Selena Director Gregory Nava Is Coming to the 2026 Plaza Classic Film Festival

Anything for Salinas!!

The Plaza Classic Film Festival just dropped a big guest announcement for this year: Gregory Nava, the trailblazing Latino filmmaker behind Selena and El Norte, is coming to El Paso for this year's festival. The world's largest classic film festival returns to Downtown for its 19th year July 16th through the 26th, and Nava's appearance puts two of the most important films in Chicano cinema history on the big screen of the Plaza Theatre with the man who made them sitting right there.

Getty Images

When to See Gregory Nava at the Plaza Theatre

Nava will sit down for Q&As before two of his landmark films:

Selena, his 1997 biopic about the Queen of Tejano Music, at 7 pm Friday, July 24th

El Norte, his Oscar-nominated drama about the perilous immigration journey of two Guatemalan siblings, at 3 pm Saturday, July 25th

Tickets go on sale June 22nd, and if history is any indicator, you do not want to sleep on these. Keep an eye on the Plaza Classic schedule for the full lineup.

Why Gregory Nava Matters to Latino Cinema

Before Selena made Jennifer Lopez a household name, Nava had already changed American film history. El Norte (1983) became the first American independent film to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. More than 40 years later, it still hits as hard as the day it premiered, which is exactly why institutions like Sundance brought El Norte back for a restored screening.

Getty Images

Then came Mi Familia in 1995, and in 1997, Selena, the film that immortalized Selena Quintanilla for generations of fans who never got the chance to see her live. Edward James Olmos and El Pasoan Lupe Ontiveros, that Astrodome purple jumpsuit and the bidi bidi bom bom of it all. Nava made a love letter to Tejano culture that the borderland has claimed as its own.

Selena's Real El Paso History

Selena was not just a movie character to this city, you can see this in the many art galleries and museum exhibits, in the amount of Selena tributes this city puts on. The Queen of Tejano performed at Fiesta de las Flores in 1989 and played the El Paso County Coliseum multiple times, including her final El Paso concert on August 6th, 1994, less than a year before her death. There are people in this city who will be sitting in the Plaza Theatre on July 24th who saw her on that Coliseum stage with their own eyes.

Getty Images

Watching Selena in a 1930s atmospheric movie palace, in a border city that loved her, is going to feel as magical as last years screening of La Bamba when legendary Chicano Director Luis Valdez spoke before the film.

El Norte Means More In The Borderland

And do not skip Saturday. El Norte is a film about crossing into the United States in search of a better life, screened in a city where that story is not a metaphor. It is the view from Scenic, most of us have relatives who have lived it, who may be living it now. Seeing it here, with Nava taking questions from a borderland audience, might be the most powerful festival moment of the summer.

The Plaza Classic Film Festival runs July 16th through the 26th at the Plaza Theatre and surrounding Downtown venues. Mark your calendar for June 22nd when tickets drop, and we will see you in line.