Third Annual Albuquerque Film Festival packs schedule with diversity

The motto for the third annual Albuquerque Film Festival is “Hip. Cool. Funny. Strange. Social Change.” That all-things-to-all-people promise is more than fulfilled in the festival’s eclectic lineup of events, which runs Aug. 18 through 21.

Admirable, no-budget sci fi gets sucked in by the gravitational pull of sad teenagers and planet-sized metaphors

“Stuck With Hackett” on Science Channel

Perhaps it’s the bad economy that’s got us all hunkering down in survival mode. The very week that Science Channel premieres “JUNKies” (a show about no-budget inventors making cool machines out of junk), the cable station also hands us “Stuck With Hackett.” Following in a similar Dumpster-science vein, this show introduces audiences to survivalist savant and “post-apocalyptic MacGyver” Chris Hackett.

Banshee Screams Into State

The newest film to shoot in our fair state is The Banshee Chapter. The modestly budgeted horror film is being produced by actor Zachary Quinto’s Before the Door Pictures. Quinto is best known as Sylar on the TV show “Heroes” and as Spock in J.J. Abrams’ rebooted Star Trek. No word on whether Quinto will star in the film. The film is to be written and directed by Blair Erickson, who’s making his feature film debut with this one. Chapter is allegedly based on a series of real CIA programs, and it concentrates on a female journalist who goes in search of a friend who’s been experimenting with mind-altering chemicals developed in secret government drug tests. Shooting is scheduled to go in front of the lens in late August.

Week in Sloth

The Week in Sloth