Every year the New Mexico Film Office gives local filmmakers the opportunity to show off their work at the New Mexico Filmmakers Showcase. The 2015 Showcase will take place Jan. 24 and 25 at the Jean Cocteau Cinema in Santa Fe. If you’re a New Mexico-based filmmaker interested in showing off some of your work, you have until Friday, Nov. 21, to submit. There is no charge to submit an entry. This is a first-come/first-served open sheet screening. Since the slots fill up quickly, not all entries will be screened as the slots. So get your films in ASAP. The January event is open to the public and free to attend. A panel of industry professionals will judge the films in eight categories—from sci-fi/fantasy to comedy. “Best of Category” winners will have the opportunity to travel New Mexico throughout 2015 in collaboration with a number of local film festivals and theaters. Entry forms are available at nmfilm.com. For more info, contact NMFO local outreach programs manager Lindsey Valdez at lindsey@nmfilm.com or (505) 476-5671.
Reel World: Slice It Up Slice It Up
Writer-director-actor Jason Witter’s fun, funny and occasionally shocking “found footage” horror comedy Pizza Girl Massacre will have a DVD release party this Saturday, Nov. 22, at Tricklock Performance Lab (110 Gold SW) starting at 10pm. You can pick up your very own copy of the locally lensed slasher for a mere $10 a pop. (I have it on good authority, the DVD makes a fine Christmas gift.) Posters will also be available. (Feel free to get the cast and crew to sign one.) Cool door prizes will be given away too. As if that weren’t enough, Slice Parlor has generously donated some thematically appropriate pizza for the event, and Tractor Brewery will be on hand selling some of their sweet suds. Sounds like a bloody good time.
Reel World: Pueblo Pictures Pueblo Pictures
November is Native American Heritage Month, and the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is celebrating with the inaugural Pueblo Film Festival. On Nov. 22 and 23, IPCC (2401 12th Street NW) will host the only festival in the country devoted exclusively to the work of Pueblo filmmakers and actors. All of the features, shorts, documentaries and workshops in this two-day event will explore aspects of the Pueblo experience. James Lujan, chair of the Cinematic Arts and Technology program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, is just one of the filmmakers whose work will be featured. Jonathan Sims of Acoma Pueblo, Arthur Cruz of Ohkay Owingeh and Michael Bird of Santo Domingo will also be represented. Features include She Sings to the Stars with Jemez Pueblo elder Fannie Loretto, who will participate in a post-film Q&A. Documentaries are represented by The Pueblo Food Experience, produced by award-winning Santa Clara sculptor Roxanne Swentzell. (That one’s followed by a reception highlighting pre-contact foods.) In all, 14 films will be shown. Screenings run 10am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday in the Chaco Rooms at IPCC.
