El Pavo Bravo is an award winning, bilingual, dramatic comedy feature film script co-written by Border Theatre ensemble members Austin Savage and Roland Esparza. Written in the fall of 2020 during the COVID-19 Pandemic, the film is an exploration of self-improvement and the courage it takes to become vulnerable as a member of a community.

Community is central to the El Pavo Bravo project. It is a film written by native El Pasoans that features aspects of our beautiful border community that narrative cinema never presents. It is not about border violence, or cartels, or the political corruption that creates immigration crises, but rather a simple tale featuring the characters, culture, and courage that define El Paso and Juarez.

The plot centers around a legendary luchador named El Pavo Bravo who inadvertently causes the death of his best friend. As a result of his grief Pavo takes stock of his life and decides to pursue his long dormant passion for music and the love of his life that "got away."

The script takes place in El Paso, Juarez, and West Texas, and features original music from local artists such as Jim Ward, Emily Davis, The Hot Bachs, Our Friend the Mountain and more. Original music has been composed specifically for the film by Omar Cuellar and Ross Fleming. 

The feature script was named a Quarter-Finalist for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Nicholls Fellowship, and is currently in the Second Round of The Sundance Institute Development Lab.

But perhaps the most exciting news regarding the project to this point is that El Pavo Bravo won The Black List x Hornitos "Shoot Your Shot" Competition. As a result of this win Hornitos is funding us $15,000 to shoot a "Proof of Concept" Short Film.

We are currently in pre-production for our short film which will be shooting in late January of 2020. As a result of this tremendous opportunity and the prestige that the script has already gained we have received incredible interest from performers extremely excited to act in the short film. We believe that these 

The cost of quality Screen Actor Guild performers does, however, take a large portion of our $15,000 present budget and that is why we are seeking extra funds to help cover the cost of the performers, crew, equipment, and even our post-production which will be done here in El Paso at Rio Bravo Outpost.

We are hoping that our tiny little idea birthed during the pandemic will continue to gather steam with the help of contributors like you. The short film will be crewed and created by members of our border community. A community that for far too long has been misrepresented in front of the camera and under represented behind it.

Thank you so much for your time and contribution and we can't wait to shre this exciting work with you.