When Festival curator Brent Kliewer and Festival director Diane Schneier Perrin were selecting films for the 2012 Santa Fe Film Festival, they noticed a theme emerging in many of the productions that reflected a certain \u201czeitgeist\u201d going on around the globe. Whether narrative or documentary, feature or short, it seemed that the films all had a passion and commitment to finding meaning in the world. \u201cWhat we noticed were films made with a real intent to say something, that was in some way a call to enable action,\u201d Schneier Perrin said when explaining how the idea for the \u201cChanging the World Through Films\u201d panel discussion came about.<\/p>\n
Whether fighting to protect a Central American indigenous culture as in \u201cGarifuna in Peril\u201d, or preserve a language in \u201cThe Young Ancestors\u201d, or save a life and restore human dignity in \u201cLittle Dancer\u201d, the ultimate goal was the same: to facilitate action.<\/p>\n
Whereas narrative filmmakers often want more control over a story\u2019s direction, with a documentary format the story often reveals itself as the project moves forward.<\/p>\n
For example, \u201cDave\u201d director Eric Geadelmann said when they were nearing completion of the film, they discovered that both mentor and teen really had the same goal: for each to find and reconcile with their estranged fathers.<\/p>\n
When Schneier Perrin asked each panelist why they chose a narrative format over documentary style, a \u201cGarifuna in Peril\u201d filmmaker replied: \u201cWe scripted the film so that we could teach what we wanted to teach and show how indigenous language is involved in everyday life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schneier Perrin went on to ask the panel what inspired them to make their films. \u201cThe Young Ancestors\u201d director, Aimee Broustra, replied that although she wanted to reach native Tewa speakers, her greatest hopes were for her film to be shown in classrooms across America, and for it to reach the iPod generation. \u201cFrom Zimbabwe to Santa Fe\u201d director Cristina McCandless said that she wanted to show the world that three non-victimized women could make an incredible journey to connect with a global marketplace.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the topic of expanding out of festival audiences and into wider distribution, George Jecel (\u201cLittle Dancer\u201d) cautioned the audience about becoming too attached to a film\u2019s issue: \u201cA film is only as powerful as it\u2019s being seen by an audience. If you become [too] involved in a social issue, how do you become able to make your film?\u201d<\/p>\n
Films like \u201cThe Young Ancestors\u201d have found distribution with educational audiences, and Bernadine Santistevan\u2019s animated film \u201cWolf Dog Tales\u201d has garnered interest from the Smithsonian Institution.<\/p>\n
At the end of the panel discussion, an audience member asked how communities\u2014such as those depicted in \u201cRooted Lands\u201d about natural gas fracking in New Mexico\u2014could survive against the well-financed oil and gas industry. Director Renea Roberts replied that community involvement was key throughout the process. Oil and gas officials told the community they had no chance. Citizens from the predominantly Hispanic rural villages of Mora and San Miguel Counties (labeled among the poorest communities in the United States) \u201cstood up to defend their heritage and it has made a difference,\u201d Roberts said. She feels that one of the most gratifying aspects of making the film has been that some of its largest audience has been high school and college students who have added their voices to the outcry against fracking.<\/p>\n
Hosted by Evoke Gallery with a lunch and dessert sponsored by Il Piatto, Saturday\u2019s panel \u201cChanging the World Through Films\u201d emphasized the important points of activist filmmaking: enabling action, revealing story, and distributing beyond the festival market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWhat we noticed were films made with a real intent to say something, that was in some way a call to enable action,\u201d Schneier Perrin said when explaining how the idea for the \u201cChanging the World Through Films\u201d panel discussion came about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"festival_year":[7],"class_list":["post-6319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","festival_year-7"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19426,"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6319\/revisions\/19426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6319"},{"taxonomy":"festival_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/santafefilmfestival.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/festival_year?post=6319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}