Democracy for New Mexico

8/28: Water Movie at NHCC: Screening - Last Call at the Oasis

Burque Bioneers hosts a monthly screening series focused on inspiring social and scientific innovation in our community that respects and fosters well-being for the web of life in the mid-Rio Grande valley. We partner with a number of local organizations and businesses to show thought provoking films and build an ongoing dialogue about the environmental, social and economic challenges we face and the creative ways we can address them.

Screenings are typically held at the National Hispanic Cultural Center and are free of charge.

Last Call at the Oasis

On August 28th, 7PM At the National Hispanic Cultural Center in the Bank of America Theatre, 1701 4th Street

Less than 1 percent of the world’s water is fresh and potable—and no more will ever be available. Thanks to pollution, global warming, and population growth, water access is poised to become today’s most explosive global issue. No resource on earth is more precious—or more endangered—than water. Last Call at the Oasis is a powerful tool for learning about the water challenges we face as well as the remarkable solutions available to us—if we have the will to use them.

This event is sponsored by National Hispanic Cultural Center, La Montanita Coop and KUNM 89.9 FM

This screening is free and open to the public; donations for the Last Call at the Oasis and Burque Bioneers gratefully accepted.

Free Screening of the classic film Salt of the Earth

Free Screening of the classic film Salt of the Earth
Wednesday, April 25th 7PM
KiMo Theatre, 423 Central Ave NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102
Download Salt of the Earth Flier here

After 60 years of blacklisting, the movie they still don't want us to see. Pulls together the history, culture and politics of New Mexico in a dramatic and inspiring story.
The movie depicts the McCarthy Era strike by zinc miners in southern New Mexico and the struggle of women to achieve equality.
One of the greatest movies made in New Mexico, Salt of the Earth is on of only 400 motion pictures selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry.
Please join the Progressive Voters Alliance of Central New Mexico for this very special event!

DPNM Chairman Gonzales reaction to Gov. Martinez's "Light-Skinned Hispanics" Casting Call

The following is a statement from the Chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, Javier M. Gonzales, in reaction to a casting call issued by Governor Susana Martinez's Tourism Board that asks for "Caucasians and Light-Skinned Hispanics Only."

"Leaders understand they have immense power to set the standard for what is acceptable, what is important, what is right or wrong. They also set the tone for who we are and what we are proud of as a people. In other words, they lead by example. The message Governor Martinez is sending here is not just that she doesn't want Hispanics to visit the state - although that alone would be bad enough. It's that she doesn't believe the state should be proud of our incredible Hispanic cultural heritage. It's that our Hispanic culture isn't worthy of being put front and center.

That's sad, and it's inexplicable coming from anyone purporting to represent the people of New Mexico. But it's even stranger coming from the first Hispanic woman ever elected Governor in New Mexico. Today she does not speak for me, and she does not speak for the vast majority of Hispanics in New Mexico. I'm appalled, and Gov. Martinez should be embarrassed. She should apologize, retract this insulting casting call, and open up any advertising that she uses taxpayer dollars for to actors that truly represent the full spectrum of incredible diversity we have in New Mexico."

NOTE: See the Santa Fe New Mexican's editorial on the casting call here: https://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/

State Senator George K. Munoz Announces Film Jobs Headed to Gallup

Senator George K. Munoz, District 4, has worked diligently to bring more job opportunities for the people in his district. On March 12th,  Sen. Munoz was proud to announce that the film industry will be giving the greater Gallup area more attention.

Upon making the announcement Sen. Munoz stated, “We will no longer be left out. Multiple casting agencies and film operations are headed to Gallup and will be up and running very soon.” Senator Munoz continued, “Meetings and tours of the area are being scheduled as we speak. The movie industry’s presence will add significant economic benefits to our area, not only by creating hundreds of jobs, but also by bringing back the limelight and nostalgia of Gallup, New Mexico.”

Sen. Munoz says that in the past, movie stars such John Wayne and Ronald Reagan were familiar faces as they filmed in the Gallup area. Sen. Munoz envisions modern day stars walking the streets of Gallup with the heightened level of film activity in the community.

Clash of the Titans; Don’t Forget About us

The following was provided by Jon Hendry of IATSE Local 480, Motion Picture Technicians state of NM.

Mr. Hendry raises some interesting concerns in his breif peice here regarding the SOPA bill and the PIPA bill and how it could affect our beloved film industry in this state.

As the monumental clash between Hollywood and Silicon Valley develops please don’t forget about the film workers of NM. There are thousands of us who put on our boots at 5am and go to work building sets, shooting commercials, handling post production for the US and the world.

We’re by no means Hollywood. Just because we’re concerned that foreign sites are stealing our work product and the residuals that fund our pension and health plans doesn’t mean we’re in any way proposing restrictions to the free internet access we all enjoy. If we can’t protect our intellectual property then the future of the film business in NM and the bright future for thousands of students currently in film & media programs in our high schools and colleges will be squandered. This is not about intellectual freedom, it’s about theft. The film workers of NM and their unions: IATSE, SAG, AFTRA, IBT, DGA, and AFM challenge those who oppose the bill to help us protect our jobs, protect the taxes that NM so desperately needs, and come up with a solution that protects everyone’s rights and intellectual freedom.

8/27: Award-Winning 'Atomic Mom' Documentary at White Sands Film Festival in Las Cruces

Atomic Mom, an award-winning feature length documentary from M.T. Silvia, will screen on Saturday, August 27th, at 4:00 PM at the Allen Theatres Cineport 10 at 500 South Telshor Blvd. in Las Cruces, NM in the White Sands International Film Festival. 

Atomic Mom weaves an intimate portrait of a complex mother-daughter relationship within an obscure -– but important –- moment in American history. As the only female scientist present during atomic detonations in the Nevada desert, Pauline Silvia, the filmmaker’s mother, undergoes a crisis of conscience. After a long silence and prompted by her daughter, she finally reveals grim secrets of working in the U.S. atomic testing program. 

In our present moment of Wikileaks, Pauline is a similar whistle-blower having been cowed by the silencing machine of the US military for decades. In an attempt to reconcile with her own mother’s past, her daughter, filmmaker M.T. Silvia, meets Emiko Okada, a Hiroshima survivor trying to reconcile her own history in Japan. The film follows these survivors, each on a different end of atomic warfare, as they “meet” through the filmmaking process, and as they, with startling honestly, attempt to understand the other. 

With the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the footage of the devastation is hauntingly familiar to the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As Japan experiences its second nuclear crisis, Atomic Mom illustrates how we are all downwind of this story. 

Atomic Mom invites viewers to confront American nuclear history in a completely new way and will inspire dialogue about human rights, personal responsibility, and the possibility -– and hope -– of peace.  

M.T. Silvia is an independent filmmaker. Her first documentary Picardy Drive (2002, Documentary, 57min) aired on KQED’s ImageMaker series, FreeSpeechTV and airs yearly during the holidays on Oakland’s KTOP. She has worked professionally in the film industry for over twenty years at both Skywalker Sound and Pixar Animation Studios. Among many mainstream film and CD credits, she has also worked on several independent films. 

8/12: Screening of 'Gasland' at KiMo in Albuquerque

The Academy Award nominated documenty, Gasland, will be screened on Friday, August 12, at 8:00 PM at the KiMo Theater located at 423 Central Ave. NW in Albuquerque. All ages, tickets $7 - $10. You can get your tickets here.

When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. A recently drilled nearby Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. This is just one of the many absurd and astonishing revelations of a new country called GASLAND.

Part verite travelogue, part expose, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, part showdown." (2010)

5/13: Wild and Scenic Film Festival in Las Cruces

From the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance:
Join us for our annual Wild And Scenic Film Festival at the Rio Grande Theater in Las Cruces on Friday, May 13 from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM. Reserve your ticket today by contacting Nathan or Jeff 575-527-9962  or by email at nathansmall@nmwild.org.

The film fest is part of a national tour organized by the South Yuba River Citizens League, a California group that advocates for protecting rivers through Wild and Scenic status designation. The film series highlights the pressing local and regional environmental issues of today.

This year’s lineup of includes nine delightful short films. Here’s a sneak preview of some of the films being screened:

Better Bones and Gardens - Dan Phillips and Kipp Nash are remaking the common house and garden in wildly imaginative ways. They use cattle bones, wine corks, DVDs, and bottle caps as building materials, and lawns are transformed into lush, nutritious gardens. A whimsical story of how a little strife and change in attitude can lead us all to better [...]

Natalie Edler, Lindsey Clark | 2009 | 25 min. | USA

Water Loving Doggies II – The water loving doggies are back! From 20 to 200 pounds our furry friends are sure to make a splash in your hearts in this year’s re-cut river romp, featuring music by Matisyahu.

Will Keir | 2010 | 4 min. | USA

1% of the Story – 1% for the Planet is a growing global movement of businesses financially committed to creating a healthy planet. Here’s [a very tiny bit] of the story…

Ben Knight, Travis Rummel | 2009 | 15 min. | USA

Into Darkness - Journey along with a group of cavers who push impossibly small passages to access some of the final frontiers on earth. The images and sounds of these spectacular and remote wilderness caves reveal a fantastic world unlike anything we experience on the surface. Best in Show, NSS Video Salon; Audience Favorite Short Doc, NW Film

John Waller | 2010 | 15 min. | USA

180 South - Surfer and climber Jeff Johnson retraces the epic 1968 journey of Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins, on which they drove, mountain climbed and surfed their way to Chilean Patagonia. Along the way, Jeff encounters surf, mountains, a dangerous ocean crossing, pulp mills, cowboys, and dams. The film is a road trip movie, a historic document, [...]

Chris Malloy | 2010 | 86 min. | USA

Richard Ellenberg: Governor Martinez Unfairly Targets Dem-Supported Industry

This is a guest blog by Richard D. Ellenberg, who serves as Chair of the Democratic Party of Santa Fe County.

Jobs are priority one, but Gov. Susana Martínez has blocked practical jobs initiatives not fitting her national conservative image.

Film credits create jobs. The governor's most visible effort was limiting these credits. The result so far: Loss of two movies budgeted at a total of $70 million. Loss of the post-production facility with 175 construction jobs and 120 permanent skilled jobs. 

Studies conclude that a state maximizes its benefits from films when it has a trained local labor market. Our colleges have invested in film curricula and have created that job force, just in time to lose business.

The governor is attempting to break contracts with films signed prior to the film-credit reductions. She is sending the clearest message to film jobs that they are not welcome.

Film credits are the only credit the governor allows to be questioned. No asking if oil and gas credits are a good investment. Oil companies are spending fortunes to find and extract oil in difficult places and not replacing supplies as fast as they use them. It would be fair to ask if their tax credits increase the number of jobs significantly. Yet the governor vetoed the bill to examine the benefit of all credits, not just film credits. Why? Politics. The film industry tends to support Democrats. The oil and gas industry tends to support Republicans.

Democratic job-creation bills were dead on arrival since she would not sign them. She would not support: green job initiatives; depositing state funds in local rather than national banks to increase local lending; and a development bank based upon the successful models in other states. Nor did she have her own job-creation initiatives.

One bill, passed unanimously, allowed universities to issue bonds for renewable energy improvements, creating jobs and saving money. She pocket-vetoed this initiative, with her staff saying she did not support renewable energy.

She vetoed the Health Exchange Act to protect her Republican image. New Mexico would have received $1 million to work on planning for this exchange with more to follow without that veto. Now New Mexico loses those dollars and the odds that the federal government will have to step in and set up New Mexico's exchange are substantially increased.

She vetoed an unemployment-tax increase supported almost unanimously to protect businesses from much higher assessments that will hurt jobs. This helps her record of not supporting tax increases, but harms our business community.

Most damaging to the state's long-term growth was breaking her promise not to cut education. A weak education system is the primary reason we do not attract high-paying businesses. Yet school districts are facing a 4 percent to 5 percent cut in their budgets. The Legislature could have avoided this by closing loopholes used by multi-national companies gaining an unfair advantage over local businesses. But the governor would not support this or other revenue-raising proposals. Why? To protect her record opposing any tax increase, loophole closing or tax-credit reduction, except of course for cutting tax credits for those Democratic film jobs./p>

This is a guest blog by Richard D. Ellenberg. It originally appeared as an in the Santa Fe New Mexican.

If you'd like to submit a piece for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper left-hand corner of the page. Publication of a guest blog does not necessarily mean that we agree or disagree with the points made.

4/23: NMWA Wild and Scenic Film Festival in Albuquerque

From the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance:
Join us for our annual Wild And Scenic Film Festival at the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque on Saturday, April 23, from 1:00 PM to 3:15 PM. The film fest is part of a national tour organized by the South Yuba River Citizens League, a California group that advocates for protecting rivers through Wild and Scenic status designation.The film series highlights the pressing local and regional environmental issues of today.

This year’s lineup of awe-inspiring environmental films includes:

1% of the Story: 1% for the Planet is a growing global movement of businesses financially committed to creating a healthy planet. Here’s [a very tiny bit] of the story. Ben Knight, Travis Rummel | 2009 | 15 min. | USA

Into Darkness: Journey along with a group of cavers who push impossibly small passages to access some of the final frontiers on earth. The images and sounds of these spectacular and remote wilderness caves reveal a fantastic world unlike anything we experience on the surface. Best in Show, NSS Video Salon; Audience Favorite Short Doc, NW Film. John Waller | 2010 | 15 min. | USA

180 South: Surfer and climber Jeff Johnson retraces the epic 1968 journey of Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins, on which they drove, mountain climbed and surfed their way to Chilean Patagonia. Along the way, Jeff encounters surf, mountains, a dangerous ocean crossing, pulp mills, cowboys, and dams. The film is a road trip movie, a historic document. Chris Malloy | 2010 | 86 min. | USA

Tickets are $10 adults/$5 students. Kids free. Tickets are available at La Montanita Co-op in Nob Hill (3500 Central SE) OR reserve will-call tickets by calling Roger at 505-843-8696 x104.

4/22: Rivers and Birds Hosts Eco Film Night on Earth Day in Taos

From Rivers and Birds:
Come and join us for an Earth Day evening of film. On Friday, April 22, at 7:00 PM at the Harwood Museum Theater in Arroyo Seco, we will  feature the renowned documentary, "River and Tides: Working With Time."

Landscape sculptor Andy Goldsworthy is renowned throughout the world for his work in ice, stone, leaves, wood. His own remarkable still photographs are Goldsworthy's way of talking about his often ephemeral works, of fixing them in time. Now with this deeply moving film, shot in four countries and across four seasons, and the first major film he has allowed to be made, the elusive element of time adheres to his sculpture.

Tickets are $10/adult, $8/Harwood Member, $5/youth under 12. Purchase your tickets through the Harwood Museum: 758-9826. Learn more here.

3/28: New Documentary Film Finds Solutions to Global Problems in Localized Economies

From Lora Lucero: The new documentary film The Economics of Happiness will be screened at the UNM Lobo Theatre, Student Union Building Room 1003 (basement of the SUB) on Monday, March 28, at 6:30 PM. Admission is free and open to the public.

Going beyond merely identifying the myriad problems of corporate globalization, The Economics of Happiness, co-directed by Right Livelihood Award winner (aka, the “alternative Nobel Prize") Helena Norberg-Hodge, explores the rapidly growing movement of localized economies around the world that offer a strategic solution that can solve our most serious economic, social, environmental and cultural crises.

“Going local” is a powerful strategy to help repair our fractured world -- our ecosystems, our societies and ourselves. The Economics of Happiness spells out the policy changes needed to enable local businesses to survive and prosper.

From urban gardens in Detroit, Michigan to the Transition Town movement in Totnes, UK; hands-on education in Yokahama, Japan; community-centered agriculture in Ladakh, Tibet; calculating the social costs of economic growth in Thailand; and small-scale peasant farming in Peru, people around the globe are going local to solve the myriad of crises we face as a planetary community.

“It is good news indeed to find so persuasive an explanation of our ailing world as The Economics of Happiness,” writes eco-philosopher Joanna Macy. “This film connects the dots between climate chaos, economic meltdown, and our own personal suffering -- stress, loneliness, and depression. It presents the localization movement as a systemic alternative to corporate globalization, as well as a strategy that brings community and meaning to our lives.”

The Economics of Happiness features the acclaimed environmentalists, scholars and authors Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben, David Korten, Juliet Schor, Richard Heinberg, accomplished Bhutanese film director Khyentse Norbu and the first Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile Samdhong Rinpoche among others.

The screening is cosponsored by: The New Economy Book Club, Economic Reform Advocacy (ERA!) Group, S.O.A.P. (Students Organizing Actions for Peace), 50+ Cohousing, and others. It is part of the People Before Profit film series, which aims to increase awareness of social issues and encourage students to think about local and global problems and solutions. The series started last fall and continues this semester with free weekly film screenings and discussions on Mondays at 6:30 PM.