Paso Community Foundation and is recorded on the El Paso Community College campus.
Check out this week's show notes here.
The film festival takes place from July 16-26, 2026. Festival passes are available to purchase now at this link.

The Girls Can't Help It

Podcast hosts Lisa Elliott and Stephanie Valle really can't help it when it comes to puns and wordplay!
The title of this episode of the Plaza Classic Podcast refers to the title of a music documentary starring Jayne Mansfield. The 1956 comedy "The Girl Can't Help It" is one of several "rock docs" on the schedule of the 19th Annual Plaza Classic Film Festival, which will take place from July 16-26, 2026.
Film Festival Artistic Director Doug Pullen reviewed this melodic merging of music and movies in this first episode of season 7 of the podcast.
The Plaza Classic Podcast is a production of the El Paso Community Foundation and is recorded on the El Paso Community College campus.
Check out this week's show notes here.
Festival passes are available to purchase now at this link.

Behind the Curtain with Bart Weiss

The Plaza Classic Film Festival is celebrating its 19th year of wowing audiences in downtown El Paso. Someone who has been a part of the festival shortly after its inception is Bart Weiss, an award-winning independent film and video producer, director, editor, and educator.
Bart joined Lisa Elliiott and Stephanie Valle from his home in Dallas to talk about his favorite moments as a PCFF contributor, plus his own experience starting up a film festival in The Big D!
The Plaza Classic Podcast is a production of the El Paso Community Foundation and is recorded on the El Paso Community College campus.
Check out this week's show notes here.
The Plaza Classic Film Festival takes place from July 16-26, 2026 in Downtown El Paso. Learn more about the festival here.

April Fool's Day! with Eric Pearson

If you know Eric Pearson, you are all too familiar with his penchant for jokes of all kinds. The passage of April Fool's Day has done little to quench his desire to share his favorite jokes and pranks. 
The President and CEO of the El Paso Community Foundation was the perfect choice to talk about funny movies he likes and would like to be screened during the Plaza Classic Festival. Pearson joined Lisa Elliott and Stephanie Valle in the podcast studio for this side-splitting episode.
The Plaza Classic Podcast is a production of the El Paso Community Foundation and is recorded on the El Paso Community College campus.
Check out this week's show notes here.
The Plaza Classic Film Festival takes place from July 16-26, 2026 in Downtown El Paso. Learn more about the festival here.

The Big Oscar (Contest) Winner(s)!

Each awards season, the festival's advisory committee members camp out in theaters and plow through the Academy Award nominees in order to thoughtfully craft the perfect ballot for the committee's Oscar ballot contest.
And this year, just like in the Academy Awards itself, there was a tie!
Stephanie Valle and Lisa Elliott (who have each never won the contest) once again try to find the best strategy for picking winners, straight from the contest's THREE winners themselves.
The Plaza Classic Podcast is a production of the El Paso Community Foundation and is recorded on the El Paso Community College campus.
Check out this week's show notes here.
The Plaza Classic Film Festival takes place from July 16-26, 2026 in Downtown El Paso. Learn more about the festival here.

U.S.A.'s Semiquincentennial Celebration

The United States of America is marking a special milestone: the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, also known as the semiquincentennial.
The Plaza Classic Film Festival's Program Director Doug Pullen has been teaching Lisa Elliott and Stephanie Valle -- plus the rest of the festival's advisory committee -- how to pronounce "semiquincentennial," as he builds a film thread centered around the American Experience.
The Plaza Classic Podcast is a production of the El Paso Community Foundation and is recorded on the El Paso Community College campus.
Check out this week's show notes here.
The Plaza Classic Film Festival takes place from July 16-26, 2026 in Downtown El Paso. Learn more about the festival here.

Felipa's Oscar Predictions

The Academy Awards will take place on March 15, and we will all finally know which movies and performances Hollywood favored in 2025.
Will One Battle After Another win the battle for Best Picture, or will Sinners transform audiences much like the vampires did at the juke joint? Can Jessie Buckley maintain her Best Actress winning streak? Will Timothee Chamalet take home the Oscar, or will Michael B. Jordan be recognized for his "twinning" performance?
Film critic and Critics Choice Association member Felipa Solis runs down her list of picks with Lisa Elliott and Stephanie Valle. Get your ballots ready!
The Plaza Classic Podcast is a production of the El Paso Community Foundation and is recorded on the El Paso Community College campus.
Check out this week's show notes here.
The Plaza Classic Film Festival takes place from July 16-26, 2026 in Downtown El Paso. Learn more about the festival here.

Hollywood and the Sun City Collide! with Robert Holguin

Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another" may be the most celebrated film to be set in El Paso, but it certainly isn't the only Hollywood production to take over and showcase the Sun City on-screen.
Robert Holguin, filmmaker and primetime anchor on KFOX News at 5 and 9pm, joins Stephanie Valle and Lisa Elliott in studio to talk about the three Hollywood movie sets he's been a part of here in El Paso, including "The Day After Tomorrow," which is a part of the Disaster Movie-themed thread set to be weaved into the Plaza Classic Film Festival schedule.
The Plaza Classic Podcast is a production of the El Paso Community Foundation and is recorded on the El Paso Community College campus.
Check out this week's show notes here.
The Plaza Classic Film Festival takes place from July 16-26, 2026 in Downtown El Paso. Learn more about the festival here.

Working Women in Films

March is Women's History Month. What better time to recognize and discuss the depiction of women in the workplace than now?
Naturally, Leila Melendez, the CEO of Workforce Solutions Borderplex, is focused on screening women in the workplace during the Plaza Classic Film Festival this summer. Leila - the newest member of the festival's Advisory Committee - joins Stephanie Valle and Lisa Elliott in the podcast studio to discuss which movies she'd like shown.
The Plaza Classic Podcast is a production of the El Paso Community Foundation and is recorded on the El Paso Community College campus.
Check out this week's show notes here.
The Plaza Classic Film Festival takes place from July 16-26, 2026 in Downtown El Paso. Learn more about the festival here.

You Don't Know Jack Fields

Maybe you do know Jack Fields. The El Paso native is a graduate from New Mexico State University and now works at Warner Bros. as a studio facilities staff member. Fields is also a TCM contributor and classic movie buff.
Fields, also a member of the Plaza Classic Film Festival Advisory Committee, joined Lisa Elliott and Stephanie Valle from the festival's "field office" in Los Angeles to talk about his favorite aspects of working on so many projects that feature classic films.
The Plaza Classic Podcast is a production of the El Paso Community Foundation and is recorded on the El Paso Community College campus.
Check out this week's show notes here.
The Plaza Classic Film Festival takes place from July 16-26, 2026 in Downtown El Paso. Learn more about the festival here.