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New Mexico Film Intensive Announces Participants for Program's Inaugural Year
College of Santa Fe For Immediate Release: February 7, 2007
Contact: Jennifer Levin
(505) 473-6502/jlevin@csf.edu
Diane Schneier Perrin
(505) 473-6417/ dsp@csf.edu
SANTA FE - Aiming to provide longevity for New Mexico's f11mmaking boom by increasing the number of New Mexican filmmakers, the College of Santa Fe's Moving Image Arts Department has launched the New Mexico Film Intensive (NMFI), a two-semester post-baccalaureate certificate program for above-the-line film training. Guided by working industry professionals and academic experts, the diverse participant group will receive the extensive hands-on creative, practical experience and business acumen necessary to succeed in today's increasingly competitive film industry. Supported by a $1 million dollar grant from the state of New Mexico, NMFI's mission to bolster above-the-line talent is the latest step in Governor Bill Richardson's bold film incentive programs.
The 2007 NMFI faculty is led by Jonathan Wacks, chair of the CSF Moving Image Arts Department, who will serve as directing faculty. Wacks holds an MFA from UCLA and produced the acclaimed cult hit Repo Man and directed Powwow Highway. NMFI director Diane Schneier Perrin (BFA, New York University) is an independent producer with extensive experience in film development. Her producing credits include Reversal of Fortune and Talk Radio. Tom Musca (MFA, UCLA) will serve as screenwriting faculty; Musca's most recently produced screenplay, Tortilla Soup, is the third highest selling Latino-themed DVD in history. Forrest Murray, producing faculty, has produced such classics as Five Comers and Bob Roberts. Editor Steve Kemper (BA, University of Southern California) edited the Steven Spielberg television show "Amazing Stories," for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award. His feature film work includes Face/ Off, Mission Impossible 2 and Windtalkers.
The first 26 NMFI students - selected from an applicant pool of over fifty - arrived on campus to begin the semester's classes, which is divided into three tracks: directing, producing and screenwriting. Admission preference was given to applicants from New Mexico; all but two of the participants were born in or now live in New Mexico.
The Participants
Armando de Aguero (screenwriting) is a native of Albuquerque and holds a BA in English from the University of New Mexico. In 2006 he gave up his career in pharmaceutical sales to pursue writing after he published his first short story, a fictional account of the first woman hanged in New Mexico. He is currently at work on a novel, Demon Lover, which won second place in the horror/ science fiction/ fantasy category at the 2006 Southwest Writers Conference.
Jennifer Buntjer (producing) holds a BA in comparative and medieval literature from the University of New Mexico. She is a former air traffic controller, a career she left to pursue creative goals. She is currently working on a photographic essay and animated film, Sub-Urban Nomad. In 2001, Buntjer received a Canon Emerging Photographer Scholarship from the Santa Fe Workshops.
Coco Cabrel (screenwriting) holds a BS and an MD from Northwestern University. She is a professional flamenco and Spanish dancer who has taught at the University of New Mexico-Taos and Taos High School and performed throughout the Midwest. Cabrel is currently at work on a book about flamenco.
James Bustamante (directing) holds a BA in moving image arts from the College of Santa Fe. Bustamante's student film, Tres Generaciones, was screened at the 2005 Santa Fe Film Festival. He is a native of Las Vegas, NM.
Gabriel Flores (directing) grew up in Las Cruces, NM. He earned a BA in cultural anthropology from Occidental College in California before working as a freelance production assistant and stagehand. He returned to New Mexico to become involved in the state's burgeoning film industry.
Ginny Galtney (producing) holds a BA in English from the University of Mississippi at Oxford. Currently a non-profit fundraiser, she has also raised funds for a large-market PBS affiliate. Her lifelong love of film led to work on the sets of Terms of Endearment and Silkwood.
Rorie Hanrahan (producing) left her job with the State of New Mexico to complete and produce her screenplay, Biting Through Grace, for which she is pursuing funding through the New Mexico Film Office.
Loren Haynes (directing) is an actor and director who has come to NMFI not only to enhance his education but to immerse himself in the group learning-experience. Though he has worked professionally in New York and Los Angeles, he regrets turning down a spot in the master's program at The Juilliard School many years ago.
Georgiana Lee (producing) has a BA in journalism from Creighton University. A resident of Kirtland, NM, her interest in film began with a competition in high school for which she and three friends created a documentary, called The Underground Killer, about the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act and its impact on the Navajo Nation. The film placed first in the district and state and went on to win a fifth-place award nationally.
Diego Lopez (screenwriting) holds a BA in media arts from the University of New Mexico and has worked as an actor, director and videographer. He is a native of Espanola, NM, the son of sculptor Jose Benjamin Lopez and master weaver Irene Lopez.
Melissa McCracken (screenwriting) is originally from Chicago, IL. She holds a BA in English from Northeastern Illinois University and an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College. She works as a business consultant and has published her short fiction in anthologies.
Ed Merta (screenwriting) holds a BA in international studies from The Ohio State University and an MA in history from Harvard University. As an employee of the University of New Mexico Medical Library, Merta was asked to create a short flim about the library for a conference. Making the well-received short, The Library on the Edge of Forever, cemented Merta's decision to pursue his dream of becoming a flimmaker.
Smallbear Free (producing) holds a BA in theater studies from the University of California-Santa Cruz. Originally from Southern California, Free attended Santa Fe High School and has worked as a video assist-technician on a number of Hollywood films shot in New Mexico.
Genia Michaela (screenwriting) has acted professionally since age 12. She studied at MIT and earned a BA in theater studies from Yale University; she also took courses at the New School in New York City. She returned to her home state of New Mexico a year and a half ago to teach and to become a part of the New Mexico film industry.
Michael Miller (producing) is a producer, director and announcer. A native of Santa Fe, NM, he holds a degree in business from the University of New Mexico. Miller produced the short film Shibubu for the 2002 Duke City Shootout and received the Audience Award as well as awards for Best Film, Best Cinematographer and Best Titles. In 2005, he produced another short film, The Disappeared.
Shannon Rotheneder (screenwriting) holds a BA in secondary education from the University of New Mexico. Formerly a contract administrator with the Sun Healthcare Group, Rotheneder has entered NMFI intent upon changing her career.
Ali Silverstein (directing) holds a BA in fine art and religion from Columbia University and an MA from the Slade School of Fine Arts. Originally from La Jolla, CA, she lives in London, where she has had success as a painter represented by the Bischoff Weiss Gallery. In 2006, Ali produced the short film Last Night, starring Rosamund Pike.
Katie Doyle Smith (screenwriting) holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College. She moved to Albuquerque from New Hampshire in 2004 to establish an organic vegetable farm. Her interest in film stems from a desire to express visually her encounters with global ethical questions and social justice.
Joseph von Stern (producing) holds a bachelor of business administration from the University of Iowa. A resident of Santa Fe, von Stern is a producer whose most recent production is the feature-length DVD release Naked Fear starring Joe Mantegna. He is a partner in the local production services and equipment rental company, HDNM Entertainment and served as seminar coordinator at this year's Santa Fe Film Festival.
Craig Strong (directing) has worked in theater for 25 years, recently as an event producer for the Santa Fe Opera and producing director for Santa Fe Stages, as well as festivals in Los Angeles. He has served as a resident artist in the Iowa Playwrights Workshop at the University of Iowa and spent 1983-84 as a producer for the Groundlings. He holds a BFA in acting from the North Carolina School of the Arts.
Faith Strongheart (directing) holds a BA in moving image arts from the College of Santa Fe. Originally from Ribera, NM, she has worked as an assistant director and production assistant on film productions in New Mexico. After several years working on big budget Hollywood features starring Billy Bob Thornton, Charlize Theron, Richard Gere and Russel Crowe, Strongheart wants to return to developing her own projects as an up and coming writer-director.
Raquel Troyce (screenwriting) is originally from Guadalajara, Mexico. She is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books and articles in Spanish and English. In 2005, she entered one of her books, Ruth, in a national contest and received third prize. She is currently at work on the screenplay Deportation Order, based on an article she wrote that received an award at the 2005 Southwest Writers Conference.
Gregg Weiss (screenwriting) holds a BS in social work from The Ohio State University. A Santa Fe resident, Weiss serves as creative director for the cutting edge advertising and web design agency Meridian Six.
Tantri Wija (directing) was raised in Denpasar, Bali, and Santa Fe, NM. She holds a BA in international politics and relations from Wesleyan University. She currently works for the Santa Fe Film Festival and writes a food column for the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Alex Yalen (screenwriting) holds a BA in history and journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. A journalist by trade, his interest in screenwriting comes from a desire to tell deeper, more meaningful stories about the complexity of human nature.
Michael Zeilik (screenwriting) holds a BA from Princeton University and a BS and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He worked as a science writer for over 30 years but recently decided to employ his writing talents in a new field. He is looking to create a community of screenwriters in Santa Fe and believes he has found it in the NMFI.
The New Mexico Film Intensive is made possible in part by a grant from the state of New Mexico. For more information about NMFI, contact Jennifer Levin at (505) 473-6502 or jlevin@csf.edu.
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