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Movies
The Bus That Couldn’t Slow Down
As you might have read on this very page, the New Mexico-shot movie The Lost Bus is hitting Apple TV+ this week, and though it’s just plain not very good, it did indeed employ a whole mess of New Mexicans. At a recent screening, New Mexico and Santa Fe Film Office folks touted that number as someplace between 2,000 and 2,500, so that’s pretty good! Santa Feans who watch the movie might get a kick out of seeing a local spot or two, like the Midtown Campus—everyone else will struggle to find the words to explain how the film was pretty boring.
The Bestival
2025 marks the 17th year of the Santa Fe International Film Festival (Oct. 15-20), and this one’s a biggie according to its Artistic Director and co-founder Jacques Paisner. “It’s more than 200 films, and some of the best of the year from the world’s top directors, including Guillermo Del Toro, Park Chan-wook, Hikari…plus some of my favorite films from [festivals in] Toronto, Cannes and Telluride,” Paisner tells SFR. In case you didn’t know, in addition to the literally thousands of submissions the festival receives each year, many films are curated by Paisner and his team with some destined for competition and others for the also-notable out-of-competition category. Of particular note this year is Del Toro’s Frankenstein, a Netflix joint that premiered at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year. SFIFF marks one of its first screenings in the US, btw, about which Paisner says, he is quite thrilled. Many screenings have already sold out for the run of the rest, though, so be sure to get tickets soon if you’re interested, especially for events featuring Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman and the inimitable and legendary Ricki Lake.
King Cole
We don’t have all the details, but it certainly seems that the Center for Contemporary Arts’ cinema boss Cole Forrest (Nipissing First Nation Anishanaabe) is gearing up to shoot a short, at least if a recent social media post looking for Indigenous actors is to be believed (and it is, so…yeah). Forrest should be familiar to SFR readers as we just featured them in profile form in August (Cinema Fantastique, Aug. 27). This film buff has history with the ImagiNATIVE Film Fest in Toronto and more than a few shorts under their belt, so we certainly hope we’ll see something new from them soon.
Great Jaeeeorrb!
Speaking of the New Mexico Film Office, if you head on over to its website, you’ll likely see a job listing for a Contract Location Coordinator. What, precisely, is that? Well, if you’re qualified, you probably already know what that is. If you’re just curious, however, the listing states that the job is meant to “support film and media production across the state.” It’s a one-year position that pays $20,000 (that seems like not enough, but maybe it’s not supposed to be a full-time thing?). The must-know-hows include demonstrable experience in film and television, a knowledge of New Mexico’s many terrain types and locations and the ability to produce high-quality digital photos among other responsibilities.
The Ones Who Knock
Have you seen the new Breaking Bad-themed anti-littering campaign from the state? If not, here’s the basic deal: Last October, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham trotted out actor Bryan Cranston, who was stepping back into his Walter White/Heisenberg plaid ’n’ khakis for an anti-littering commercial dubbed “Breaking Bad Habits.” Well, they’re at it again, this time with those super-rad Salamanca twins (Daniel and Luis Moncada) from Breaking Bad, who really felt like show creator Vince Gilligan’s time working on The X-Files had come home to roost (in the best way). There’s a bit more info on Lujan Grisham’s site if you’d like to know more (said in Starship Troopers voice for my movie nerds), visit the gov's website.
