In its 10th year, the Las Cruces International Film Festival, held April 9-13. has grown from 2,000 to 10,000 attendees and participants according to Executive Director Ross Marks.
The city of Alamogordo and Doña Ana County have joined the sponsorship fold and, with others, revenue has increased significantly, he said.
“Finding guests in the early days, they were friends and people I know, in the business,” he said. “Now they are reaching out to me, Helen Hunt’s agency reached out to me.”
He said the festival is run by New Mexico State University students in his Creative Media Institute program and now after 10 years and 700 students, “we have ironed out a lot of the wrinkles.”
For this year, the festival goal is to honor women and so will be honoring Helen Hunt with an award. Also, they will be doing things that embrace inclusivity like creating a new film category for LGBTQ creators.
This year’s special events include a screenwriting panel, foley workshop, stunt panel, independent film-making workshop and Star Trek universe panel, with three Star Trek writers and some performers, which will be held at the Rio Grande Theatre on Saturday, April 12.
Visit lascrucesfilmfest.com for information and tickets.
