Film from PAH-Fest to be shown at Duke City festival

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — A winning short film from the Public Access Hollywood-Festival in Grants last year has been selected to show during the Albuquerque Latina Film Festival "Cinemas," said Doug Bocaz-Larson, the film instructor at New Mexico State University-Grants Campus.

Anna Pacheco, whose 3-minute, 40-second film, "Matanza," took third place in the 2006 PAH-Fest, and Bocaz-Larson said being chosen to show in the Latina festival is prestigious.

The film centers around a moment in Pacheco's earlier life, she said. When she was a child, she went through a first communion at a Catholic church and for that event her family created an all-day pig roast, commonly called a "Matanza."

When filming locally last year, local actors helped her complete her film.

Idea becomes a film
She had a idea that she wrote into a story and submitted it on-line for the PAH-Fest competition.

It was selected, and she was able to film it in Grants and at the San Rafael Catholic church, she said.

Pachecho, 50, has been invited to film a longer 90-minute digital film based on the Matanza, Bocaz-Larson said.

He said he was not sure about providing her with money, but was sure the college could assist her with cameras, production and actors. Bocaz-Larson did the final edit of the film for the PAH-Fest, he said.

Films from all around the world are shown at the festival, he said.

Wants to be in films
"I wrote this story about when I was nine years old and we had the Matanza," Pachecho said.

"I really want to be in movies as an extra and I like entering contests."

She said she goes on-line all the time looking for contests to be in films in one way or another.

She has no formal training in film, but is an artist and sculptor and continues to write stories for films, mostly associated with her family life, she said.

She wrote a longer more detailed version for another contest; however, the organizers were looking for Latino documentaries, and her story was not picked, she said.

Her next film will be based on her uncle, who she grew up with.

She said he had a horse that would perform tricks for her and "could do all kinds of stuff."

She said she wants to return to Grants and film the next movie around Mother's Day this year.

Pachecho lives in Tucumcari and is currently working on oil paintings of Indians and a bronze sculpture.

"This is exactly what kind of person the PAH-Fest is looking for," Bocaz-Larson said, "someone with no background in film who has a story to tell and can do it well. This really showcases our area."

Pacheco received $200 for her PAH-Fest film as the third place winner.

The 2007 PAH-Fest will be June 5-9 this year, Bocaz-Larson said.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin, call (505) 287-2197, or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.