Keep on Dancin’
Santa Fe has officially been chosen as one of six finalists to host the Sundance Film Festival. The Utah-based fest’s Sundance Institute announced earlier this year that it would likely move in 2027 from its longtime Park City home after more than 40 years, and our funny little burg seems as good a place as any to show them flicks. “Santa Fe and the Sundance Film Festival have long shared a deep appreciation for diversity, inclusion and artistic expression,” Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber says in a statement. “From our rich cultural heritage and thriving artist communities to the innovative voices championed at Sundance, there’s a natural synergy between our values. We believe that Santa Fe would provide a welcoming and inspiring platform for the stories and filmmakers that Sundance celebrates.” We likely won’t hear any official news for a few months yet, but certainly the other cities in the running—Atlanta, Boulder, Cincinnati, Louisville and Salt Lake City—couldn’t possibly hope to be as cool as us, right?
Finally!
After three seasons through which everyone pretty much agreed it was one of the best television shows in some time, Hulu/FX series Reservation Dogs is up for its first Emmys. These include outstanding picture editing for a single-camera comedy sSeries; outstanding cinematography for a single-camera series; outstanding sound editing for a comedy or drama series; outstanding lead actor in a comedy series (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Bear Smallhill); and outstanding comedy series. Numerous New Mexicans worked on the show across its run, including Santa Fe writer Blackhorse Lowe (Diné) and former SFR calendar editor Kerry Amanda Myers (Comanche). We’re proud. Editor’s note: An earlier version of this item incorrectly stated Reservation Dogs had four seasons.
Casting Call
Indie production company Flower Pictures is looking to cast its forthcoming short film Albert Camus’ Caligula. The logline describes a distraught Caligula (as in the emperor of the Roman empire from 37-41 AD) reeling from the death of his sister Drusilla and the subsequent three-day journey that shapes him into the monstrous jerk made famous from shows/books like I, Claudius and that one adult film. With a little luck, director Ethan Zell can help audiences understand the guy who made his horse a senator. Last we checked, shooting dates are still TBD, but parties interested in playing the boy emperor can visit the nmfilm.com casting call page or email FlowerPictures.Casting@gmail.com (they’re open to a variety of looks, builds, etc.). The pay clocks in at $150 per day, and the scene they’re trying to shoot—from Camus’ 1939 play script, mind you—features Caligula going mad.
Get to Know ‘Em
If you’re already on the state’s Film New Mexico site checking out casting opportunities, why not click on over to the NMFO Spotlight page, a veritable cornucopia of interviews with notable New Mexico people working in film. Check out the interview with actor Ryan Begay (Diné) while you’re there, because he was honestly so good in the recent Apple TV+ movie Fancy Dance with Lily Gladstone (Blackfeet), and he’s been in shows like Breaking Bad and Dark Winds and should probably become super-famous already. Same goes for the interview with DezBaa’ (Diné), who plays Helen Atcitty on Dark Winds, plus lots of other cool film and television people.
In the Rick of Time
The Paramount+ streaming service is now showing the 2021 New Mexico-filmed Western Apache Junction starring Stuart Townsend (Queen of the Damned), Thomas Jane (Hung), Scout Taylor Compton (Model House) and Santa Fe’s Ricky Lee (née Ricky Lee Regan; Cree and Lakota). In short, Apache Junction dips its toe into the lawless yet dying days of the Wild West and the journalist who heads into the fray to check it out only to get wrapped up in old vendettas and gunfights and kidnappings and such. SFR’s 2021 review of the film praised its old-school Western aesthetic, but also longed for more screen time from Lee’s character—the only one in the movie with a bit of relatable humanity.