A dramatic decade

The Las Cruces International Film Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2025. The event brings world-class independent films, filmmakers, training panels, workshops and celebrity guests to Las Cruces and the NMSU campus. The 2026 festival is slated for April 8-12. To learn more, visit lascrucesfilmfest.com.

• LCIFF is the largest student-run film festival in the country. 

• The festival has brought in more than 80,000 people from all over the world.

• The 2025 LCIFF shattered attendance records with nearly 12,000 attendees, including 3,000 from out
of state.

• LCIFF has honored five Academy Award winners, six Academy Award nominees and 10 Emmy winners. Among them are Helen Hunt, Edward James Olmos, Richard Dreyfus, Peter Bogdanovich and Brendan Fraser.

• Ross Marks, executive director and LCIFF founder and NMSU Creative Media Institute associate professor, has attended more than 60 film festivals in his 30-year career as a filmmaker.

• Actor Johnny Galecki wore an NMSU pin on an episode of the “The Big Bang Theory” after being honored by LCIFF in 2017.

• Academy Award-winning actor Brendan Fraser called the festival “the Sundance of the Southwest,” giving LCIFF its celebrated nickname.

• LCIFF has screened more than 1,500 films from over 40 countries. More than 1,000 filmmakers have attended in person, and more than 150 awards have been given. The festival has had more than 9,000 film submissions.

• New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham received the Hometown Hero Award at the LCIFF in 2022. Actor William H. Macy also was recognized at the festival that year.

• 700-plus NMSU students have worked on the festival.