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Up the Punx
File this one under kinda-sorta-unexpected, but it seems 2000s-era Albuquerque-based pop-punk band Left Unsaid preferred that *it* actually be said by making a documentary film about itself. Well, the band’s singer/guitarist Mario Rivera did, anyway. Dubbed Left Unsaid: Never Ending, It’s Better This Way, the doc delves into the rise of the band during it heyday and how it came super-close to super-stardom. You can watch a trailer on YouTube, and the full film is available via Amazon right now. It actually came out a few months ago, but it’s news to us and therefore probably you.
Talk-Talk
Have you been listening to KTRC radio’s Film Talk Weekly on 103.7 FM with hosts Jacques Paisner and Gary Farmer at 1 pm on Saturdays? Paisner is the founder and artistic director of the Santa Fe International Film Festival, and Farmer is, of course, the Reservation Dogs/Smoke Signals/Dead Man actor who wins hearts and minds wherever he goes (he’s also on the film fest’s advisory board and created its Indigenous Film Program). Of late, the show has been thriving under regular guest host Castle Searcy while Paisner prepares for this year’s SFIFF in October. But, Paisner tells SFR, he’ll get back behind the mic for some cool upcoming episodes, including one with filmmaker Andy Pollack—known for shorts—and another with writer Kirk Ellis, whose recent Franklin series on Apple TV+ has been lauded for its writing and its performances from Michael Douglas as the titular Benjamin Franklin and Noah Jupe as his grandson Temple. Ellis also serves on the SFIFF advisory board and, for certain types of nerds out there, was the scribe behind the tragically under-appreciated yet most compelling 2015 video game, The Order: 1886.
Docs on Docs
Come next week, the Jean Cocteau Cinema welcomes a partnership film screening event jointly hosted by the Emerging New Mexico Documentary Filmmakers Grants Initiative from the Albuquerque Film & Media Incubator and the film-forward nonprofit Stagecoach Foundation. This year, four New Mexico filmmakers received grants to make documentaries: David C’De Baca for his Alternate Transport ABQ about how city planning affects transportation; Dominic Fraire for Terria XO about an Indigenous trans person’s search for identity and community; Dylan Haworth for Scar Upon the Earth about climate change and the communities hit by the 2022 Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire; and Gianna Peredina for Strings of Connection about an Albuquerque guitar shop owner’s commitment to creativity. Now, the ol’ JCC shall screen those films. All four filmmakers are scheduled to attend the event (7 pm Wednesday, Aug. 7. $5. Jean Cocteau Cinema, 418 Montezuma Ave., (505) 466-5525). A Q&A follows the screenings.
Mary, Mary; Quite Contrary
With some Game of Thrones fans still taking to the internet to weep about how whatever would-be next book in the series isn’t coming along fast enough for their liking, author George RR Martin went and produced a short with director Steven Paul Judd (Kiowa and Choctaw) based on a story by late sci-fi writer Howard Waldrop. The post-apocalyptic/Mad Max-esque tractor pull (not kidding) short film Mary Margaret Road Grader is absolutely packed with Indigenous talent, like Crystle Lightning (Cree), Cody Lightning (Cree), Ryan Begay (Diné), Martin Sensmeier (Tlingit and Koyukon-Athabascan) and many more, and it’ll drop locally with a free screening at 7pm on Friday, Aug. 16 at the New Mexico History Museum (113 Lincoln Ave., (505) 476-5200). Judd and others from the film will be there, and we’re mentioning it bright and early so folks have enough time to plan to attend if they wish.
Viktorious
Speaking of both early mentions and Cody Lightning, the actor/writer/director himself comes to Santa Fe in August to introduce a screening of his fantastic 2023 mockumentary Hey, Viktor! as part of Reservation Dogs writer and filmmaker Blackhorse Lowe’s (Diné) CineDoom series at Violet Crown Cinema (6:30, the doc delves into the rise of the band during its heyday and how it came super-close to super-stardom at a time when the world was like, “Damn, Taking Back Sunday is pretty good, huh?” You can watch eaking 1998 Chris Eyre-directed film Smoke Signals. Fictional Cody has written a sequel to Smoke Signals subtitled Still Smoking (hilarious) and he tries to get the original cast back together while contending with his perceived shortcomings and the cruel machinations of fame. The star-studded Hey, Viktor! played at last year’s Santa Fe International Film Festival, and SFR was all about it. “Hey, Viktor! is both a brilliant commentary on the aftermath of child stardom,” our review read, “and a surreal yet insightful comedy that dips into pitch-perfect dramatic moments.” Tickets are still available as of this writing, but interested parties should get ‘em fast.s
