Film festival also a teaching experience

These five categories represent the types of films that the People Before Profit Film Festival is presenting this semester at the University of New Mexico.

The festival is now in its sixth semester and continues to grow and get community support. The films are shown at 7 p.m. every Monday through May 6 at the Student Union Building Theater on UNM’s campus. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a light discussion. The event is free and open to the public.

	If you go WHAT: People Before Profit Film Festival WHEN: 7 p.m. Mondays through May 6 WHERE: Student Union Building Theater, UNM campus HOW MUCH: Free

Desi Brown, an instructor in the Peace Studies program, says the festival will screen 17 films through the semester.

“What we continue to do is create a dialogue with the community when it comes to world issues,” he says. “We often forget because it’s not in our backyard, it doesn’t matter. But these are subjects that affect us all.”

In addition to the 17 films, there is a film class taught by Terry Culter-Broyles that will participate in all of the discussions.

“This semester was different from previous festivals because I thought about issues I wanted to deal with,” Cutler-Broyles says. “Essentially what I wanted to do was to show the films that had a message that was clear.”

Cutler-Broyles says the films have been great to start the dialogue and has sparked community interest.

“There’s a lot of give and take because of the films presenting a lot of issues,” she says. “Our goal is to bring the community into public education. Odds are, there are people who are thinking the same thing you are. This festival gives people a place where discussion can take place.”

Brown says in the past, the number of attendees has varied from week to week depending on the time of the semester. He says because the festival wasn’t paired with a class in the past, some students would show up for the film to get extra credit.

“There have been lows of five or six people in the audience,” he says. “But we’ve also had 150 people for some films. It all depends on how well-known the film is too. We try to screen films that are on a lot of people’s radar.”

Brown says what makes the festival successful is having community members and students in the same space.

“There’s nothing like having different views,” he says. “Last semester we showed a documentary on blood diamonds in Africa and we actually had a community member in the audience that lived there and described the experience of living there.”

The series is sponsored by the UNM Peace Studies Program, the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice, S.O.A.P. (Students Organizing Actions for Peace), the Guild Cinema and a number of other student and community organizations.

The festival continues with “Ghandi” being shown on Monday, Jan. 28; and “Occupation 101″ on Feb. 4; “Budrus” on Feb. 11; “Saving Face” on Feb. 18; “Osama” on Feb. 25; “Miss Representation” on March 4; “Stealing the Light” on March 18; “The Beauty Academy of Kabul” on March 25; “What Are We Doing Here” on April 1; “Manufactured Landscapes” on April 8; “The 11th Hour” on April 15; “Syriana” on April 29 and “Soylent Green” on May 6.

In-depth look: Former Albuquerque resident and now documentary filmmaker Charlie Minn will be hosting a filmmaking seminar from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2 and Sunday, Feb. 3 at the Digital Arts and Technology Academy, 1011 Lamberton Place NE.

Minn will lead a discussion about each documentary he has made, from pre-production to post and how he was able to carve his own niche into the filmmaking world.

He has produced and directed 10 documentaries in the past three years, with many of them playing in Albuquerque.

“A lot of people don’t know what it takes to be a filmmaker, especially one that works with documentaries,” he says. “I’ve been fortunate that my documentaries are victim-driven and have a different angle.”

Minn says through this seminar aspiring filmmakers will learn what the real world is like in filmmaking.

“I’ve done every bit of this on my own,” he says. “I’ve marketed the films and had success. Truth is, most film students will never make a feature-length film. I’m here to show them how to do it on their own terms.”

For more information on the seminar, visit www.weekendwithminn.eventbrite.com.

SEND ME YOUR TIPS: If you know of a movie filming in the state, or are curious about one, email film@ABQjournal.com. Follow me on Twitter @agomezART.