Grants filmmakers to compete

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — Creative media students and their instructor at New Mexico State University-Grants campus, are competing this weekend in a 48-hour digital film competition in Albuquerque.

Lynsey Bohanan, a student and part-time instructor in the creative media field at NMSU-Grants, said she is excited about the competition because it is so spontaneous.

"We draw a genre, such as comedy, horror, drama, and then the competition organizers give us a prop, a character and a line like 'stop or I'll shoot,' and we have to work those items into our script and our film," she said.

Doug Bocaz-Larson, head of the creative media department and its main instructor, said the competition begins today at 6 p.m., at the Blue Dragon Theater in Albuquerque, and ends Sunday at the same time.

"It is the '2007 48 Hour Film Project,' and there are many more across the United States and worldwide in cities such as Amsterdam, Tokyo, Rome, Paris and Berlin," he said.

This is a competition for digital filmmakers and we have to produce a six minutes, or less, film for the project," he said.

Poco Loco
The college's digital film production class calls itself Poco Loco Productions, Bocaz-Larson said.

"We used to be a theater group, the Poco Loco Players, and we did stage plays but we changed to a film production class and we kept the name the same," he said.

This is the second year the project has held competition in Albuquerque, he said. There will be 28 teams, with as few as two members and up to 50 team members competing this weekend.

The members of Poco Loco who will be competing this weekend are: Bohanan, Tim Brown, Helena Carroll, William Dixon, Perry Martin, Valerie Mirabal, Danny Standfield, Ryle Yazzie, Brandon Vallo and Bocaz-Larson and his wife Kim, who is also a student in his classes.

"I want to get a job in the film industry," Bohanan said. "I like producing, directing and acting."

Showcasing local talentThis event serves another purpose, probably more important than the actual competition itself, and that is the networking that will occur, Bocaz-Larson said.

"This is a really good learning experience for my students," he said. "Anytime you are involved in working on another project, trying to follow other people's rules and guidelines, you learn something."

People in the industry from all over New Mexico will be competing and this gives the college a chance to show these people our program, he said.

"I want people to see what we can do. This is a good way to advertise our program and show our abilities," he said.

On Tuesday, the films will be shown and awards presented at 7 p.m., and 9 p.m., at the Kimo Theater in downtown Albuquerque.

Fourteen films will each be shown at the two sessions followed by awards presentations. Poco Loco's film will be shown in the 9 p.m., session, Bocaz-Larson said.

There is a national competition this year. Last year it was hosted in Albuquerque. The winner of the New Mexico competition will be able to compete in the national for a $7,500 cash prize and a Panasonic camcorder digital camera worth $5,000.

Bocaz-Larson said he did not yet know the date or location of this year's national competition.

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