Yes: Albuquerque is our top big city, and nearby Santa Fe leads our list of the top Smaller Cities and Towns. Santa Fe is a bit more expensive than Albuquerque — and the average U.S. city — but that’s pretty much its only drawback.

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Bryan Cranston will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Santa Fe International Film Festival.

The festival runs from Oct. 16-20 at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe, N.M.

“Bryan Cranston’s work has inspired generations of actors and captivated audiences worldwide, cementing his place as one of the most respected and accomplished figures in the industry,” said SFiFF executive director Liesette Bailey.

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AMC Networks is celebrating Native American Heritage Month with the launch of its Indigenous Stories collection and short films series.

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On Friday, Oct. 19, Variety partnered with the Santa Fe International Film festival to celebrate its 10 Screenwriters to Watch. All 10 recipients gathered at Santa Fe’s Lensic Performing Arts Center for a lively conversation about their path to screenwriting and the work that earned them their place on Variety’s annual list of the most promising up-and-coming scribes in the entertainment industry.

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The Santa Fe International Film Festival is marking its 16th year with one of the biggest achievements for any film festival: It is now recognized by the Academy of the Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences as Oscar- qualifying.

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Located in the No. 1 town on our list of the Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker, SFIFF has a best-of-both worlds appeal: It feels far from the pressure of the coasts, but New Mexico is fast becoming one of the world’s great film hubs.

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The Santa Fe International Film Festival has announced the winners of this year’s juried awards, including Petr Slavík’s Waltzing Matilda for best narrative feature and JoeBill Muñoz and Lucas Guilkey’s The Strike for best documentary feature.

This year marks the first time the winners of best animated short, best narrative short, and best documentary short categories are eligible for Oscar submission. The winners of those categories were LUKi and the Lights directed by Toby Cochran, Camping in Paradise directed by Eirik Tveiten, and The Quilters directed by Jenifer McShane respectively.

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Variety will publish its annual 10 Screenwriters to Watch list on Oct. 10 and recognize the honorees at this year’s Santa Fe International Film Festival. This year marks Variety’s inaugural partnership with SFIFF to present its annual Screenwriters to Watch list.

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Over the last decade, companies like Netflix, NBCUniversal and Cinelease have committed an enormous amount of capital to filming in New Mexico. That development, along with attractive tax rebates from the state, has enabled Santa Fe to blossom into an enviable production hub.

The combination of that growth and a forward-thinking creative community has also helped generate a unique, on-the-rise energy to the Santa Fe International Film Festival, which in 2024 earned a place on Moviemaker Magazine’s list of “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” for the second year in a row.

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Actor Bryan Cranston will be honored with the Santa Fe International Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Saturday, October 19, at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe.

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“All That Remains” — a stellar new short film about two siblings played by Cassidy Freeman and her real-life brother, Clark Freeman — ends with them making a stark discovery about their dad. And talking with Cassidy Freeman about the film yields another shock: The surprise ending is true.

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“Fire Fucking Fire,” a fast-burn comedy about a one-night stand that quickly blurs boundaries, has some of the strongest Santa Fe ties of any of the films playing the Santa Fe International Film Festival — co-writer/director Julia Eringer lives in the city, and debuted her first film at the festival in 2015.

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In the blisteringly funny Princeton’s in the Mix, playing this week at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, an entitled mom finds herself in a precarious situation. Her son, Teddy, is smart and talented, but not smart or talented enough to get into an elite school based on merits.

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The Lhaq’temish people of the Pacific Northwest, also known as the Lummi Nation, don’t think of orcas as animals. As we learn in Resident Orca, the hypnotic documentary now playing at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, they think of the whales as family, and call them Qwe ‘lhol mechen.

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For the men of The Quilters, the Oscar-contending short documentary directed by Jenifer McShane, there is no more rewarding place to be than the sewing room. From swatches of fabric and batches of batting, they stitch together birthday quilts that bring warmth to foster children who may not have felt a lot of comfort in their lives.

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Cartoon Brew is putting the spotlight on animated short films that have qualified for the 2025 Oscars.

In this installment, we’re looking at Luki & the Lights from American filmmaker Toby Cochran. The short earned its Oscars qualification by winning the best animated short award at the Santa Fe International Film Festival.

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It’s a repeat.

For the second year in a row, the Santa Fe International Film Festival has received accolades from MovieMaker Magazine.

On Tuesday, the trade publication named SFiFF as one of the “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.”

The festival has made the list nine times and will be marking its 16th festival in Oct. 16-20.

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MovieMaker Magazine today named the Santa Fe International Film Festival as one of its “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee in 2024.”

SFIFF is the only film festival in New Mexico to make the list, which will appear in the magazine's spring issue.

“As Santa Fe becomes a major hub for production, SFiFF remains consistent in its dedication to filmmakers and the art of making movies in this community," says Jacques Paisner, the festival's artistic director. "Coinciding with Santa Fe’s listing as MovieMaker’s number one small city, we feel it is apropos to be included again on this list of top regional festivals.”

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The Santa Fe International Film Festival features some of the best independent film from around the world.

The festival screens plenty of movies that come out in the months after the initial festival in October.

SFiFF officials wanted to keep giving film lovers opportunities to see the screened films as they get worldwide release.

The festival has teamed up with Violet Crown Cinema in the Santa Fe Railyards to host a monthly Art House Cinema Series.

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Movie lovers, it’s time to pop the corn and settle in. The 2024 Santa Fe International Film Festival presents 42 narrative feature films, 24 documentaries, and 118 short films, all presented across 98 screenings over five days.

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An absurdist romantic comedy co-staring a familiar face to New Mexico theater-goers and a woman in a monkey suit will premier Saturday as part of the Santa Fe International Film Festival.

Shenoah Allen, one half of the comedy duo “The Pajama Men” and award winning filmmaker and ventriloquist Nina Conte worked for five years writing “Sunlight” a film that was executive produced by Christopher Guest. The story follows a woman who refuses to come out of her life-sized monkey suit until she finds someone who can love her for who she truly is. The film is shot in New Mexico and as Allen says, it leaned on the absurdism of the script and the diversity of the backdrop. “New Mexico is a beautiful place and it’s also a complicated place, and it was great to rediscover it through Nina’s eyes,” Allen said.

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The Santa Fe International Film Festival is underway and among the films is one featuring Albuquerque native Shenoah Allen, formerly of the improv group The Pajama Men. He and comedian Nina Conti wrote and star in “Sunlight” which they describe as a nihilistic comedy love story between a man and a woman who doesn’t want to come out of a monkey suit until she is truly loved.

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This week heralds the 16th iteration of the Santa Fe International Film Festival (Various times and locations, Wednesday, Oct. 16-Sunday, Oct. 20, santafe.film), that sprawling week-long conglomeration of movies, talks, parties, panels, gatherings, awards and events that takes over Santa Fe’s theater spaces each October. Likely, you’ve heard it before—each year at the festival gets a little bigger and better; though something about 2024 feels new and urgent, like SFIFF has fully come into its own as a competitive festival alongside the likes of Tribeca and Sundance. And speaking of Sundance, news from earlier this year that the long-running event will not move to Santa Fe if and when it leaves its longtime Park City, Utah, home emphasizes the importance of our homegrown festival. New Mexico is, after all, a film-loving state—why shouldn’t we have a festival to match our fervor? Between the massive slate of movies dropping this week, plus the Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony for actor Bryan Cranston and all the usual goings-on, we checked in with SFIFF Executive Director Liesette Bailey. This interview has been edited for clarity and concision. (Alex De Vore)

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Winners of various short film categories can soon submit for the Academy Award.

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The renowned Santa Fe International Film Festival explores identity with global, independent, and Indigenous films. Photograph courtesy of the Santa Fe International Film Festival.

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What began as a relatively small event in its first few years, has blossomed into one of the biggest events of its kind in the Southwest region and draws thousands to Santa Fe for a celebration of film.

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With exhilarating hiking trails and a vibrant artistic community, Santa Fe is a beacon of creativity and adventure, promising memorable experiences and opportunities for enriching self-reflection. When exploring and learning more about living in Santa Fe, It’s hard not to be captivated by the rich culture of this town and start to explore renting an apartment in Santa Fe or even buying a home in the city.

From taking a stroll down Canyon Road to look at the art galleries to visiting one of Santa Fe’s famous festivals, here’s Redfin’s ultimate bucket list for uncovering all that this Southwestern city has to offer.

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Santa Fe is known as a place that celebrates Indigenous creativity — and for the next few days, filmmaking and filmmakers will be in the spotlight.

The 15th year of the Santa Fe International Film Festival features a record number of Native writers, directors and producers. The festival opened Wednesday and runs through Sunday, with an impressive lineup of movies and short films. It’s quite a way to mark 15 years of this exceptional festival, named once again to the MovieMaker’s coveted list, 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.

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The village of Antonio Carboni (population 296), named after a former landowner, sits on flatlands southwest of Buenos Aires, Argentina, a few hours by car from La Pampa province where bulls still graze on vast grasslands. This village of dirt roads flanked by foxtails comprises a few dozen flat brick buildings and casitas, coconut trees that stick out from behind weeping Tipuana tipu trees and jacarandas, a once elegant train station (no longer in use), and a church famous for the mechanism of its clock that came all the way from Paris after the Great War. In other words, it’s a perfect film set.

Writer-director Tomás Gómez Bustillo knew Antonio Carboni and its residents well, even before he began shooting there for his first feature film, Chronicles of a Wandering Saint (Crónicas de una santa errante) — a surrealistic comedy competing at the Santa Fe International Film Festival.

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Fifteen years.

This is the milestone the Santa Fe International Film Festival is marking this year.

The festival runs Wednesday, Oct. 18, through Sunday, Oct. 22, in Santa Fe.

Liesette Bailey, SFiFF executive director, is excited to mark the 15th anniversary of the festival.

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Roll out the red carpet: The 15th Santa Fe International Film Festival is finally here. The festival, starting Wednesday, October 18, and running through October 22, will showcase a panoply of short and long films and documentaries from here and all over the world. The SFiFF offers a rare occasion to see films you may not have access to otherwise and to attend world and national premieres — and possibly even see (and meet) famous and up-and-coming filmmakers whose work is already making waves.

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MovieMaker Magazine says welcome back.

The trade magazine named the Santa Fe International Film Festival to its annual “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” list.

The Santa Fe-based festival was on the list from 2014-2020 and returns to the coveted list. It is also the lone New Mexico festival on the list.

“A designation like this is really powerful,” said Jacques Paisner, SFiFF artistic director. “It helps us work to get tourists here for the festival. It also gets the word out to filmmakers about the festival being one of the best.”

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MovieMaker magazine’s love affair with Santa Fe continues.

The publication on Monday named the Santa Fe International Film Festival as one of “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee in 2023.”

MovieMaker in February named Santa Fe as the No. 1 small city for a moviemaker to live and work after editor-in-chief Tim Molloy made his first visit to the area last summer and evidently enjoyed the vibrant filmmaking scene in the City Different.

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EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has learned that IFC Films has snapped up the North American rights to Amy Redford’s What Comes Around, which made its world premiere at TIFF under the title Roost. The movie will hit select theatres and VOD in February and stream exclusively on AMC+ in May 2023.

The pic played to a packed house last week at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, where we caught the title.

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In addition to New Mexico being a serious place for filmmaking and TV series –the state reaping a record $855.4M from Hollywood’s motion picture & TV industry’s spending– Santa Fe itself counts a fervent moviegoing community, especially for arthouse and experimental product.

Audiences packed venues around town for the Santa Fe International Film Festival from Oct. 19-23 for films of all shapes and sizes at such venues as the George R.R. Martin owned Jean Cocteau Cinema; the Moorish, Spanish Renaissance 1931 built Lensic Theater; and the two-story, bistro cinema the Violet Crown in the swanky railroad district among others. In regards to the moviegoing spirit, think Toronto, but on a much smaller scale.

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The 14th Annual Santa Fe International Film Festival has announced its juried award winners for the event which has run from Oct. 19-23.

More than 100 filmmakers have traveled to the Land of Enchantment state to show off their cinematic wares.

Says SFiFF Artistic Director Jacques Paisner, “We play strange movies, small movies and foreign films, and the audience is keen on a chance to see something they wouldn’t otherwise experience.”

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Days before a Targaryen civil war erupts between Rhaenyra and Alicent on the Season 1 finale of HBO’s House of the Dragon, you’ll find series creator George R.R. Martin staying mum on fire-breathing animals and talking up his latest rotoscope animated short, Night of the Cooters, in his Santa Fe, NM stomping ground.

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Exclusivity is among the Santa Fe International Film Festival’s selling points, with attendees able to see films before wide releases. The following films won’t be viewable elsewhere until six months after Santa Fe’s event, says Jacques Paisner, the festival’s artistic director and the former director of programming at Jean Cocteau Cinema. Note that some are being screened at multiple times and locations.

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Catherine Hardwicke will receive the Santa Fe International Film Festival’s Visionary Award this October at Jean Cocteau Cinema.

The Twilight and Thirteen filmmaker also will be leading an acting workshop at the Santa Fe Playhouse.

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Documentary uses scholar and activists to narrate the fight against stereotypical sports mascots

A plethora of articulate Native scholars and activists deliver powerful narratives in Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting—their diversity of tribal affiliation and backgrounds as strong as their more homogeneous message about the damage of stereotypical images.
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Ruth Stone’s poems are accessible, emotional, and funny, and they often tell compelling narratives. But they are also personal.

In Ruth Stone’s Vast Library of the Female Mind, a film in the documentary category at this year’s Santa Fe International Film Festival (Wednesday, Oct. 19, through Oct. 23), director Nora Jacobson (The Hanji Box) peers with intimate access into the life of an iconic American poet. Stone (1915-2011) was known for infusing her poems with allusions to the natural sciences and associated imagery. After the death of her husband, she retreated to a home in rural Vermont, and it became an intellectual center for poets and students.

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Stealing for the love of it

On the day after Thanksgiving in 1985, a couple walked into the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson and absconded shortly thereafter with painter Willem de Kooning’s 1955 medium-busting work, “Woman-Ochre.”

The painting didn’t see the light of day for the next 32 years, flummoxing local law enforcement, university cops and the FBI alike. Cut to 2015, when employees of a small Silver City, New Mexico, antiques shop hired to handle the estate of Jerry and Rita Alter unearthed that de Kooning hidden in plain sight behind a bedroom door. What a wild turn of events.

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She rises from the Earth, radiant as the sun, her head a mass of roots, like the quintessential archetype of the Mother. Children haven’t forgotten her face, even if adults no longer remember.

“We come from hell. Not the Christian hell, or any other religion’s hell. We come from beneath the ground. She embraces that,” says filmmaker Godfrey Reggio, whose new film, Once Within a Time, recalls the long-ago myths, revealing them, and ultimately upending them to make way for something new. Not an easy task or a comfortable one, especially since this is a children’s film.

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The Santa Fe International Film Festival (SFiFF) has announced its first 15 feature titles. These films are part of the Special Presentation section and will be followed by a full schedule of competition films, short films, panels and events. SFiFF starts October 19 and will run through October 23.

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Award-Winning filmmaker Godfrey Reggio will receive the Santa Fe International Film Festival (SFiFF) Lifetime Achievement Award at the festival’s 14th edition, presented this upcoming October. The Lifetime Achievement Award Ceremony will be followed by the World Premiere of Reggio’s latest film, Once Within a Time.
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Referred to as “a young Sundance” by IndieWire, the 14th annual Santa Fe International Film Festival, presented by the Santa Fe Film Institute, hosts five days of independent and cutting-edge cinema, community events, filmmaker Q & As, select free screenings, educational workshops, a student day and much more.

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Filmmakers have the opportunity to blaze their own trail with each project. This is exactly what Godfrey Reggio has done his entire career.

The New Mexico resident will receive the Santa Fe International Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Oct. 22.

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The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival is now the Santa Fe International Film Festival.

Officials from Santa Fe’s most high-profile film festival announced Friday they will change the annual event’s name from the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival to the Santa Fe International Film Festival—and it’ll still hold onto the SFIFF initials, so you needn’t worry about updating your acronyms.

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The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival has changed its name to the Santa Fe International Film Festival.

The same SFiFF acronym stays in place.

The name change has been a long time coming for the festival launched in 2009.

“We started to have a lot of international films in 2012,” said Liesette Bailey, the festival’s executive director. “International films became a major focus of the festival in 2017.”

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After 13 years, the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival is making some changes.

With the 15th anniversary on the horizon in 2023, festival organizers are going international.

The annual film festival is being rebranded at the Santa Fe International Film Festival.

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The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival is getting some exciting collaboration for this year’s festival.

The festival announced that there will be over $100,000 in prize packages from Panavision and Light Iron to two juried award winners at the 2022 festival in October.

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Did you know that there are at least ten thousand film festivals in the world?

But with so many film festivals out there, how do you choose the best film festivals to submit your film?

We’ve put together a list of the best and most interesting film festivals in the world.

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The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival is honoring one of film’s biggest names in October.

Oscar winner Oliver Stone will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award on Oct. 16, at the Lensic Performing Arts Center.

After the ceremony, a film by Stone will be screened.

“Mr. Oliver Stone is one of the very greatest American movie makers of our time,” said Jacquez Paisner, SFiFF artistic director. “He has dared to make a difference, and his courage has had an unmatched impact on the arts.”

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It’s fitting that the 13th annual Santa Fe Independent Film Festival kicks off with Bergman Island, a film about a movie-making couple (Tim Roth and Vicky Krieps) who seek inspiration on Fårö, the Swedish isle where renowned filmmaker Ingmar Bergman lived and worked. The film, which premiered at Cannes in July, screens at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 13, at the Violet Crown.

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Graffiti has been a boys’ club since its inception in New York City train yards in the 1970s.

Lady Pink was the first woman to enter the scene, an Ecuadorian immigrant who painted subway cars from 1979 to 1985. She appears as a godmother figure in Street Heroines, a documentary directed by Alexandra Henry about female graffiti and street artists in New York and Latin America.

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The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival (SFiFF) returns for its 13th edition with a full program of in-person film screenings and events this upcoming October 13th–17th, 2021.

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Academy Award-Winning writer and director Oliver Stone will receive the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival (SFiFF) Lifetime Achievement Award at the festival’s upcoming 13th edition. The Lifetime Achievement Award Ceremony will be followed by a screening of an Oliver Stone film.

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Everyone has a story, but few of them are heard.

The Albuquerque-based nonprofit Bold Futures wants to change that.

For the past two decades, the organization – formally known as Young Women United – has worked to build reproductive justice in New Mexico by and for women and people of color. More recently, it has expanded its mission to create communities by leading policy change, research, organizing, and culture shift by and for women and people of color in New Mexico.

In 2017, the nonprofit decided to try using film to tell the stories of women who so often are voiceless. “All the World Is Sleeping” is that film, shedding light on the realities of addiction and the resources desperately needed for families living in cycles of addiction.

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Centered on a family’s struggles with addiction, Brother, I Cry is a searing drama about the lengths a sister goes to protect her brother from himself. Jon (Justin Rain of The Walking Dead), a young First Nations man, is on methadone and trying to hold down a job for the sake of his girlfriend and their unborn child. But the car thief has multiple warrants out for his arrest and keeps bad company in the person of Martin (Jay Cardinal Villeneuve), a small-time criminal and user. Martin pulls Jon deeper into a life of crime, just when he’s trying to turn his life around.

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13th annual fest returns to the height of its powers

As New Mexico steels itself for a 100% reopening date of July 1, the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival announced today that it will return to in-person events for its upcoming 13th year from Oct. 13-17.

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The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival returns this year, filling local theaters and venues once again with camaraderie and celebration. The festival will offer a competitive selection of films as well as live panels and events with filmmakers and artists. It also aims to usher a sense of hope with this year’s theme “An Uplifting of the Human Spirit.”

“Film is essential,” says Jacques Paisner, SFiFF artistic director. “I’m excited to be presenting a world-class program of films” in a “fully in-person festival this year.” The five-day festival, which runs from October 13 to 17, 2021, will screen forty-seven feature films and more than 100 short films. Screenings will take place at Violet Crown Cinema, Jean Cocteau Cinema, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, and Lensic Performing Arts Center.

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Jacques Paisner believes film festivals should be experienced in person.

As artistic director for the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, Paisner is looking forward to staging the festival in person in October.

“It’s going to be amazing,” he says. “It was a strange year and we’re so glad to be going back in the right direction.”

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Our Own (Les nôtres) directed by Jeanne Leblanc is the winner of the award for Best Narrative Feature at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival’s 12th edition, and MLK/FBI directed by Sam Pollard won for Best Documentary Feature. The award for Best New Mexico Feature went to Truth or Consequences directed by Hannah Jayanti.

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Like most festivals, the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival was forced to get creative when presenting its 12th edition. This included streaming films, as well as teaming up with Motorama at the Downs Santa Fe for some drive-in films.

“While SFiFF has adjusted to the circumstances, our mission remains the same, and the artist outreach and cultural significance of our festival are now more essential than ever,” says Liesette Paisner-Bailey, SFiFF executive director. “We are delighted to recognize the talents of our filmmakers and announce the following outstanding films, which have earned top scores from our festival jury.”

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Changes are coming to the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival (SFIFF). Now in its 12th year, the festival has responded to the pandemic by moving screenings to an online platform —and to Motorama at the Downs, a local pop-up drive-in theater. The festival is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 14, to Oct. 18.

“It’s a different festival than what we normally do,” says Executive Director Liesette Paisner Bailey. “We can’t have the great parties and the great networking events and have all the filmmakers that we normally have come from across the world.”

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Check out these interviews with KTRC’s very own Richard Eeds, and 2020 SFiFF filmmakers Hillary Bachelder, Sylvia Johnson, Joy Marzec, Alberto Arvelo, Hopper Penn, and Nancy Lang & Peter Raymont.

READ MORE AND LISTEN HERE

You can read plenty about a number of movies screening at this year's Santa Fe Independent Film Festival in our movie section this week, but it seemed absurd not to make special mention of the Indigenous Film Program.

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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.

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The twelfth annual Santa Fe Independent Film Festival (SFiFF) will open with Zappa, an in-depth documentary directed by Alex Winter, which centers on the life, work, and politics of musician Frank Zappa.

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Like many other organizations, the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival is pivoting in order to present its festival in October. “Once the governor extended her order through August, we started thinking that it would be unlikely that movie theaters would be open in October,” says Jacques Paisner, SFIFF artistic director. “We knew we had to move forward with making the festival happen.”

When the 12th iteration of the festival takes place Oct. 14-18, it will offer a different experience.

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On October 14, Santa Fe Independent Film Festival opens its twelfth annual event, with Zappa. For the very first time, SFiFF’s opening night is being held at Santa Fe’s new drive-in movie theater. With almost forty films and nine different shorts programs being shown at the drive-in or virtually, the continued closure of indoor theaters hasn’t dampened the multitude of independent films being shown at the festival this year.

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‘Shiva Baby’ Review

‘Margaret Atwood: A Word after a Word after a Word is Power’ Review

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Margaret Atwood travels the world.

Since the TV adaptation of her book, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” became a success, the legendary author/poet has been catapulted into popular culture.

For two years, Atwood granted permission to filmmakers Nancy Lang and Peter Raymont as they worked on a documentary about her life.

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In a pandemic era, a movie theater can be so much more than a place to watch rom-coms and action-packed films.

“It lets you know [life’s] not over — that everything’s going to be OK,” said Liam Nohr-Forrester, co-founder and investor of Santa Fe’s new drive-in theater, Motorama at the Downs.

Amid the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has caused countless businesses to temporarily — even permanently — shut down, the pop-up venue at The Downs is one of the few entertainment options in the Santa Fe area that can allow people to safely gather and practice social distancing, Nohr-Forrester said.

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New Mexico has made an impression on Hannah Jayanti.

She was educated at St. John’s College in Santa Fe. Spent a couple of summers building Earthships near Taos.

It’s no wonder the gravitational pull was so strong it brought the filmmaker back to New Mexico to film – specifically in Truth or Consequences, for an artist residency.

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Hopper Penn looks for challenges when looking for roles.

It took him less than two dozen pages of reading the script for “Puppy Love” to want to play Morgan.

“A few days before getting the script, I was talking to my friends and my sister,” he says. “The only role I really wanted to play is something different from who I am. I wanted it to be far off of that. I met with the director Michael Maxxis, and I told him that I was interested.”

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It took Blackhorse Lowe nearly eight years to get his production from script to screen. The journey had many ups and downs, yet he persevered. The Navajo filmmaker’s feature film “Fukry” will screen at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival beginning on Wednesday, Oct. 14.

With state health orders still in effect, the festival will be mostly virtual this year.

But that doesn’t dampen Lowe’s spirits.

“Getting eyes on the film is what it’s all about,” he says. “The film is proof that we were able to overcome the many challenges along the way.”

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SFiFF is pleased to compile this list for your at-home viewing pleasure. It includes films available to stream or rent on Amazon Prime and films available on Netflix. We hope you watch them in good health!

VIEW THE FULL LIST

Santa Fe would be a gorgeous vacation spot even if there wasn’t a tremendous film festival. But for moviemakers and movie lovers, it’s especially worth a trip to experience the Albuquerque-Santa Fe corridor’s commitment to film. (Albuquerque was just named MovieMaker’s top city for moviemakers, and Santa Fe was No. 3 on the list of smaller cities and towns.) It features five art house theaters—and George R.R. Martin, a frequent attendee, owns the beloved Jean Cocteau Cinema. Santa Fe is also home to outstanding restaurants, art galleries, and all the outdoor fun you could ever want, against spectacular natural backdrops.

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Twelve years.

That’s the milestone the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival will reach on October 15-18, 2020. The indie film fest is an October staple in Santa Fe and has grown into a power player on the film festival circuit.

“We’re really excited with how nationally known the film festival has become,” says Jacques Paisner, SFIFF artistic director. “It’s one of the top international film festivals because we are coming together with films that are often the second or third screenings in North America.”

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The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival announced today that it had received a $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to help with its 2020 programming. It's one of 1,187 grants awarded in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Needless to say, festival officials are excited.

"We do receive New Mexico arts money that's grated partially from the NEA, but this is the first time we've received this grant from the NEA itself," says Liesette Paisner-Bailey...

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Indie Film Festival Keeps Growing

Though the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival's Executive Director Liesette Paisner-Bailey told SFR earlier this year that some of the fest's funding comes from grants that feature National Endowment for the Arts money, a recent $15,000 picked up from the NEA itself is no small matter. See, the SFiFF has grown explosively in the 11 years (2020 marks its 12th iteration) since it began in the old Warehouse 21 space within the pre-modern Railyard. Now, instead of a projector and folding chairs, the annual brouhaha takes over almost every theater in town to screen a combo of features, docs, shorts, art films and more.

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The Santa Fe Film Institute received a $15,000 Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts on Wednesday.

The money will go to support the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival for its event on Oct. 14-18.

“We are honored that the National Endowment for the Arts has recognized Santa Fe Film Institute and the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival for our contribution to the arts. The Santa Fe Film Institute is extremely grateful for the support of the NEA for our project,” said SFiFF Executive Director Liesette Paisner Bailey. “We are excited that these funds will help us to continue to raise the artistic excellence of film by providing outstanding public programming, artist travel, filmmaker awards, and honoraria for artists in film who define our understanding of life in the 21st century.”

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Santa Fe

Could 2020 be the year that Tom Hanks replaces Walter White as the face of New Mexico’s entertainment industry? Hanks shot two high-profile projects in New Mexico this year: Bios, the aforementioned sci-fi film (see our entry on Albuquerque, above) and News of the World, a post-Civil War adventure, will both arrive in theaters for next Oscar season.

There are many reasons Santa Fe has been in our Top 5 for five years running: stunning natural beauty and light, a proactive film office quick to point out New Mexico tax incentives, and a mix of cowboy hospitality and high-culture institutions like the Santa Fe Opera and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. It honors its Native American history, celebrating locations like Taos Pueblo, a Native American settlement at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains established 1,000 years ago. The town of 83,000 has a sense of majestic peace, but locations that recall the violent shootouts of the Old West are only a short drive away.

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KSFR News Director Tom Trowbridge speaks with Executive Director Liesette Paisner Bailey.

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Alexandria Bombach is excited to be home in Santa Fe for most of the month of December. But, for now, it’s still November and the documentary filmmaker is preparing to head to Amsterdam to take part in a forum at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam as one of five recipients of a Chicken & Egg Pictures $50,000 unrestricted grant.

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The Santa Fe Film Institute received $15,000 in support of the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival. This is the first time the Santa Fe Film Institute has received NEA funding, which will be used for artist travel and honoraria, as well as filmmaker awards. The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival will produce its 12th film festival in 2020.

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Jane Seymour’s career in TV and film continues to grow decades later.

In October, the actress will be awarded the lifetime achievement award at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival.

“From the silver screen to the television screen to the stage Jane Seymour has dazzled audiences and critiques alike,” said Liesette Paisner, SFIFF executive director. “SFIFF is so honored to be able to recognize such an iconic actress.” READ MORE

With more than 200 galleries and museums, most people probably think of Santa Fe as just an art town. But it’s increasingly gaining a reputation as a destination for cinephiles. And the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival’s driving force — siblings Jacques Paisner and Liesette Paisner Bailey — wouldn’t want it any other way. In fact, seeing Santa Fe make its mark as a movie town is one of their goals. READ MORE

Santa Fe Independent Film Festival celebrated its 11th year showcasing some of the top American independent films and foreign films over five days in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

At the closing, Lost Bayou directed by Brian C Miller Richard received the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature, and Ernie & Joe directed by Jenifer McShane for Best Documentary Feature.

The audience voted Yes, God, Yes directed by Karen Maine winner of Best Narrative Feature, and Nothing Fancy: Diana Kennedy directed by Elizabeth Carroll for Best Documentary Feature.

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The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival’s Indigenous Film Program is celebrating its 11th anniversary, but this year’s fest ushers in a number of firsts for Native filmmaking. READ MORE

In filmmaker Amber McGinnis' International Falls, a comedy veteran named Tim Fletcher and closet comedian Dee Williamson remind us of the perils of living inauthentically. Rob Huebel (Do You Want to See a Dead Body?) plays Fletcher, an end-of-the-line comic arriving in an end-of-the-line town on Minnesota's border with Canada. Rachel Harris (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) is Dee, the hotel desk clerk who suspects standup comedy might give her the voice she craves to speak out against a life that is slowly suffocating her. READ MORE

The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival returns Wednesday, Oct. 16 through Sunday, Oct. 20 at a number of venues around The City Different including Lensic Performing Arts Center, Center for Contemporary Arts, The Screen and more. READ MORE

Tantoo Cardinal comes from tough stock.

For decades, the actress and activist has been a voice for indigenous people, leading the way to the mainstream.

“That’s the key,” Cardinal says. “Our people have invaluable perspective. That’s what is missing from mainstream society. There’s a great value that we carry. That is what’s been helping us heal from genocide and colonialism.” READ MORE

Drew Nicholas aims to bring stories to life through film.

One of his first projects began right after film school in 2015. Four years later, that project, “Blood Memory” is going to screen at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival on Friday, Oct. 18. READ MORE

Speaking through film: ‘How Does It Start’ is director’s ‘love letter to Santa Fe’

Film is where Amber Sealey has found her voice. The medium gives her an expression that no other activity has matched. READ MORE

Hunter Burke grew up in the Louisiana bayou. As an actor, he’s played a variety of roles. Yet when it came to working on his first feature film, he wanted it to be representative of his hometown culture. And “Lost Bayou” was born. READ MORE

Let the Film Fun Begin! - Days 1 and 2 of the Festival

The time has arrived for the main purpose of our time in Santa Fe. It is to participate (on a spectator level) in the viewing of new films being presented at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival. READ MORE

Much like the movies in its lineup, the inaugural Santa Fe Independent Film Festival had a dogged crew and a bare-bones budget. Jacques Paisner and two like-minded friends--David Moore and actor Gary Farmer--came up with the idea for the festival in 2009 and transformed the nonprofit teen arts center Warehouse 21 into a makeshift theater. READ MORE

The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival will honour the city's rich history, as a centre for Native American arts and culture, by announcing its Indigenous Film Programme, which aims to highlight the best new short film projects by indigenous filmmakers, and feature films, including indigenous themes, and subjects.

The 10th edition of the festival will run from 17 October to 21 October. READ MORE

America


Matthew K. Gutierrez
Time catches up with us all, and for 93-year old America, the twilight of her life culminates in gathering her three grandsons to care for her in the feature-length documentary debut from co-directors Erick Stoll and Chase Whiteside. READ MORE

For the fifth consecutive year, the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival has been named one of 50 film festivals "worth the entry fee," according to MovieMaker Magazine, a quarterly trade publication that has produced an annual list of top-tier festivals in the U.S. and abroad since at least 2012. READ MORE