According to New Mexico Women in Film, everything you need to make a movie is in your own backyard. What resources and opportunities are available to the local independent filmmaker and actor? Find out at the May meeting of NMWF. On Thursday, May 8, there will be a Q&A with Ann Lerner of the ABQ Film Office followed by a networking mixer with filmmakers, actors and other members of the local film community. Anne Stirling of Friends of Film and Video, filmmaker Gloria Martinez and writer/director Scotty Milder (both of whom have shorts going to this year’s Cannes Film Festival) will also be in attendance. The meeting/mixer will begin at 6:30 p.m. at The Orpheum Arts Space (500 Second Street SW). NMWF members are free, guests are $15.
Reel World
Filmic Fortune-Telling
Basement Films is sponsoring the local leg of Potter-Belmar Labs’ 2008 West Coast Spring Tour. Made up of live cinema performers Leslie Raymond and Jason Jay Stevens, Potter-Belmar Labs “brings the ancient traditon of the magic lantern show to the 21 st century, inviting the audience to participate in a collective fortune-telling experience and presenting the results in music, sound and moving image.” This multimedia experiment will take place Saturday, May 10, at the Verb Collective (3400 Constitution NE, Unit D). Tickets are $7 at the door. For more info, log on to potterbelmar.org.
World Film
Albuquerque will be participating in the annual Pangea Day celebration, a global event bringing the world together through film. Pangea Day takes place Saturday, May 10, from noon to 4 p.m., and originates in places as widespread as London, Cairo, Kigali, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro. SushiGig, Webb Johnson’s influential yet informal social/professional gathering of random people, will be coming out of retirement to show off this worldwide broadcast of film, music and speakers at the Downtown Flying Star’s upstairs conference room (723 Silver SW). There is no charge to drop in, but space is limited, so you might want to RSVP by going to http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/537669 and signing up. For more info, log on to www.sushigig.com.
Student Cinema
This Wednesday, May 14, the KiMo Theatre will be the site of the first annual 505 Youth Film Festival, a showcase of films by Albuquerque middle and high school students. This screening of short (under five-minute) animation, music videos, comedies, dramas, documentaries and commercials gets underway at 5:30 p.m. It’s sponsored by the Valley High School film program and the City of Albuquerque Film Office. For details, log on to vhsvikings.com.
