Jessica Amaya 
EDINBURG- The city of Edinburg hosted the eighth annual South Texas International film festival this past weekend, featuring many filmmakers across the world.
The South Texas Film festival started off with the purpose of giving local artists a venue to connect with the community in the industry and provide a platform to showcase their work.
Chair of Public Relations Brenda Garza stated the Festival received over 175 submissions from more than 23 countries around the globe.
“What we really hope is that the people of the valley and those coming in from different parts of the country as well as different parts of the world, is from them to realize that the Rio Grande valley is a hidden gem,” said Garza. “That not only do we have beautiful locations through our Rio Grande valley, but the fact that we also have an immense pool of talent from actors, directors, producers, set designers, and so much more.”
The competitive film festival featured many special guests such as Valente Rodriguez from the show George Lopez, Joshua Mikel from The Walking Dead, and Jackie Cruz from Orange is the New Black. The event also included workshops for aspiring actors, filmmakers, and special effects makeup artists.
For more information about everything that occurred this past weekend, you can visit www.stxiff.com.
