ABQ arts org Basement Films will sponsor a two-night screening of “under-represented motion media” this weekend. On Friday, Feb. 15, highlights from Experiments in Cinema v1.0 and v2.0 will be shown. This 81-minute program will feature representative selections from the first two years of UNM lecturer Bryan Konefsky’s experimental film festival (about to enter its third year this April). The second night, Saturday, will be “The Personality of the Personnel,” which will spotlight short works by various members and volunteers of Basement Films from the past 16 years. This highly eclectic selection will include works by Maximillian Godino, Charla Barker, Bryan Konefsky, Saul Rodgar, Tyrrell Cummings, Sarah Wentzel-Fisher and more. Saturday night will conlude with “Fellah, Can You Amass?” featuring a variety of film and video projectors tangling their images in a go-for-broke montage. Both nights will take place at VSA North Fourth Art Center (4904 Fourth Street NW) beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are a mere $7 at the door. Log on to www.basementfilm.org for more info.
Concluding The Crime
Instituto Cervantes at the National Hispanic Cultural Center concludes its Cine Policiaco film series with a screening of the 1952 noir film Los Ojos Dejan Huelos this Thursday, Feb. 14. Luis Sáenz de Heredia’s Spanish thriller concentrates on a failed lawyer who commits the perfect crime on an old schoolmate. With the police unable to pin the murder on our killer, the victim’s wife schemes to seduce the sinister shyster in order to secure a confession. The film is in Spanish with English subtitles. The screening is free and begins at 7 p.m. at the NHCC’s Bank of America Theater (1701 Fourth Street NW).
Reading Films
Ira Jaffe, professor emeritus and former chair of the Department of Media Arts at the University of New Mexico (hey, I slept through more than one of his lectures!), will sign copies of his new book, Hollywood Hybrids: Mixing Genres in Contemporary Films, at the UNM Bookstore on Saturday, Feb. 15. The book examines how filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch, Todd Haynes and Joel and Ethan Coen mix horror, sci-fi, kung fu and more in contemporary cinema. The talk/signing will begin at 2 p.m.
Discussing Docs
The Santa Fe chapter of Amnesty International is screening Rory Kennedy’s documentary about Iraqi prisoner abuse, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, at the Santa Fe Film Center’s CinemaCafé on Monday, Feb. 18, beginning at 7 p.m. There will be a discussion afterwards. A suggested donation of $5 gets you in the door. The CinemaCafé is located at 1616 St. Michael’s Drive in Santa Fe.
