Las Cruces film fest leans into diversity and inclusion

LAS CRUCES – The Las Cruces International Film Festival will mark its 10th anniversary Wednesday, April 9, through Sunday, April 13, at New Mexico State University and other locations in Las Cruces.

The festival’s featured guest, receiving its Outstanding Achievement in Entertainment award, will be film and television actress Helen Hunt, making her the second woman honored in the festival’s history.

This year, the festival will also honor African American artist Michelle Hurd and Cyrus Nowrasteh, an American filmmaker of Iranian descent.

“Eight of our nine previous honorees have been men,” said Ross Marks, LCIFF founder and executive director. “We really wanted to honor a woman this year and really wanted to focus thematically on diversity and inclusion.”

Hunt will field questions alongside a screening of her Oscar-winning performance in the 1997 romantic comedy, “As Good As It Gets,” in which she starred opposite Jack Nicholson.

Over a 35-year acting career, Hurd has appeared on Broadway and on film and television. After a six-year stint on the NBC daytime soap opera, “Another World,” Hurd played the role of detective Monique Jeffries in “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” for two seasons. She also had recurring roles in “New York Undercover,” “ER” and “90120” among many others, and was in the main cast of “Star Trek: Picard.”

Nowrasteh is a writer, director and producer who graduated from the University of Southern California’s film school after attending New Mexico State University. Among his works was a controversial docudrama miniseries produced by ABC television in 2006, “The Path to 9/11,” starring Harvey Keitel and Donnie Wahlberg.

Marks said the festival has added a new LGBTQ+ film category this year as well.

Marks is a filmmaker based in Las Cruces and a professor at NMSU’s Creative Media Institute, known for staffing his productions with students. The same goes for the film festival, which he said is entirely student-run, from marketing and planning to programming and staffing multiple events and locations.

Technical courses in planning and producing film festivals are part of the CMI curriculum, Marks said, with the growing Las Cruces festival offering real-world experience.

Approximately 100 films were selected by students for screening out of more than 800 submissions from 50 countries, including feature-length movies, documentaries, short films and music videos.

Opening the festival will be “Brewmance,” a comedy starring Alex Moffat and Kennedy McMann, filmed in Las Cruces and directed by NMSU alumnus Keagan Karnes.

Last year’s festival, with actor Ron Perlman as guest of honor, drew over 8,000 ticketed guests to panels, workshops, movie screenings and other events, compared to 3,000 at the first LCIFF in 2016. Marks estimated attendance has grown approximately 20% year by year, and said he hoped this year’s event would draw at least 9,500.

Las Cruces film fest leans into diversity and inclusion