Reel World

Screenwriting Scholarships—The nonprofit Santa Fe Film Arts Institute is offering two scholarships to this year's Screenwriting Conference in Santa Fe (SCSFe 2005) to deserving New Mexico applicants. To enter yourself, or someone else you feel would benefit, please send a letter with your name, address, phone number, e-mail address (or the info of the person you're submitting for consideration) to The Santa Fe Film Arts Institute, P.O. Box 29762, Santa Fe, N.M., 87592. Please include a paragraph or two explaining why you (or the person you're nominating) deserve(s) one of the scholarships. Any New Mexico resident is eligible for consideration. All entries must be received at SFFAI's offices by 5 p.m., Monday, May 23, 2005. The winners will be notified by Friday, May 27, 2005. For more information on SCSFe 2005, coming June 1 through 5, visit www.scsfe.com.

Voluntarily Speaking—Speaking of the Screenwriting Conference in Santa Fe, the seventh annual gathering is looking for volunteers. Interested in getting a peek behind the Hollywood scenes? Think about volunteering as a driver, site worker, hall monitor or hospitality assistant. Enthusiasm for movies is, of course, a must. You can contact SCSFe's volunteer coordinator, Brian, at (505) 982-1352 or e-mail him at brian@fwank.net for more details.

NM Film Free-For-All—In a slow-growing, but sincere effort to recognize actual New Mexico filmmakers (as opposed to all those rich Hollywood ones), the New Mexico Film Office, with the support of Gov. Bill Richardson, has come up with New Mexico Filmmaker's Week. This will consist of a nonjuried, noncompetitive series of open screenings of film and video productions (features, shorts, documentaries and what have you) directed by New Mexico residents. All screenings will be free, and will be held at the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque, June 24 through 30. There is no entry fee to submit a film. The deadline for entry form submissions is Friday, May 13. The deadline for submissions of the final film or video work is Friday, May 27. All forms/films must be postmarked or hand-delivered to the Guild Cinema by the appropriate date. The address is: Guild Cinema, 3405 Central Ave., NE, Albuquerque, N.M., 87106. Accepted formats include: 35mm, 16mm, Super-8, MiniDV, DVCAM, DVD, VHS and S-VHS. (DVD-R is acceptable but not encouraged.) The director must be a New Mexico resident and must own the rights to his or her work. Works must be 120 minutes or less. One entry per director. Screening is not absolutely guaranteed. Programming slots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. But, with a whopping 47 hours worth of programming to fill, I suspect there's room for all. For complete rules and entry forms, log on to www.edd.state.nm.us/FILM/.