Friday, November 30, 2007

Poets ... from Page to Stage to Movie Screen

Mikaela says:
Tonight is the premiere of the movie about last year's Albuquerque Poetry Slam Team preparing for the National Poetry Slam in Austin, TX, chosen as one of three Governor's Cup Short Documentary films.

It's being shown as part of the Santa Fe Film Festival, and it's free!

WHAT: Governor's Cup Winners, as part of the Santa Fe Film Festival
WHEN: TONIGHT, 7:30 pm
WHERE: Armory for the Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail
TIX: Free, available through the Santa Fe Film Festival

Three winners were chosen from over 200 applications to the competition last spring: Ramona Emerson, Thomas Tischler, and the team of Armando Kirwin and Daniel Dinning.

Funded by Comcast and the National Geographic All Roads Film Project, each winner received a $5,000 budget toward the creation of their film, plus use of the state’s production equipment, and trainees from the Film Technicians Training Programs statewide.

The All Roads Film Project is a National Geographic initiative to provide a global platform for indigenous and under-represented minority-culture storytellers around the world to showcase their talents and teach a broader audience about their cultures. Comcast Corporation generously donated $20,000 towards the Governor’s Cup.

  • THE POET AND THE WIND, by Armando Kirwin and Daniel Dinning, follows three New Mexico poets as they prepare for and compete in a national poetry slam competition.
  • A RETURN HOME by Ramona Emerson. This documentary follows Navajo artist B. Emerson Kitsman as she begins a monumental project while trying to adjust to her return to reservation life. Ms. Emerson, a member of Navajo nation, received her Bachelors degree in Media Arts from the University of New Mexico in 1997 and was one of the first two graduates of the program. One of her subsequent films, THE LAST TREK, was shown at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York and Washington, DC.
  • SIGNING A DREAM by Thomas Tishler. Mr. Tischler is a graduate of the New Mexico School for the Deaf and Gallaudet University. He has been profoundly deaf since birth. Mr. Tischler’s documentary is about Robert Huizar, a football coach at the New Mexico School for the Deaf, and his work to bring New Mexico’s six-man North All-Star team (deaf and hearing) to a state championship. SIGNING A DREAM is currently a work-in-progress.