Film Boot Camp to premiere student films

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff Writer

GALLUP — A Friday evening film premiere at UNM-Gallup will offer a glimpse of how area teens look at themselves and their world.

The premiere, which begins at 7 p.m. on Friday at Calvin Hall Auditorium, will be the conclusion to UNM-Gallup's two-week Film Boot Camp for high school students. It will feature four films produced by groups of students and 18 one-minute videos that were each made by one of the 18 class members. Admission is free, and the public is invited to attend.

Film Boot Camp was a first for UNM-Gallup, said Pamela Stovall, the associate professor of communication and journalism who directed the project. The four group films are three to six minutes in length, said Stovall, who previously taught filmmaking and screen writing to high school girls through the College of Santa Fe's Girls' Film School. With the group projects, students were able to choose any topic they wanted, with the requirement that the films tell a story and have a beginning, middle, and end. The one-minute personal films had to be a "self-reflective piece," she explained, that attempt to address the statement of "Who I am."

"I think they are all incredible," said Stovall of the films. "The students are amazing."

Stovall said a number of the high school students had already been making films on their own prior to enrolling in the class. Cameras used in the class were just low-end digital video cameras, she said.

During the camp, the students were exposed to the experiences of a number of guest presenters who have first-hand professional knowledge of the film industry. Guest speakers included Patrick Horton, an actor and story coach from Los Angeles; Wendy Chapin, an actress and drama instructor from Santa Fe who has worked in the industry in New York; Rick Romancito, a film maker from Taos Pueblo who won the Governor's Cup Award for his film "Benito's Gift" ; Jon Henry, a film maker and screen writer from Santa Fe who also works on film sets as a union technician; and well- known Native actor and musician Gary Farmer.

In addition, several local professionals also worked with the students. Melissa Henry of Red Ant Productions offered advice about storyboarding, photographer Lisa Rodriguez of Light Language Studios talked about lighting, and Tim Knowles provided instruction in computer editing.

A grant from the New Mexico Higher Education Department made the camp possible. Stovall is hopeful UNM-Gallup will be able to offer it to more high school students in the future.