Home City Beat Lights, Camera, Action El Paso

Lights, Camera, Action El Paso

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By Jelena Dosen

Native El Pasoans and transplants alike will agree that this city has a pull. It’s magnetic- generations of families are proud to call this border town home, and those who planned a temporary stay find themselves, inexplicably, unwilling to leave. As it has with its residents, the gravity of our southwest hidden gem has exerted its attractive force on creatives and filmmakers from all over the world. The rising production costs in the traditional hubs of Los Angeles and New York have driven filmmakers to seek artistic havens. El Paso, with its stunning geographic features, rich multicultural heritage, vibrant artistic community, and, perhaps most importantly, its welcoming and hard-working people, might just be the perfect refuge.

El Paso is a place of contrasts: old mingles with new, urban sprawl merges with natural beauty, and two cultures blend seamlessly to create what could be the perfect filming location. It is one of the most architecturally distinct cities in the southwest: traditional Spanish Revival, ornate Neo-Classical, and sleek Contemporary structures coexist and often overlap. Some of the city’s most iconic locations include the Pueblo Revival Art Deco of the Plaza Hotel, the Beaux-Arts style Hotel Paso del Norte, and the Bhutanese-inspired University of Texas El Paso campus. The UTEP campus was one of the filming locations for Glory Road, a drama about the school’s 1966 NCAA championship team. The region’s long military history is integral to its architectural and cultural identity. The utilitarian expanse of Fort Bliss and its surrounding neighborhoods commands the northeast portion of the city. The film Fort Bliss was filmed on location, and several other productions, most recently season two of Paramount’s Lioness, have been set at the military installation.

With over 300 sunny days per year, the Chihuahuan Desert is one of the most biologically diverse in the world. The city’s rugged surroundings, flanked by the Franklin Mountains, offer stunning backdrops that come alive during sunset. These unique desert vistas have been showcased in films like No Country for Old Men and the action blockbuster Transformers. Green spaces, farms, and orchards follow the banks of the Rio Grande, forming the natural boundary with Ciudad Juarez, allowing for storytelling that incorporates Mexican and American cultures. Separate only on a map, the rich heritage of El Paso and that of its southern neighbor flow freely, spawning a unique identity fueled by a vibrant, artistic heart.

Unsurprisingly, the city’s creative pulse has drawn artists, musicians, actors, photographers, and filmmakers. Victor Romero, a former chef, is a producer and videographer who has worked on several productions, including The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth, The Other Tom, and Aim for the Heart. He started his own company, Rosemary Films, as a hometown passion project and is planning a series of three horror films titled The Pale Baptist. Romero echoes the sentiment of El Paso’s film community, “We are growing as a city in the film industry. There are more and more production companies opening and larger productions happening here. The most recent being the film with Leonardo DiCaprio. The city is being noticed.” He refers to the $300 million “BC Project” directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, which was filmed in several locations in the city including La Paz Faith Center and Gorditas Lerdo restaurant. Tentatively titled The Battle of Baktan Cross, the film also stars Regina Hall, Sean Penn, and Benicio del Toro. Del Toro has filmed in El Paso before; portions of Denis Villeneuve’s 2015 movie Sicario, also starring Emily Blunt, were filmed along the El Paso-Juarez border.

El Paso is indeed being noticed, and the film industry is growing. Founded in 2018, the El Paso Film Festival features independent productions and was named one of the top 50 festivals worldwide by MovieMaker Magazine. The El Paso Film and Creative Industries Commission supports the film, music, design, and photography industries. CreativELPASO markets the city’s experienced crews, affordability, and unique filming locations to create a positive economic impact and compete with larger, more established filming hotspots like Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The Film Connection Film School is a local program that pairs aspiring film makers with experienced industry professionals. Film students have several options here in the city with digital media production, cinematic production, and radio and television broadcasting programs at UTEP and El Paso Community College.

Isabella Bilancieri is a third year at New Mexico State University in nearby Las Cruces majoring in 3D animation, visual design, and digital film. Currently she works as a graphic designer with Mesilla Valley Transportation’s marketing department in El Paso. Her goal is to work in film, specifically in animation. She often collaborates with her fellow students from NMSU, UTEP, EPCC. Her cohort has mixed feelings about the future of their career, “It’s a lot of fun and we all really enjoy our field. But we often have concerns, especially here in El Paso, about finding jobs after graduation. The competition is fierce,” said Isabella.

On screen, El Paso is sometimes depicted as an arid and dangerous place inhabited by wanton characters and the occasional tumbleweed. Our natural inclination might be maintaining this unwelcoming façade, keeping El Paso a hidden oasis and protecting the familiar, small-town atmosphere from commercial, big-city uniformity. But we have to give our city, bursting at the seams with artistic talent, energy, and creative potential, a chance. Perhaps it’s time to let filmmakers in on the secret and show the beauty of El Paso to the world, if only on screen.

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