Bonus Features: June 19, 2024

For the Cinemaniacs

Filmmaker Scott Garen (Mindfulness Goes Mainstream) has partnered with Violet Crown Cinema (1606 Alcaldesa St., (505) 216-5678) for a new film series this summer that kicks off at 6 pm on Thursday, June 27 with Muscle Shoals, a musical documentary about FAME Studios founder Rick Hall. From there, Garren’s CineMani series will screen films he considers works of high artistry, including Cast Away, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Contact. In addition to the screenings, Garen will welcome filmmakers of various stripes to discuss the movies in the community room at Violet Crown. “I’ve led and presented film series in several communities, and I’ve kind of honed a way to present films that helps people appreciate what I call the filmmaker’s palette,” Garen tells SFR. “The whole vision of the series is wanting to create and foster a band of cinema-lovers from the greater Santa Fe community who are fed and inspired by a unique series of films and, particularly, who will enjoy participating in lively discussions.” Muscle Shoals director Freddy Camalier and producer Stephen Badger are slated to attend the June 27 screening, with writer William Broyles Jr. of Cast Away scheduled for that screening next month. Tickets run $16.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Speaking of movie programming, The Center for Contemporary Arts (1050 Old Pecos Trail, (505) 982-1338) continues its Amplified film series at 6 pm, Tuesday, June 25 with a screening of 2018′s Amazing Grace, the Aretha Franklin concert film. A co-directed affair from Alan Elliott/Sydney Pollack, the film follows Franklin circa 1972 as she records her Amazing Grace record in a Los Angeles church. Of note is the film’s G rating, which means you can and should take young folks to learn why Franklin remains such an iconic force years after her 2018 death. Tickets run $13-$15.

Won’t Somebody Think of the Children?!

The Regal theater in the Santa Fe Place mall (or Villa Linda if you’re one of those “old habits die hard” types) is really nailing it when it comes to offerings for kids this summer. Not only does Regal play new films like the recent Garfield Movie with Chris Pratt, it offers showings of older and older-yet-recent movies like Paw Patrol: The Movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and others. Of special note, particularly for nerds who are also parents, Regal will host several screenings of Hayao Miyazaki’s beloved 2004 animated film Howl’s Moving Castle this September in both subtitled and dubbed formats, presumably for some kind of 20th anniversary thing. Not a kid and want to visit that theater? Check the website (regmovies.com/theatres/regal-santa-fe-place) for Monday Mystery Movies, a series that provides rating and runtime information, but not a title. Ticket prices vary.

The Early Bird

The Santa Fe International Film Festival hosts its Technicolor Gala on 35mm to raise money for its grants and scholarship programs at 5:30 pm on Saturday, July 20 at La Fonda on the Plaza (100 E San Francisco St., santafe.film). Obviously, that’s a month away, but now you might have some time to get tickets if you wish ($195 per single; $1,755 for a table of 10)—and you just might wish as the cast of the AMC drama/thriller Dark Winds is scheduled to appear. Not only that, but SFIFF has been known to hand out all kinds of money to up-and-coming filmmakers, and we need young artists to learn the ropes so they can save us all from this Greek tragedy-adjacent life of six Marvel movies per year.

Dear, Goths

Despite not sounding metal yet having T-shirts emblazoned with metal imagery, Swedish band Ghost has proven quite the hot commodity over the last however many years, and the Jean Cocteau Cinema this week hosts a screening of the band’s first-ever concert film (7 pm Thursday, June 20 and 3 pm Sunday, June 22. $15, 418 Montezuma Ave., (505) 466-5528). Rite Here, Rite Now was shot over a pair of sold-out Los Angeles shows last year, and is reportedly quite the look into the band’s whole deal. If you’re reading this and thinking, “Who the hell is Ghost?” they recorded that “Mary on a Cross” song that became inescapable on social media (and presumably other songs as well).