Date:
4/23/2010
Contact: Wendel Sloan at 575.562.2253
PORTALES—Eastern New Mexico University’s third annual High Plains Film Festival will be on Saturday, May 8 at 10 a.m. in the University Theatre Center on the Mainstage and Studio Theatre on the Portales campus. All participants must register to attend the workshops.
The events include a production workshop by Melissa Henry and Alfredo Perez of Red Ant Films, a screenwriting workshop with Carl Lucas, independent screenwriter, and a question and answer session with Experiments in Cinema Film Festival director Bryan Konefsky. Afterward, screenings of ENMU student and faculty films and films from Henry, Perez and Lucas will be followed by a question and answer session.
The schedule is as follows:
- 10 a.m. Visual Language and Storyboarding Workshop
Melissa Henry and Alfredo Perez of Red Ant Films - 12 p.m. Lunch with workshop presenters
- 1 p.m. Screenwriting Workshop
Carl Lucas, independent screenwriter - 3:30 p.m. Screening 1
ENMU student and faculty filmmakers; followed by Q&A session, Experiments in Cinema selections; followed by discussion and Q & A with festival director, Bryan Konefsky - 7 p.m. Screening 2
Works from guest filmmakers, Henry, Perez and Lucas; followed by Q & A session - 10 p.m. Reception
Assistant professor of theatre and film Laurel Petty is the festival coordinator and believes it helps the students and community by bringing professional filmmakers to the area who are able to show the audience new techniques and methods in filmmaking.
Konefsky said the Experiments in Cinema Film Festival mission is “to bring the international community of cinematic experimentalists to New Mexico and to inspire a new generation of ‘home-grown’ filmmakers to make movies in ways we never imagined possible.” The tour coincides with the High Plains Film Festival and Konefsky will screen work from the first five years of the festival.
Henry is an independent filmmaker based in New Mexico and teaches film at the University of New Mexico in the Cinematic Arts Department and was the Director of the UNM Summer Film Boot Camp for Native American and Hispanic Youth. She is the recipient of the New Visions/New Mexico Contracts Award and the 2008 National Geographic All Roads Seed Grant. Henry and her husband, Pérez, operate their production company, Red Ant Films.
Lucas completed his first screenplay in 2002, The College Program, a comedy based on his experiences in the military. His second screenplay earned him a top 100 finalist nod in the HBO original series Project Greenlight. He won several screenwriting awards and has written scripts for Vesta Pictures, Makeshift Productions and several others. In 2009, Lucas’ screenplay, Ilegales, was produced and he also produced his first feature film, Last Stop, starring Mena Suvari, Brian Austin Green and Joanne Kelly.
The event is $15 and open to the public. For more information, contact Laurel Petty at 575-562-2229.