This weekend the picturesque northern New Mexico town of Taos will play host to the first annual Taos Environmental Film Festival. On Thursday, Oct. 1, the founders of the Angkor Wat International Film Festival, filmmakers Robert Stone and Tom Vendietti, are offering up two high-altitude documentaries. The Quietest Place on Earth is a look at the Kaleakala volcano on Maui through the eyes of Hawaiian cultural practioners and others. When the Mountain Calls: Nepal, Tibet & Bhutan is an exploration by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Tom Vendetti featuring his personal reflections and experiences from over 30 years of traveling through the Himalayas. Those films start at 7pm at the Taos Center for the Arts public auditorium (133 Paseo del Pueblo Norte). On Friday, Oct. 2, a selection of 13 short films—drawn from the Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City, Calif.—will be shown at the Taos Center for the Arts starting at 7pm. This event, organized in concert with the Taos Fall Arts Festival, is free and open to the public. Donations are welcome, however, and proceeds will go to several charities, including the One World-One Heart Foundation to assist the Himalayan region. For more info, go to taosfallarts.com.
Reel World: Coffee Tawk Coffee Tawk
Shereen Noon and Aaron William Star of Elemental Films are kicking off October with another Friday Filmmakers Coffee. Since January of 2014, these monthly meet-ups have been a way for local film professionals to get together, network and talk in a casual atmosphere. The schedule has changed a bit and Friday Filmmakers Coffee now takes place on the first Friday of every month, alternating between spots in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. This Friday, Oct. 2, the coffee klatch will take place at Ovations Film Actors Studio (116 Morningside NE) from 3 to 6pm. If you wish to attend, please RSVP to snoon@elemental-films.com.
Reel World: There Ain’t No Sanity Claus! There Ain’t No Sanity Claus!
Kimo Theatre (423 Central NW) celebrates classic Hollywood comedies with one of the Marx Brothers’ finest outings. The raucous 1935 lampoon of high society, A Night at the Opera, screens this Sunday, Oct. 4, from 2 to 3:30pm. Tickets are $8 general admission or $6 students and seniors. You can get them in advance by going to kimotickets.com.
Reel World: Gay Film Fest Goes Live Gay Film Fest Goes Live
The Southwest Gay & Lesbian Film Festival returns for its 13th year, Oct. 9-18, at the Guild Cinema (3405 Central NE). There will be a wide selection of comedies, dramas, documentaries and short films representing some of the best in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning cinema. The opening night film is British director Peter Greenaway’s “dazzling and giddy glitter-bomb of a film” Eisenstein in Guanajuato—which speculates on what might have happened when the brilliant Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein went to Mexico in 1931 to shoot a film. A complete schedule of films and events is online now at swglff.com. The advanced box office is already open at Self Serve Sexuality Resource Center (3904B Central SE). So purchase your tickets, punch cards and passes before they sell out.
