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Political Activism Gets Popular - TV, Sports and Elite Controllers Lose Ground as Citizenry Awakens - Leland Lehrman

Check It Out: Filmmaking in New Mexico Update - Priscilla Vanik

Congressman Udall Rallies Santa Fe Farmer’s Market Film and Fundraiser - Leland Lehrman

Google Goes Solar, National Energy Policymakers Take Note - Leland Lehrman

Top 14 Reasons to Buy Local

Letter to President Bush from NM State Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino - Reporting by Stephen Fox

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Check It Out: Filmmaking in New Mexico Update
by Priscilla Vanik

If one picture can tell a thousand words, then imagine what a series of moving pictures can do. This is what Edison knew when he built one of the first motion picture studios called The Black Maria from which one of the earliest copyrighted films was produced called “Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze”, January 7, 1894; and the power of images was clearly the vision of William Lincoln when he developed the first machine patented in the United States that showed animated pictures called the “wheel of life” or “zoopraxiscope.” Certainly, the Warner Brothers knew the power of film when they made motion picture history by releasing the first all-talking movie in Burbank, CA called “The Jazz Singer.”

Films truly can change the world and provide a medium that is unlike no other. When political movements, revolutions, violent protests, and letter writings have not done the trick, films have kicked in to prove that oftentimes images are one of the strongest forms of igniting emotion & awareness, and invoking the conscience.

I recently viewed “The End Of Suburbia” (a film about the oil peak, oil depletion, and the future) at the Cinema Café in Santa Fe, and quite honestly it had the power to sway my meditating on these matters like no conversation or lecture has been able to for many years. Additionally, “Who Killed The Electric Car?” is a great unofficial companion to this film. I caught up with that movie at the “Taos Center for the Arts” in Taos, New Mexico. Now I am truly ready for my shift in automobiles. I am looking into Hybrids, Biodiesel, Ethanol, The Baca Street Biofuels Station, and whatever else can thrust me into the alternative energy wave that should be a good ride if we can find the balance.
December will be a powerful film-related month for New Mexico. The New Mexico State Film Office is hosting the first annual New Mexico Filmmakers Conference on December 1st & 2nd at The Hotel Santa Fe, 1501 Paseo de Peralta. This two-day event will feature networking opportunities plus practical seminars and workshops designed to help NM filmmakers sharpen their craft. Seminars and workshops will be free, but space is limited, so pre-registration will be required. A full schedule will be posted by October 25th & registration will be available online at www.nmfilm.com on November 1, 2006.

Additionally, there is a call for music composers to participate in this conference. New Mexico composers interested in working with local filmmakers can get involved by mailing a resume, media package, contact information, CD or DVD, or portfolio to: New Mexico Music Commission, P.O. Box 1450 Santa Fe, NM 87504. The space is limited. You must be a resident of NM to apply, priority will be given to experienced film composers, and the deadline to apply is November 3, 2006 (there is an application fee of $25.00).

Filmmaking resource powers converge as the New Mexico State Film Office collaborates with The Santa Fe Film Festival December 6-10, 2006. The Santa Fe Film Festival (www.santafefilmfestival.com) will be presenting a dynamic selection of films this year and will be kicking it off with “Cinderellas of Santa Fe” directed by Vanessa Vassar, and produced by the creators of “American Waitress.” For info. on this film visit: www. cinderellasofsantafe.com.

The Santa Fe Film Festival will be located at the Film Center at Cinemacafe 1616 St. Michaels Drive Santa Fe, NM 87504. The Santa Fe Film Festival office phone number is (505) 988-5225 and email is: info@santafefilmfestival.com.
The New Mexico State Film Office will present films during this week in collaboration with the festival and the conference. These films will be screened either at The Cinemacafe or Jean Cocteau Theater (this is TBD).

I would like to spotlight Camille Adair-Norwick the founder of Point of Light Productions who is completing a documentary film entitled “SOLACE: The Soul of Living & Dying” which will screen in February 2008 at The Hotel Santa Fe. For more info visit: www.Camille-Adair.com.

If you want to get involved with film production in New Mexico the main clearinghouses for information are www.nmfilm.com and The New Mexico Film Directory which can be picked up for free at the film office (published by New Mexico Magazine).
On the website you can find a list of current productions and contact information, as well as a bulletin board of production needs and casting calls. The directory and the website are the official resource guides for all of your production needs in New Mexico.
By the time this prints the event has already passed, but I want to mention that Santa Fe Design week also had a film festival. If you missed it and were interested in those films or what that was all about the following is what was screened. Narrative films included: Playtime (1967), Jaques Tati’s brilliant futuristic, comedic fantasy set against an architectural landscape; La Strada, (1954), Frederico Fellini’s Oscar winning film; and Pygmalion, (1938), Can you design a woman? The films of Jay Rosenblatt, the San Francisco film maker whose visual design and content cross the line between narrative and documentary will also be presented. The documentary films shown at The Film Center, (formerly Cinema Café) St. Michaels Drive and Llano Street, include: The Next Industrial Revolution: William McDonough, Michael Braungart and the Birth of the Sustainable Economy (2001); Homeland: Four Portraits of Native American Action (2005), which tells the inspiring story of four battles Native American activists are fighting to preserve their land, sovereignty, and culture; Lebanon: Bits and Pieces (1994, Olga Nakkas), an exquisitely beautiful and profoundly moving exploration of the myths and realities of present-day Lebanon, as reflected through the voices of women; and Your Name in Cellulite (1995, Gail Noonan), a wickedly funny satire about the disparity between a woman’s natural beauty and the ideal promoted by the mega-billion dollar advertising industry. Naomi Woodspring, Film Festival organizer states: “Choosing the films for the Festival was an exciting process. It gave me an opportunity to think about film in an entirely different way, from the perspective of design”. For more info, go to: www.santafedesignweek.com .

Well, that’s my New Mexico filmmaking update. Until next time some famous words to leave you with by Thomas Edison “Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. Accordingly, a ‘genius’ is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.”

For questions or comments please contact Priscilla at:

strategiccreativealliances@hotmail.com