2026 Press
Santa Fe Reporter
In the Can: Just-ended Santa Fe International Film Fest was seriously impressive
Oh, it’s been a minute since SFR had the space and inclination to run content based in the movie world, but now that we’re a week or so removed from the 18th Annual Santa Fe International Film Festival, I must admit I’m feeling pretty sporty about the whole we-love-film-here thing just now.
MovieMaker
Smudge the Blades and La Bola Negra Among Big Winners at Santa Fe International Film Festival
The Indigenous hockey drama Smudge the Blades and the queer epic La Bola Negra were among the big winners as the Santa Fe International Film Festival announced its 2026 awards.
Ahead of the Awards ceremony, the festival awarded renowned actress and singer Pam Grier with its Lifetime Achievement Award and acclaimed actor Zahn McClarnon with its Visionary Award.
MovieMaker
Zahn McClarnon Receives Santa Fe International Film Festival’s Visionary Award
Dark Winds star Zahn McClarnon received the Visionary Award at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, but George R.R. Martin thinks he deserves much more.Martin, an executive producer on Dark Winds and longtime Santa Fe resident, presented McClarnon the award Saturday night at the festival’s 18th edition.
Variety
Variety’s 10 Screenwriters to Watch on Finding Inspiration in Unlikely Places: ‘You Don’t Have to Just Cite Poetry; You Can Cite a TikTok Account’
Inspiration for a great storyline can come from anywhere — whether that be a classic work of literature or a great pop song.
It’s become somewhat of a bit for “Blue Film” writer-director Elliot Tuttle to reference Lana Del Rey’s music in his screenplays. He’d written three (as yet unproduced) screenplays before his feature debut about a fetish camboy who agrees to spend the night with an anonymous client, who turns out to be tied to his past. Each time, Del Rey released new music while he was working.
MovieMaker
Marc Maron Says Sharon Stone Told Him to Think of Lynn Shelton While Making New Film In Memoriam
In writer-director Rob Burnett’s In Memoriam, Langston, a dying man played by Marc Maron decides his life will only have meaning if he secures a spot in the Academy Awards In Memoriam segment.
Through this singular quest, the film covers a lot of thematic ground — legacy, grief, love, loneliness. Burnett and Maron discussed these themes, and the importance of honesty as a lens, during Wednesday’s Opening Night screening at the Santa Fe International Film Festival.
MovieMaker
In Kristin Goodman’s #UndertheInfluence, Cassidy Freeman and Alexandra Renzo Play Opposite Sisters
In director Kristin Goodman’s debut feature film, #UndertheInfluence, two polar-opposite sisters played by Cassidy Freeman and Alexandra Renzo untangle some of the baggage they’ve been carrying around for decades – while the world is watching.
MovieMaker
In Christopher Gessner’s ‘Buff,’ Starring Jena Malone, a Buffalo Represents Quiet Heroism and Freedom
In director Christoper Gessner’s debut short film, “Buff,” he asks the audience to contemplate freedom for 15 minutes.
The film is the story of a woman, played by Jena Malone, who feels a kinship with an abused rodeo buffalo. That buffalo is perhaps the most famous buffalo performer of all, Clyde, who lives at Mortenson’s Eaves Movie Ranch, which makes him a local star of the Santa Fe International Film Festival, where the film is debuting,
The Hollywood Reporter
Hollywood Reporter Red Carpet Events
Pam Grier (posing with executive director Liesette Bailey) received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Santa Fe International Film Festival on Saturday.
Variety
…Red Carpet Photos: October 2026
Zahn McClarnon, recipient of the 2026 Visionary Award from the Santa Fe International Film Festival, with festival executive director Liesette Bailey and “Dark Winds” executive producer George R.R. Martin, attend the fest on Oct. 16 at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe
Variety
Variety’s 10 Screenwriters to Watch for 2026 Include Scribes Behind ‘Being Heumann,’ ‘Clarissa’ and ‘A Different World’
The best movies and TV shows rest on one solid foundation: the script, and Variety has selected 10 of the up-and-coming scribes to celebrate in our Screenwriter to Watch class of 2026. The writers will be honored at a panel taking place at the Santa Fe Intl. Film Festival.
The Hollywood Reporter
…This Week’s Best Events
Marc Maron and director Rob Burnett atttended the Santa Fe International Film Festival’s opening night screening of In Memoriam.
IND
Zahn McClarnon honored with Santa Fe International Film Festival’s Visionary Award
The Santa Fe International Film Festival honored Zahn McClarnon with its 2026 Visionary Award on Friday, October 16, at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe.
New Mexico Magazine
Five Things to Do This Weekend
Santa Fe International Film Festival
New Mexico is regarded as one of the most favorable states for film production. With its diverse landscapes, favorable film incentives, and established production infrastructure, New Mexico has served as the setting for countless movies and television shows. Catch some of the industry’s latest work at the 18th annual Santa Fe International Film Festival at venues throughout downtown Santa Fe and the Railyard District.
KRQE
‘Under the Influence’ to take the screen at Santa Fe International Film Festival
SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) — Nothing heals family trauma like putting it on television. A successful social media influencer and her alcoholic, dysfunctional sister, are tapped to star in a reality show about their less-than-ideal childhood.
However, when producers start to manufacture drama for ratings, it threatens the very real-world relationship of the siblings. “Under the Influence,” screening tonight as part of the Santa Fe International Film Festival, is an intimate, unfiltered look at the cost of cultivating an online presence, in an age where fewer and fewer realities feel real.
Santa Fe New Mexican
Santa Fe International Film Festival brings over 300 hours of entertainment
The plot centers on two grief-stricken New Mexico families who meet for a Día de los Muertos celebration at an abandoned, uranium-contaminated church in a desert village: One mourns a father lost due to research on toxic materials at a government lab; the other mourns a mother who vanished near uranium mines.
KOAT
Santa Fe International Film Festival brings 175 films, major honorees to New Mexico
SANTA FE, N.M. —
The Santa Fe International Film Festival kicks off Wednesday, offering audiences early access to awards-season contenders, appearances by industry honorees and a spotlight on New Mexico filmmakers.
The festival will feature more than 175 movies, including 65 feature films from 27 countries. The opening-night film, "In Memoriam," will be presented with actor and Albuquerque native Marc Maron and director Rob Burnett in attendance.
Free public panels and networking events will also be offered. Four locally made films are part of the lineup, including "Burn Scar," a documentary about the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire near Las Vegas, New Mexico.
KOB
Santa Fe International Film Festival Preview with “#UnderTheInfluence” cast, director
SANTA FE, N.M. — Tamalewood, as New Mexico is affectionately known in the film and TV industry, will come alive Wednesday through Monday with the Santa Fe International Film Festival.
The Santa Fe International Film Festival will showcase a number of films, including one recently filmed in the state. “#UnderTheInfluence” will premiere Thursday night, Oct. 15, in Santa Fe.
Writer and director Kristen Goodman joined actors Cassidy Freeman and Patrick Fabian to preview the festival and the film.
Santa Fe Reporter
Santa Fe International Film Festival turns 18 with biggest program yet
“We got more than 7,000 entries for this one, and that’s as many as any of the top film fests in the United States with the exception of a couple, like maybe Sundance and one or two others,” Santa Fe International Film Festival co-founder and Artistic Director Jacques Pasiner tells SFR.
The Hollywood Reporter
…This Week’s Best Events
Giancarlo Esposito accepted the Santa Fe International Film Festival’s Visionary Award at the Gothic Gala on Saturday.
The Wrap - Pam Grier to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Santa Fe International Film Festival | Exclusive
The Santa Fe International Film Festival will recognize Pam Grier with the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 2026, TheWrap has exclusively learned. The award will be bestowed upon Grier at an Oct. 17 ceremony at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe, N. Mex.
“To be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for sharing my gifts is profoundly meaningful,” Grier said in a statement.
Last year, this recognition went to Edward James Olmos. Past recipients of SFIFF’s Lifetime Achievement Award include Tantoo Cardinal, Bryan Cranston, Catherine Hardwicke, Sterlin Harjo, Shirley MacLaine, Godfrey Reggio, Jay Roach, Gena Rowlands, John Sayles and Oliver Stone.
KRQE - Gala raises money for New Mexico filmmakers, honors Giancarlo Esposito
Hundreds gathered in Santa Fe to raise money for regional independent filmmakers, and this year, a New Mexico favorite was honored.
It was a night to remember at the Santa Fe International Film Festival’s “A Gothic Gala.”
This year, Giancarlo Esposito, known for his role as Gus Fring in Breaking Bad, received the Visionary Award.
Socialite Life - Celeb Snaps: Michael B. Jordan Wears Spider-Man, Plus Darren Criss, Graham Campbell, Jordan Roth, Homer Gere, Kaia Gerber, and More
Here are the latest celebrity sighting photos — from paparazzi shots of a celebrity shopping to a star walking on the red carpet to a celebrity on stage at an award show.
Variety - Giancarlo Esposito to be Honored by Santa Fe International Film Festival With Visionary Award
Giancarlo Esposito is set to be honored by the Santa Fe International Film Festival with this year’s Visionary Award.
The “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” actor will receive the award July 25 at the Gothic Gala in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Santa Fe New Mexican - Santa Fe International Film Festival again lands on list of top festivals
For the fourth year in a row, the Santa Fe International Film Festival has been recognized as one of the top cinematic gatherings in the world by MovieMaker Magazine.
The festival was named to the magazine’s list of “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee 2026.” The festival has made the annual list since 2023.
The festivals are listed in alphabetical order but are not ranked.
“We’re really excited about this designation,” Liesette Bailey, the festival’s executive director, said, calling the honor a testament to the event’s dedication to filmmakers and to bringing quality films to the city.
MovieMaker - 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee in 2026
The purpose of our annual list of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee is simple: to save you time and money.
All moviemakers want to get into a big festival that will land them press coverage, an agent, and a multimillion-dollar distribution deal. But in reality, the festival circuit is like a ladder: The people you meet at one festival may become your collaborators on another film that gets you into a more prestigious festival where you meet a mentor who guides you into yet another festival where your dreams finally come true.
MovieMaker - How Santa Fe Became Our No. 1 Town for Moviemakers
The Santa Fe International Film Festival’s Role as a New Mexico Film Hub
Bailey talked about the Santa Fe International Film Festival’s role as an anchor of the New Mexico film scene.
“We’re heading into our third year being an Oscar qualifying festival, and it’s been really a whirlwind,” she said. “We actually have more Academy voters in Santa Fe and Albuquerque than anywhere outside of New York or L.A.”
MovieMaker - The Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker in 2026
1. SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO
The Oscar-qualifying Santa Fe International Film Festival unifies the New Mexico film scene each year by bringing together both international award contenders and locally rooted indies, including many from Indigenous filmmakers.
2025 Press
New York Times - Bublé for a Day, but He Can’t Sing and There’s Little Resemblance
Dan Perlman, a comedian, looks and sounds nothing like Michael Bublé. And yet, for some reason, he was hired to impersonate the crooner at a birthday party.
MovieMaker - In ‘Breakups Suck,’ a Human Can’t Leave His Vampire Girlfriend
“I never expected to stay in Albuquerque, New Mexico post high school,” says Ben Arndt, director of the funny and visually striking new short “Breakups Suck.” “However, to my surprise, the film industry slowly moved into my own backyard.”
MovieMaker - Pinch Director Uttera Singh Finds Healing in Trauma
It all started with a pinch. Growing up, Uttera Singh always heard the legendary story of her naughty cousin, who pinched people in crowds and started mob fights to get some personal space. The image stuck with Singh, and in 2019 when she was writing a film about an assault and how it impacts a young woman and her community, she knew she’d found a place to use the story.
MovieMaker - A Savage Art Celebrates the Political Cartoons of Pat Oliphant — and an Art Form Under Threat
Director Bill Banowsky’s fascinating documentary A Savage Art: The Life & Cartoons of Pat Oliphant, tracks the work of one of our most popular and imitated political cartoonists, and the very modern threats posed to all journalism and satire.
MovieMaker - Ricki Lake on Losing Her Malibu Home to Fire: ‘If This Happened to Us, It Could Happen Anywhere’
Ricki Lake became an executive producer on the new documentary Big Rock Burning to spread the word about the pain of losing your home to fire — something she’s had the great misfortune to experience twice.
MovieMaker - Santa Fe International Film Festival to Honor Edward James Olmos, Feature Frankenstein and Nuremberg in Lineup
The Santa Fe International Film Festival will open with Netflix’s Frankenstein, from Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro, and close with James Vanderbilt’s Nuremberg. The festival will also honor beloved actor Edward James Olmos with its lifetime achievement award, the SFIFF announced.
MovieMaker - Free Leonard Peltier, Nika and Madison Win Top Awards at Santa Fe International Film Festival
Nika and Madison, a fictional story of two Indigenous women on the run, and Free Leonard Peltier, a true story of an Indigenous man’s long fight for freedom, won the top awards at the Santa Fe International Film Festival.
MovieMaker - Edward James Olmos on Acting and Not Acting
Edward James Olmos says he puts up signs on the sets of the movies he directs: “No acting.”
Accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award Saturday from the Santa Fe International Film Festival, the American Me, Stand and Deliver and Battlestar Galactica icon asked that the lights of the stately Lensic Theatre be lowered so he could walk to the edge of the stage and see his audience.
Variety - Variety’s Screenwriters to Watch for 2025 Include Scribes Behind ‘Ma 2,’ ‘Supergirl’ and ‘KPop Demon Hunters’
It all starts with the script, and Variety has selected just 10 of the up-and-coming wordsmiths to celebrate in their Screenwriter to Watch class of 2025. The writers will be honored at a panel taking place at the Santa Fe International Film Festival on Oct. 17.
Santa Fe New Mexican - Here's what movies earned awards at the Santa Fe International Film Festival
Santa Fe International Film Festival officials announced award winners in more than a dozen categories Tuesday after the event’s wealth of cinematic programing drew to a close this week.
Variety - ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘Nuremberg’ and ‘Sentimental Value’ Among Santa Fe International Film Festival Lineup
Guillermo Del Toro’s “Frankenstein” is set to open the Santa Fe International Film Festival (SFiFF) while James Vanderbilt’s “Nuremberg” closes the event.
The festival will take place starting Oct. 15–20 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The Wrap - Edward James Olmos to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Santa Fe Film Festival
The Santa Fe International Film Festival announced Wednesday that Edward James Olmos will receive the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Oct. 18. This honor will be bestowed upon Olmos in recognition of his career as an Emmy-winning actor and an activist.
NM Entertainment - Ari Aster Returns Home for Special “Eddington” Screening in Santa Fe
The Santa Fe Film Institute (SFFI), the nonprofit organization behind the Santa Fe International Film Festival (SFiFF), will host a special hometown screening of Ari Aster’s highly anticipated film Eddington on Friday, July 11, at the Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA) Santa Fe. The member-only event will feature a Q&A session with Aster, a Santa Fe native, following the screening.
MovieMaker - The Best Places to Live and Work as a Filmmaker in 2025
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.
Sportskeeda - The true story behind The Quilters on Netflix, explained
The Quilters is a short documentary coming to Netflix on Friday, May 16, 2025. It premiered at the DC/Doc Film Festival ain 2024 and was shows at other festivals like the DOX NYC film Festival. The film has won several awards, including Audience Awards at the BendFilm Festival and Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, and a Jury Award at the Santa Fe International Film Festival. It was even considered for an Oscar.
Variety - Santa Fe International Film Festival Expands Programming Through Monday, Violet Crown to Serve as Presenting Sponsor
The Santa Fe International Film Festival (SFiFF) will expand its 2025 edition to six full days of programming, running from Wednesday October 15 through Monday October 20 at venues across the city. The extension marks the first time in the festival’s history that it runs through Monday, a feat made possible by presenting sponsor Violet Crown.
KOAT - Santa Fe Film Fest expands to 6 days in October
As the Santa Fe International Film Festival continues to grow in prestige, it is expanding to six days, running from Oct. 15 to 20 at multiple venues in the city.
Hollywood Reporter - ‘Dark Winds’ at Santa Fe International Film Festival
SFiFF festival director Stephanie Love-Riner joined cast members Deanna Allison, Kiowa Gordon and Natalie Benally and SFiFF artistic director Jacques Paisner at the Santa Fe International Film Festival’s premiere screening of Dark Winds.
KSFR - Dark Winds Screens in Santa Fe
As a special screening of two episodes of the TV show Dark Winds was about to roll at a local cinema over the weekend, it was clear there was a lot of hometown pride in the room.