ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL

Screening the Best

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Imagine poring through thousands of film submissions and then having to pick out the gems.

Sounds stressful, even for a cinephile.

This is a familiar routine for Liesette Paisner Bailey.

As the executive director of the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, Paisner Bailey knows the stresses that come with planning the festival.

She’s had more than a dozen years to practice.

Of course, this year has a twist.

“It’s been very different with a baby and reimagining the festival as a virtual event,” she says. “But we’re getting the best-quality films ready for audiences.”

Paisner Bailey says the festival also branched out this year and teamed up with Motorama – a drive-in theater in Santa Fe.

She says the theater will screen films in the weeks leading up to the festival, which will take place Oct. 14-18.

“In a time when most drive-in theaters are screening classic films, we are looking for new releases that will play in a drive-in theater setting,” she says.

On Friday, Sept. 25, the festival is screening “Ava.” The new release stars Jessica Chastain, an assassin who works for a black ops organization, traveling the globe specializing in high-profile hits. When a job goes dangerously wrong, she is forced to fight for survival.

As the festival approaches, Paisner Bailey will be finishing preparations.

Here are five things you probably didn’t know about her.

1) My absolute favorite movie is “The Apartment.” “Every time I watch it, I love it a little more.”

2) One movie Paisner Bailey wishes would have screened at the SFIFF is “Boyhood.” “It played before the festival, so we weren’t able to include it in our lineup, but luckily we were able to do a special screening (that) August with CCA with cinematographer and good friend of the fest Lee Daniel.”

3) Paisner Bailey sorts through many films. One that surprised her was “Shoplifters.” “(It) was our 2018 closing night film and went on to be nominated for best foreign language film at the Academy Awards.”

4) Watching so many films, one can get tired. Paisner Bailey recalls falling asleep during “Good Will Hunting.” “But I was 7 at the time. I think we saw it at the old DeVargas theater in Santa Fe.”

5) If she were a filmmaker, she’d look for films that have a “strong story that invite the viewer into a unique world.”

By Adrian Gomez