UNM Interdisciplinary Film and Digital Media senior Nick Nelson has spent the last couple of years working on a five-part short film miniseries titled “The End Begins.” It’s about a computer programmer working for a private defense contractor who uncovers secret information that could crumble the nation’s defense. Part one of the locally shot thriller premiered last year. Now Nelson and his crew are ready for “phase two” of the series, which finds the protagonist fleeing to the Navajo reservation and joining up with an unlikely ally. (Nelson himself is a full-blooded Diné and lives in Jemez.) On Saturday, Jan. 31, “The End Begins: Phase II” will premiere at IFDM’s Mesa del Sol Theatre (5700-B W. University) at 7pm. Entrance is free, but seating is limited.
Reel World: Antici ... Pation Antici ... Pation
On Saturday, Jan. 31, Rocky Horror New Mexico will kick off its 2015 schedule with its very first show in a brand new location. Desert Rose Playhouse (6921 Montgomery NE, Suite E) will now serve as the home to the long-running Rocky Horror Picture Show shadow cast showcase. Producers promise a new home, new cast members, new management and the same old debauchery. Tickets are $10 at the door. The Show starts at 10pm. Share the love, and bring a “virgin” with you.
Reel World: Film Fest Feast Film Fest Feast
The Fourth Annual New Mexico Film Festival will hit UNM’s Valencia campus on Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 4 and 5. Things get underway on Wednesday at 10am with opening remarks and a welcome. The films start at 10:15 sharp with the shorts “Good Luck, Mr. Gorski” (a love story about Neil Armstrong’s next-door neighbors) and “Rudolfo Anaya: The Magic of Words” (about the famed New Mexico author). The Indian reservation-set ensemble drama Drunktown’s Finest starts at 11am. A Q&A with filmmaker Mateo Frazier follows at 12:30pm. At 12:45pm it’s “Moses on the Mesa,” based on the real-life tale of a Jewish immigrant who came to the Wild West in the late 1800s. Writer Alisa Valdes talks about pitching her novel The Dirty Girls Social Club to Hollywood at 1pm. The Jimmy Santiago Baca documentary A Place to Stand drops at 2pm. The sci-fi short “Void” comes in at 3:30pm, and the day closes out at 4pm with Behind the Blue Veil, a documentary about the nomadic Tuareg people of the Sahara. Thursday starts out at 10am with the shorts “No Star for Romaine,” “Mikailwitl,” “On the Land with the Earth” and “Taco Valley.” A panel discussion on experimental film starts up at 1pm, followed by a block of experimental shorts at 1:30pm. The horror short “Afraid of Sunrise” (2pm), the criminal romance Bad Posture (3:15pm) and the documentary short “Rudolfo Anaya: The Magic of Words” (4:45pm) close things out. Admission to all screenings/panel discussions is free. UNM’s Valencia campus is located at 280 La Entrada Rd. in Los Lunas. For more info call 925-8970.
