An exciting week for Cinema on both sides of the border that attracted around 3,500 people (our biggest turn out yet!). This year we screened a very eclectic selection of films, our eight for-competition films were two from the United States, five from México, and one from Spain.

The two films from the United States were: the teen drama starring "Traffic’s" Erika Christensen, "Home Room" and the Hindu-American culture clash comedy "Where’s the Party, Yaar?" Additionally, we had the out-of-competition film "Klepto". From México: the family film "Zurdo", the dark drama "Ciudades Oscuras", the late Katy Jurado’s final film "Un Secreto de Esperanza’’, the suspense film "El Gavilán de la Sierra", and the comedy/adventure film "El Tigre de Santa Julia". And from Spain, competing as a European entry within the same category as the United States was the psychological drama "Aro Tolbukhin". Our panel of judges was made up of two actors: Rodrigo Vidal from México and Taylor Negron from the U.S. Together they chose as their winners "Home Room" from the U.S., and the winner for México was the film "Un Secreto de Esperanza". This year the festival held, as always, free seminars on both sides of the border, at the Chamizal Memorial in El Paso, and at the INBA Museum in Juárez. The seminars featured actors: James Russo, Rodrigo Vidal, Jsu Garcia, Demian Bichir, Jaime Aymerich, and Taylor Negron. The seminars also included artists who work behind the camera: Ben Ormand(Producer), Paul F. Ryan(Director), Benny Mathews(Director), and Rafael Montero(Writer/Director).

The festival started smoothly with the opening gala, which was held stateside this year, where we gave a posthumous award to actor Anthony Quinn and screened the film "Viva Zapata!" for which the late Mr. Quinn won an Academy Award for his performance in a supporting role. The award was presented to his son, acclaimed-actor, Francesco Quinn, from the hands of actor James Russo. Also in attendance were Rodrigo Vidal and Jsu Garcia, along with many proud supporters of our festival.

This year the festival continued its short-screenplay competition, with two judges: for the English submissions James Russo and for the Spanish submissions Rafael Montero. This year’s winners were Alejandro M. Dardick (all the way from Argentina); for the Spanish submission, and David I. Huante (from El Paso); for the English submission. The prizes were 5,000 pesos and a Final Draft software, and 500 dollars and a Final Draft software, respectively. This year the festival honored other types of film directors with its new Documentary Competition. The films for the Documentary Competition were from both the U.S. and Mexico, and awards were given to both countries. This year’s winners were "Los Zapatos de Zapata" for Mexico and "And the Wheels Turned…" for the U.S., the judge for this year’s competition was Emmy-winning documentarian Paul Espinosa.

And finally on August 9, 2003 the festival ended with its Closing Gala. The night started with the presentation of the film "Corazones Rotos", starring this year’s life-time-achievement honoree famed Mexican actress Carmen Montejo. Her award was presented to her at the dinner held after the film in Juarez’s Parque Central. The award was presented to her by the late Eduardo Palomo(the famed Mexican actor who sadly passed away two months after our festival). Also on hand to receive their awards were director Paul F. Ryan and producer Ben Ormand for their film "Home Room" and actor Jaime Aymerich accepted the award for his film "Un Secreto de Esperanza". The night was a success with awards, celebrities, and a first rate dinner. And once again the festival has had another magnificent run, and our best yet, here’s to the next one!