The 2014 “Film or Flight” Youth Film Festival is ready for its close-up. This marks the third year for this festival spotlighting high school and college-aged filmmakers. Back in February student filmmakers were given just 72 hours to make a short film. Now Warehouse 508 and Film!ABQ are presenting the results at KiMo Theatre on Friday, March 14, starting at 7pm. Admission to this short film celebration is free.
Reel World: Choose Life Choose Life
The newly minted New Mexico Film Foundation is kicking off its first project. Entitled “Life in New Mexico,” this community-minded media project encourages the public to submit 3-minute video clips telling a story or sharing a moment. They want to know what is “funny, odd, bad, wonderful, bittersweet, unique, mundane or spectacular” about life in the Land of Enchantment. Local post-production pros will get a crack at editing the accepted clips into a final “Life in NM” video. Submissions will be accepted from March 15 through March 31. All you need to do is shoot your video and upload it to Vimeo, YouTube or other video-supported website.
Reel World: Salt Celebration Salt Celebration
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the New Mexico-made docudrama Salt of the Earth. This politically charged film is based on the 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Mine in New Mexico and was blacklisted by Hollywood for many years. On Saturday, March 15, the Real Miners of the United Steel Workers District 12, AFSCME and IATSE Film Workers Union invite one and all to Silver City for a community-wide recognition and celebration of this groundbreaking movie. It all gets underway with bus transportation to the events from the Grant County Business and Conference Center (3031 Hwy. 180 East in Silver City) starting at 9:45am. There will be a history tour of mining strike/movie filming locations, followed by a gathering at the WNMU Fine Arts building for a reception and panel discussion with surviving activists/family members. The day concludes with a screening of the new documentary “Silver City Dreaming,” followed by Herbert J. Biberman’s original 1954 film. Events are free, but to guarantee seats you need to RSVP online.
Reel World: Have Some Heart Have Some Heart
The Albuquerque-lensed horror-comedy I Heart U has just been released nationwide on DVD by Camp Motion Pictures. The film features producer/actor Raine Brown (Braincell, Barricade, Torture Chamber) and director/actor Billy Garberina (Necroville, Gimme Skelter, Psycho Holocaust) as a quietly unhappy suburban couple. Bored with domestic bliss (and his domineering wife), nerdy building inspection engineer Walter looks for a little escape in an old hobby: serial killing. But he’s not the only slasher in town! The script for this romantic black comedy was written by Alibi film critic Devin D. O’Leary (yup, that’s me). To celebrate we’re hosting a DVD release party this Sunday, March 16, at South Broadway Cultural Center (1025 Broadway SE) at 7pm. You can watch the film for free, then stick around for a Q&A with cast and crew sponsored by Film!ABQ. DVDs will be for sale in the lobby.
