In the middle of the California desert, a small town has managed to build a film festival that surprises everyone. If you’ve ever driven to Joshua Tree National Park, chances are you passed through 92284, Yucca Valley. For most, it’s just another desert stop. But for filmmakers, it has become a destination. In the festival circuit, the Yucca Valley Film Festival is now a go-to event, and for many film lovers, a perfect weekend getaway.
The festival has already welcomed major names. Rosanna Arquette took the stage in 2023, and William Baldwin did the same in 2020. Not bad for a rural town of 20,000 residents. Behind it all are two French expatriates (a director and a producer) who settled in Yucca Valley while working on projects in Los Angeles. Before that, they launched the Paris Art and Movie Awards in 2011, which drew stars like Sharon Stone, Mark Dacascos, Alex Proyas, and Gérard Depardieu, and later expanded with a Hollywood edition in 2018: the Hollywood Movie Awards, another annual event.
So what makes Yucca Valley’s festival stand out? Ask past attendees and scroll through the thousands of photos online, and one answer keeps coming up: it feels real. The event is built around filmmakers and their experience. The fifth-anniversary podcast went live and unedited, screenings end with autograph signings, and every guest (whether an emerging director or Rosanna Arquette) sits down at the same tables to meet the audience. Community members chat, take selfies, and share the moment. The stars get the same treatment as the newcomers, and that balance has become part of the festival’s DNA.
Each year the program blends star-driven features with shorts, documentaries, and music videos from up-and-coming artists. Names like Eric Roberts, Alex Pettyfer, Michael Bublé, Danny Trejo or The Smurfs have appeared on screen, while hundreds of new filmmakers have used the festival as a platform for their work. The mix is carefully curated to combine opportunities for talent with moments that please the crowd.
In short, the Yucca Valley Film Festival is not trying to imitate big-city glamour. It’s creating its own identity: intimate, welcoming, and built on a genuine love of cinema. And that’s exactly why it works.
The event is sponsored by the Town of Yucca Valley, and the admission is free. The popcorn, too!
When: Nov 7-9, 2025
Where: Yucca Valley Community Center, 57090 29 Palms Hwy, Yucca Valley, CA 92284
Program and details: https://yuccavalleyfilmfestival.com
