WITH FILIP CELANDER
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SFR: How did you end up in Santa Fe?
FC:
When I was 17, I decided to learn English, so I signed up for an exchange program and was put with a host family in New Orleans. It's kind of a strange place, a bit of a culture shock from Stockholm [Sweden], but it was great. I got to experience all the stinky blues bars, Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest. Then I ended up being recruited by the College of Santa Fe, so I thought, 'New Mexico, why not?' After college I lived in New York for a while, then ran a production company in Sweden and then came back here. I don't know why, it just felt right.
Did you have big ambitions to direct movies?
No. I was into shooting and editing. When I was in Sweden, I was a camera operator and editor for TV. Then me and my friends started a production company making music videos and commercials.
How is the film industry different here in New Mexico compared to Europe?
Oh, it's very different. There it's really small. It's very hard to run a business because of the social structure. Much more of your money goes to taxes in Sweden, but there are some very creative filmmakers working there. There's a town in Sweden called Trolley, or Trolleywood, which is a tax-free center where a lot of people come to make films. There's also a lot of animation coming out of there.
What is your role at the Center for Contemporary Arts?
I manage the Cinematheque, deal with distributors, staff, watch a lot of film-that's a perk-and work very closely with curator Jason Silverman. He's great to work with because I get a lot of input into what comes.
How do you guys choose the films?
Many times you bring in a film knowing that it's going to have a very specific audience, and you kind of know it's not going to do a lot of business, but you still want to show it because it's a great film. We can't do that all the time though.
Do you still go see movies at the Screen, even though they're the competition?
I was so lucky to be at the College of Santa Fe, where Brent [Kliewer] would bring things in on 35 millimeter, which is the biggest treat, and I was a projectionist there. But yeah, I was there last night watching a kung fu movie called
Dirty Ho
. It was great.
Are you guys in competition a lot for movies?
I'm sure it happens. It's definitely the Screen and CCA in our own league compared to the new Regal or the United Artists. And with that new one they're building, with 14 screens, I think there are going to be too many screens here. There are enough movies though that between the two of us there is a pretty amazing scene here, especially for a town this size. We're doing real well. We also do a lot of very different things. We had
Drawing Restraint 9
here, which is really a visual arts kind of piece. You have to change your perception of how you watch film.
Was that the movie you had the most complaints about?
No, we had a lot of people walk out, but
Brick
actually got me a lot of phone calls. People called and asked me about the plot or the language. One woman in particular just kept coming back and seeing it and just didn't understand, but it was cool, she wanted to, so she kept trying. Surprisingly, I haven't had any of those calls about
Shortbus
, which I was definitely expecting. In fact, only one person walked out on opening weekend, and I've really been getting good feedback. Everyone from 18 to 80 seems to like it.
Does the shock factor play into your choices of films?
Some films are more interesting when they do something to their audience. Something like
Shortbus
is almost a social experiment, in its technique and what it's doing to its audience. In Europe, it's being advertised as a romantic comedy, whereas here, the sex scenes are the focus. I would never bring in a movie just to shock people though; it has to be a good film.
Being an art space, too, you get to do a lot of events that are different from a normal movie theater.
Yeah, we work with Slow Foods, we just did a fund-raiser for the homeless and on Dec. 8, with the opening of
American Hardcore
, we're going to be working with Indie 101.5 and having a beer garden and a fun little party. We really try to involve the whole community in those films and events.
When the warehouse is finished, is the theater going to get any vamping up?
Yeah, we have to wait until that's done in, we hope, June of next year, but then the theater is getting a facelift.
Do you get to get out and see a lot of films before they come to the CCA?
I work for the Telluride Film Festival too, so I went up to the past festival to check out some stuff and go skiing-I mean, Park City is right there, so I might as well. I'm also going to the Native American Film Festival in New York at the end of November. There's such a special energy and vibe to film festivals, and you get to see all these things you wouldn't normally get to anywhere, even in a theater like the CCA's.
