ORIGINAL RECIPE: THE SANTA FE FILM FESTIVAL
The City Different hosts its second major film festival in as many months when the “original” Santa Fe Film Festival begins Wednesday, Dec. 2. Screenings, events, and parties continue through Sunday, Dec. 6. Now in its 15th consecutive year, SFFF dates to the early 1980s. The first film event of the 2015 festival is the offbeat documentary Red Carpet Burn, at 4 p.m. on Dec. 2 at the Jean Cocteau Cinema (418 Montezuma Ave.), in which director Mark Steven Shepherd attempts to turn unknown teens into overnight celebrity sensations by creating the right kind of stir at major awards shows. At 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at the Jean Cocteau is the stop-motion feature Anomalisa from Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), presented with Low/ Fi, a short film by Albuquerque’s Alejandro Montoya Marín. Thursday’s films include the documentaries Almost Friends (4:30 p.m. at El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, 555 Camino de la Familia), about the relationship between a religious Jew and a secular Muslim in Israel, and Eco de la
Montaña (6 p.m. at Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail), about the Wixárika artist Santos de la Torre. A great many of this year’s films deal with themes of war, memory, and prospects for peace. Legendary American director Peter Bogdanovich (Paper Moon, The Last
Picture Show) receives a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Scottish Rite Center at 7 p.m. on Dec. 6. All-access passes to the Santa Fe Film Festival are $275 before Dec. 1 and $300 after. Individual movies are $12 to $15, with special pricing for some screenings and events. For a complete schedule and to purchase tickets, visit www.santafefilmfestival.com or call 505-988-7414. Tickets for individual films are also available at each venue. — Jennifer Levin