It’s Lights, Camera, Action for the Silver City Community Film Festival

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Auteurs in Grant County are about to bask in the spotlight at the first-ever Silver City Community Film Festival, held Friday through Sunday, Oct. 18 through 20, at the Silco Theatre in downtown Silver City. According to the organizers, the festival will showcase the diverse artistic talent of Grant County and the surrounding areas, as well as providing a focal point for those who might be inspired to create something new.

Organized by the Silver City MainStreet Project and the historic Silco Theatre downtown, the event started with a call for filmmakers from Silver City and surrounding areas with no cost to enter and a deadline of September 1. All genres will be featured at the festival, but only original work by residents of Grant County, Deming, Lordsburg and nearby areas were considered. That means screenings might include documentaries, animated shorts, stand-up comedy, experimental shorts, traditional features, even music videos.

The films received will be divided into categories for micro-shorts (30 seconds to 3 minutes), shorts (3 to 45 minutes) and features (45 minutes or longer). Screenings will be held at the Silco each evening of the festival, awards will be given in each category, and organizers will consider sponsorship partners to help produce the festival. 

"We just felt like a film festival was naturally something Silver City should host” said Kim Ryan, Cultural Coordinator at the theater and one of the festival's organizing volunteers. “It's such an artistic community. Initially we talked about it being a national/internationally open festival, but we ran into some organizational hiccups on that level and decided that for this first festival we would keep it local and ask for submissions from Grant County and surrounding areas.”

Which means, Silver City now joins cities like Cannes, Toronto, and Park City by celebrating the art of filmmaking. The festival will feature films of all lengths, by amateurs and professionals of all ages. Both individual films and group projects were considered, and filmmakers could submit multiple films.

Organizers hope the festival will bring out the unsung or undiscovered creativity within the community. It already appears to be happening, as of the close of submissions, the festival had received more than 30 submissions.

"We're feeling great about that and excited to create the program for the weekend," Ryan said, "Our goal for this year is really just to plan a fun weekend, showcase some of our talented neighbors, and really inspire some people to get a film together for next year's festival!

Silver City is no stranger to film. It was a plot element in the 2001 road comedy "Rat Race," about six teams of misfits racing across the desert to get here. The town also makes an appearance in 2007's "There Will Be Blood," and is the setting of the pioneering 1954 film "Salt of the Earth," about the Empire Zinc Company mining strike.

New Mexico's film industry has grown exponentially in the past decade, thanks to incentives from Santa Fe and rising prices to shoot in Hollywood. This year's Academy Award for Best Picture went to "Oppenheimer," a film shot in northern New Mexico. Forecasts call for more film shoots to be coming our way, so the timing appears right to start something like this. Even so, it does come with some drawbacks that the organizers are wisely looking beyond.

"It's hard to get your head around creating something new when you have a submission deadline in a few months," Ryan said, "but with a whole year in front of you, the sky's the limit. And in the future we intend to expand to accept submissions from all over, so that the Silver City Film Festival will become a draw for visitors and artists from around the world."

Ticket details and a full festival schedule will be posted closer to the event, according to Ryan. For more info, visit silvercityfilmfest.org, email c.coordinator@silvercitymainstreet.com or call (575) 956-6198. The Silco Theatre is located at 311 N. Bullard Street. Visit thesilcotheatre.com.

Silver City Community Film Festival

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