Late last week, Gov. Bill Richardson’s office announced the winners of the 2008 Governor’s Cup Short Animation Competition. The two winners will each receive $10,000 toward their short animated projects, which will be produced in New Mexico this summer. We here at the Alibi couldn’t be prouder of this, as one of the winners turned out to be ultra-talented Alibi Graphic Designer Jeff Drew. Drew is already an award-winning animator (he nabbed a win in the Alibi Short Film Fiesta before he even worked here), and we can’t wait to see his new Governor’s Cup project, a cut-and-paste collaboration with Albuquerque’s own Pajama Men (Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez) titled “One Square Mile of Earth.” The other winner was Los Alamos animator Fredrick Aragon, whose short will be “Coyote Tales: Mystery’s Night.” Prizes for the competition were provided by Pangea Pictures and the National Geographic All Roads Film Project. The winners were chosen by a five-member selection panel.
Film Fusion
The FUSION Film Series returns to The Cell Theatre (700 First Street NW) this weekend with another special cinematic/musical collaboration. Grammy-nominated oud virtuoso Rahim Alhaj will play a live, original soundtrack to Al-Makhdu’un (The Deceived) , a stark 1972 film that traces the lives of three Palestinian refugees in their attempts to escape Iraq and find work and a better life in Kuwait. The film is based on the novel Men in the Sun by Palestinian activist and Nobel Prize finalist Ghassan Kanafani. Al-Makhdu’un was one of the first Arabic films to address the Palestinian question and has been banned in several Arab nations. The screening will take place Friday, June 6, and Saturday, June 7, with a catered reception beginning at 7:30 and the screening at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 general admission or $15 students/seniors and include food and drink. To purchase tickets in advance, log on to www.fusionabq.org.
No Smoking In The Theater
The Fourth Annual Fame and Shame Awards, a mock Oscars ceremony exposing “big tobacco’s influence in Hollywood,” will take place Friday, June 6, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. at the KiMo Theatre (423 Central NW). There will be a traditional red carpet and an after party. Awards will be handed out in categories like “Actor Who Glamorizes Smoking the Most” and “Smoker of the Decade.” Eight 30-second radio and television PSAs—winning entries in the annual Talk Back to Big Tobacco Scripts and Storyboard Contest—will be screened. The festivities culminate in the annual Youth Kicking Tobacco’s Butt Advocate of the Year, which honors middle and high school students who have demonstrated leadership, presumably in the area of not smoking. For free tickets, contact Kesi Perea at New Mexico Voices for Children at 244-9505 ext. 20.
