Cinema showcase
Festival brings 64 filmmakers, 78 movies, musicians to Albuquerque
Ivan Wiener’s vision for the Albuquerque Film & Music Experience is simple — to celebrate film and music. If you delve deeper, you can see the tremendous effort in getting the community together.
For six years, AFME has created a space for filmmakers and cinephiles to come together.
Not to mention that bringing in those interested parties also has an economic impact.
“The festival has gotten to a point to where the community needs to get out to it,” Wiener says. “There’s so much potential, and we need the entire community. That’s my message to the mayor and the county. This is a great event to be take part in.”
The festival starts Monday, June 4, and runs through June 10, with an awards ceremony.
Along with showcasing local and international films, AFME also has plenty of music events, panels and special events.
In all, 78 films will be screened. “We have 64 filmmakers coming in from all over the world for the festival,” he says. “It’s important for me to help put our best foot forward and showcase Albuquerque for those who are coming to the festival.”
Fourteen panels, workshops and intimate conversations are planned during the festival.
AFME will feature showcase events with special guests, including Academy Awardwinning actress Marisa Tomei, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone, actor W. Earl Brown, Prince guitarist Dez Dickerson, guitarist Micki Free and many others.
“As AFME continues its success with a fusion of movies, music and special events, we are very happy to present a stellar week of programming for the city of Albuquerque and out-of-town attendees,” Wiener says. “Having filmmakers, musicians and celebrities from around the world converge at our festival has become a very cool experience for the community, especially for students of film, music and the arts who benefit through our nonprofit.”
The fun and exciting lineup for 2018 includes a little bit of everything for everyone. Tomei is presenting the documentary “SEED: The Untold Story,” which she executive-produced; a special screening of “Purple Rain” followed by a Prince Tribute Concert with Prince’s original guitarist Dez Dickerson, musician Micki Free, Elton John and Billy Joel bass player David Santos, and Steve Ferrone, drummer from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers; the 20th anniversary screening of “There’s Something About Mary” with actor W. Earl Brown in attendance; a screening of Marvel’s “The Avengers” at Albuquerque’s Civic Plaza as part of AFME’s family events; and an after-party celebrating the life and music of Tom Petty.
Wiener says AFME will focus on diversity and equality, gun violence protecting the environment and creating a safer community for future generations, and combating heroin addiction and dementia.
In fact, the closing-night film will be “Living in the Future’s Past,” narrated by Jeff Bridges.
“This is an incredible film that portrays original thinking from experts, causing viewers to ask important questions and consider their role within a larger world,” Wiener says. “It’s a film that is needed to ask us all what type of future we want to live in, and we’re honored to have director Susan Kucera, along with the brilliant Timothy Morton, Ph.D., attending.”