artdirector@sfreporter.com
Movies
Visual Art at the Cinema?!
Longtime Santa Feans who know the Center for Contemporary Arts know that the un-killable nonprofit also likes to dabble in the visual arts world. As it stands right now, said dabbling comes in the form of Ritual Relationships of Liquidity from artists Abigail Smith and Emily Margarit Mason. Described as a “photomontage exhibit,” the show merges Smith’s background in collage and as an archivist with Mason’s love of nature and photography. In other words, if you’re catching a movie at CCA sometime soon, catch the show in the lobby—it’s cool and you can do that through mid-October.
Revivalism
OK, so the Jean Cocteau Cinema has pretty much become the coolest revival house in town. Oh, sure, they’ve got upcoming screenings of filmmaker Steven Paul Judd’s George RR Martin-produced Mary Margaret Road Grader (think Mad Max but Indigenous) on the docket, but a cursory glance at the calendar of upcoming films includes screenings of Smoke Signals (Dead Man’s Gary Farmer with long hair? Yes, please!), Blue Velvet, Stand By Me and Easy Rider. That oughta hold everyone for the next few months.
Cast System
We’ve seen a few casting calls out there for various roles, including from Jake Alexander Bryant Productions, which is looking to cast a 20-something woman to play a perky influencer type for a film being shot in Las Cruces this month. The name of the film is Gen Xennial, and the logline states that it’s about a guy who has all but given up when he meets a special lady. Is this manic pixie dream girl stuff? Sounds like it, but we won’t know til the movie comes out—so maybe you should try to be in it, 20-something women. Email jakealexanderbryantproductions@gmail.com or call (915) 479-8271 to learn more or visit IMDb-dot-com to learn that Bryant directed 2016′s City of God. Also, PanopticNerve Productions is also in the midst of the casting game for its Escape From Flat Earth, which is slated to film in September in Albuquerque. The comedic film follows three Black siblings and a flat earth-type boyfriend, and they’re looking to cast Black performers. Email mariedalarcon@gmail.com or call (267) 499-4512 for more info.
One Last Cast
Yes, this is another casting mention, but it gets its own spot on the Bonus Features rundown because it’s about cuddling. New Mexico Casting Company (which is a really good name for a New Mexico company that does casting) is looking for interracial and same-sex couples to film G-rated cuddling for a television series. No word on what series that is, but we think it sounds cute. Interested parties should send photos to nmccasting@gmail.com with the subject like “COUPLES.” The project shoots Aug. 28 and 29 in Albuquerque.
Calling All Studio Ghibli-philes
Yeah, yeah—you’ve seen Spirited Away to death, you slap Joe Hisaishi’s score from Howl’s Moving Castle on all your Insta reels and you can quote Princess Mononoke start to back (“My name is Ashitaka and I’ve traveled far from lands to the east. Are you ancient gods and have I come at last to the land of the spirit of the forest?!?!” And then Gillian Anderson in wolf form is all, “I’ma bite some heads off!”), but have you seen 1995′s Whisper of the Heart directed by Yoshifumi Kondô? For those of you who just said, “Miyazaki didn’t direct every single Ghibli movie?” out loud, know that the adorable love story follows a young woman making her way through library books, and all the ones she loves most were previously checked out by this one dude. Cute, right? Right. Don’t call yourself an otaku (Google it) until you see it at Violet Crown Cinema at 3 pm on Sunday, Aug. 25. Tickets run $14.
A Real Brew-Ha-Ha
New Mexico-born filmmaker Keagan Karnes recently wrapped production on the film Brewmance starring former SNL performer Alex Moffat and Nancy Drew alum Kennedy McMann. Filmed in Las Cruces in July, Brewmance follows Kennedy’s feisty brewery owner as she clashes with Moffat’s big city marketing guy; surely they fall in love. Predictability aside, GTAV’s Steven Ogg (who voiced the brilliantly-written if maniacal Trevor) is in the movie, so that’ll probably be cool.
