by Elizabeth RuizActor Lou Diamond Phillips is coming to town this weekend.
The actor who got his big break playing singer Ritchie Valens in the movie "La Bamba" will be at the Guadalupe Theater Saturday for the closing night of CineFestival. Phillips also starred in "Courage Under Fire" and co-starred with Emilio Estevez and Kiefer Sutherland in the Western films "Young Guns" and "Guns II."
Phillips was born in the Philippines, but was raised in Corpus Christi where he graduated from Flour Bluff High School in 1980. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Belinda Menchaca with the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center says Phillips and actress Gina Rodriguez will be the special guests at a screening of their latest film "Filly Brown."
"They'll have a question-and-answer session after the screening," said Menchaca.
The film also stars Academy Award-winning actor Edward James Olmos and the late Jenni Rivera, a singer-songwriter and actress killed in a plane crash in Mexico in December.
"This is her final on-screen work, so Jenni Rivera fans will be fascinated with this film," Menchaca told 550 KTSA News.
"Filly Brown" is a story about a young artist striving to find her voice and her dreams without compromise. She's a young, raw hip-hop artist from Los Angeles whose mother, played by Rivera, is in prison.
Director Michael Olmos also will be at the presentation of "Filly Brown." (Yes, he's the son of Edward James Olmos).
The closing night festivities begin at 6 pm Saturday at the Guadalupe Theater with award presentations and a 6-minute documentary about author Sandra Cisneros.
A screening of "Filly Brown" is scheduled at 7:30. Tickets are $12.
