NMSU film club takes shot at fame

Creative Media film club program director Doug Bocaz-Larson (cq), left, and student/writer Jennifer Marks perform while Brandon Vallo runs the camera for a video being filmed at the New Mexico State University Grants campus Tuesday July, 15. The group's video "Redneck Water Conservation" is a finalist in the Ramada Inn Do Your Thing Contest. [photo by Cable Hoover / Independent]

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — The local college film club has entered a judged film festival that is airing tonight in Albuquerque and is also competing online for a $10,000 grand prize.

Members of Poco Loco Players, a club on campus at New Mexico State University-Grants, is also involved in “The 48 Hour Project,” in which the winner will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival next year.

“This past weekend we drew a horror film style, a prop and a character and had to film this project, edit it and submit it within 48 hours,” Doug Bocaz-Larson, head of the creative media program at the college.

The finished film is being shown in the Group A competition today at 6:45 p.m., at the Kimo Theatre in Albuquerque, 423 Central Ave. NW.

“The winner of this festival also receives a $1,000 post production software from Adobe,” Bocaz-Larson said. “It is really good software and allows you to edit films that have been shot,” he said.

The 48 Hour Project is an international organization that conducts film festivals worldwide for small and independent filmmakers, to help advance the craft of film making.

Bocaz-Larson said another competition is through Ramada Inn, and the winning filmmakers will receive $10,000. The winning film may be turned into an ad on the hotel system’s internal TV channel where customers who stay at the hotels watch for information on restaurants, rooms, reservations, etc.

“Operating a film program at the college level is expensive, and if we can find a way to help pay our own way, we do it,” he said.

A one minute video, starring “J.J.,” a local redneck (Bocaz-Larson) teaches the viewer about water conservation.
“When we enter film competition or festivals, we doing it seriously,” he said, “but, we always do it funny.”

“J.J. Teaches water conservation, so he loads up the dishes and laundry in his truck and goes through a car wash,” Bocaz-Larson said.

“We would like everyone to vote for our video and the deadline for voting ends at midnight on Friday,” he said.
The Web site where the video is airing is: http://ramada.eprize.net/doyourthing/index.tbapp.

“People are only allowed one vote per day, so the more people who vote the better,” he said.

During the past two years an annual Public Access Hollywood-Festival, or “PAH-Fest” has been held in Grants. There will be none this year and it is unlikely for it to be renewed for future competition, he said.

Filmmaker Christopher Coppola paid for the first one two years ago, and Bocaz-Larson said he was able to get a grant for last year’s, but the cost of the festival is too prohibitive because of the few entrants in Grants, because the community is so small.

On the net: http://ramada.eprize.net/doyourthing/index.tbapp.