With its stark lighting, brooding characters, and dark themes, the film noir style dominated Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s and inspired generations of filmmakers, from David Lynch to Quentin Tarantino.

If you ask Alan Rode to define film noir, he'll say, "you know it when you see it." Rode -- an expert of the style, Charter Director of the Film Noir Foundation, plus documentarian, producer, and author -- joined Lisa Elliott and Stephanie Valle for a conversation about Film Noir virtually from his home in Los Angeles.

The Plaza Classic Podcast is a production of the El Paso Community Foundation and is recorded on the El Paso Community College campus.

Check out this week's show notes here.

The Plaza Classic Film Festival takes place from July 16-26, 2026 in Downtown El Paso. Learn more about the festival here.