2013 Desert Light Film Festival is Pleased to Announce:

2013 Guest Keynote Speaker
City of Albuquerque Film Liaison and an Albuquerque’s  “Women of Influence 2013” Honoree

Ann Lerner

Ann Lerner: a great “Fighter” for NM Film

ANN LERNER’S
BIOGRAPHY

Ann Lerner heads up the City of Albuquerque’s Film Office, which is located in the Department of Economic Development, Mayor’s Office. The mission of the office is to promote and attract the film industry to the City of Albuquerque.  Ann says she has the best job in the city.  She has been Film Liaison for the city since 2003.

Job responsibilities for the film office include marketing, location scouting, production meetings, community walk-through, on-site visits, location follow-ups, and coordination of special screenings. She has been involved with job training, business recruitment, educational opportunities and community outreach.  Keeping ABQ Film Friendly is her number one goal.

Ann brings a twenty year background in the film industry to the office, as an owner/line producer for her own commercial film production company, specializing in TV commercials. She has produced local, regional and national television commercials, filming on location all over the United States, and Toronto.  She has a Master’s Degree from the University of Kansas in Special Education, and taught special needs children for four years, before changing careers and entering into the wacky world of film.

Ann serves on the APS Foundation Board, CNM Advisory Board, the University of Kansas Film Advisory Board, and was recently named a Women of Influence in 2013 by  Albuquerque Business First.

Ann has lived in Corrales since 1977 where she raised two sons, and many chickens.

Call for Entries is now open for the 2012 Desert Light Film Competition

The Desert Light Film organizers are searching for New Mexico high school and middle school students to participate in the 2012 Desert Light Film Competition on Friday, April 13, 2012. Presented by New Mexico State University Alamogordo and the Otero County Film Office, and sponsored by JC Penney, this competition will give you an opportunity to showcase your work, compete for prizes, and participate in seminars designed for young filmmakers.

Desert Light is open to all New Mexico high school and middle school students, including students who attend public, private or charter schools, or who are home schooled. This festival is designed for any student who has an interest in film making.

This year the festival celebrates New Mexico’s Centennial. Two categories have a new Centennial twist. The 30 second commercial is described this year as the New Mexico Centennial 30-second commercial. The documentary category is promoting Centennial topics and we hope you will dig into the history of our state, and of your area, and teach us something new.

Don’t forget the challenging, non-traditional area of Experimental Film. We hope many students will make a creative attempt. Other categories include narrative or drama/comedy, animation and music video The criteria for all categories include production quality, creativity and originality, resourcefulness and entertainment value.

Sponsored by JC Penney through the JCPenney Foundation, Desert Light offers prizes in every category. First Place awards are $100 each. Honorable Mention awards are $50 each. Local JC Penneys store manager Alan Mendoza will be on hand to personally present the awards for the winning films. Seminars this year will include Final Cut Pro, special effects makeup for film, and production techniques. Other seminars will be announced.

Please submit your films on DVD, standard format, MPEG2, in 4×3 or 16×9 format. If your school submits multiple films on a single DVD, please give 10-15 seconds black screen between submissions. If you have something that won’t work with the criteria above, please email us and tell us what format you do have. We will try to work with you.

A special Film Briefing with Ranger Kathy Denton has been arranged at the White Sands National Monument following the Awards Ceremony. Whenever professionals come to film at the Monument, they have certain procedures to follow before they arrive, and while they are filming. This interactive briefing will teach you much about the protocol of filming in national parks and working with other agencies. Students will arrive at the White Sands before sunset, and then be able to film some fabulous footage. This is a very special opportunity to spend several hours at one of the sites kept especially for filming. This event is open just to students and teachers attending the Desert Light Film Festival.

Organizers of the 2012 Desert Light Film Competition include K. Jan Wafful, Otero County Film Liaison; Alan Mendoza, store manager for JC Penney; Bryan Yancey, ProTech division head at NMSU Alamogordo; Ranger Kathy Denton, Education and Interpretation specialist at White Sands National Monument; Evi Garcia, Otero County Economic Development Council executive assistant; Christa Haynes, New York Life Insurance, Joan Griggs, festival director from NMSU Alamogordo; and Dr. Bruce Martin and Donna Cook, NMSU Alamogordo.

Submit films anytime from now until Friday, March 9, 2012. Entries should be mailed to the Otero County Film Office, 1301 N. White Sands Blvd., Alamogordo, NM 88310. Each entry requires a $5 entry fee. The entry form includes a “Use of Submissions” form to be signed by students over 18. Parents or teachers will sign for students under 18. All forms, including the form explaining the Entry Rules, information about Judging and Awards, and Description of Categories will soon be available on the Film Otero website www.filmotero.com. They have also been attached for your convenience. For more information, contact K. Jan Wafful, Otero County Film Liaison at jan@filmotero.com or Joan Griggs at jgriggs@nmsua.nmsu.edu.

Festival Update

Alamogordo German School Takes Best of Festival Prize at Desert Light Film Festival
Friday, April 29, 2011
Alamogordo, New Mexico

Desert Light Film Festival brought over 140 film students and teachers together on the NMSU Alamogordo campus on Friday, April 29. “This is a special film festival designed for high school and middle school students,” said Joan Griggs festival director for Desert Light. “We limit the competition to students from New Mexico. This year was another fantastic festival with new schools participating.

Students from the Alamogordo German School were surprised by the judges who awarded them the Best of Festival award. Even though this school entered Desert Light Film Festival for the first time this year, they walked away with the First Place awards in Animation and Music Video, two of the most competitive categories, as well as the Best of Festival award. The Pro-Tech division at NMSUA, under the direction of Bryan Yancey, presented the team of filmmakers with an IPOD and with a movie poster designed by James Scharmack. This movie theater size poster portrays a scene from their winning music video entry titled “There Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked.” Students, including producer David Thees, beamed as they collected their awards on stage and as they viewed their video, shown during the Awards Ceremony.

“We are proud to have JC Penney Company Fund, Inc as our official corporate sponsor, and we especially appreciate our new local Penneys manager Alan Mendoza,” Griggs said. “Penneys makes it possible to produce this festival and to give out cash prizes that in turn help students fund their filmmaking. We had 112 films competing this year. The films were submitted from schools including Alamogordo High School, Alamogordo German School, Mayfield High School, Sierra Middle School and the Albuquerque based Public Academy for the Performing Arts and DATA Charter School. Two new middle schools participating included Picacho Middle School in Las Cruces and Mountain View Middle School in Alamogordo.”

Dr. Phil Lewis, Creative Media Institute Director at New Mexico State University, opened his morning seminar by showing clips from various Experimental Films. Students learned about combining media, and what makes an abstract film. He entertained and answered questions about this new category. He also served as judge for Experimental Film. The Alamogordo Optimist Club provided funding for prizes in this new category. The First Prize Award for Experimental Film at the high school level went to Taylor Roundtree, Jocelyn Rose, and Sierra Anaya from Alamogordo High School for their film, “Perception.” John Cowart represented the Optimist Club and presented them with the $100 prize.

Students also participated in other seminars, including Special Effects Makeup for Film, Final Cut Pro editing program and Maya Animation. NMSU Alamogordo instructors included Connie Breding, Sara Irving, and James Scharmack. Ranger Kathy Denton, White Sands National Monument, provided a new seminar on filming at White Sands, and Bill McCamey taught a seminar called “Pyrotechnic Special Effects.”

The Awards Ceremony Friday afternoon was preceded by a reception in the new NMSUA Art Gallery and lobby. “The Cloudcroft Light Opera Company was proud to sponsor the reception this year,” said Otero County Film Liaison and festival co-director Jan Wafful. “CLOC looks for ways to support youth in the community and this year they found the funds to sponsor this film education event.”

Felix Wolters from the Alamogordo German School won First Place in Animation for his film “A Different Pinocchio.” In addition to the $100 prize from JC Penneys, Sony Pictures Imageworks has awarded a very special prize: a trip to their studios in Albuquerque to observe and job shadow their animators plus an invitation to join their animators for the official Green Lantern VFX Wrap Party and crew screening of “Green Lantern,” a blockbuster movie which will release this June.

Alan Mendoza was on stage during the Awards Ceremony to present the Penneys award checks. Documentaries about two local landmarks were winners this year. Honorable Mention went to Hunter Niffenegger for his documentary about the apple industry in Mountain Park and “The Apple Barn.” First Prize went to Parker Thomas, Tim Anderson and Ray Payne for their documentary “The Haunting at 1309,” which detailed the history of the original hospital in Alamogordo. Kaylie Carlson from Alamogordo won First Place in High School Tourism Commercial, judged by the Alamogordo Promotion Board. Cameron McCloud, Rylee Agulto, and Joshua Jarrell won Honorable Mention for their music video, “Smile.”

Desert Light Film Festival is a project which is directed by NMSU Alamogordo and the Otero County Film Office, a division of the Otero County Economic Development Council, and supported by a committee which includes, Jan Wafful, Joan Griggs, Jesse Casto, Bryan Yancey, Bruce Martin, Ranger Rebecca Wiles, Christa Haynes and Mike Espiritu. For more pictures, log on to www.filmotero.com . Local businesses which supported this festival include JC Penney, Desert Sun Motors, CLOC, WalMart, Lowes CLOC and the Alamogordo Optimist Club. Many thanks go to the NMSUA staff and to all those who helped judge the films.

Festival Directors
Joan Griggs, Coordinator of Community Services, NMSU Alamogordo
Jan Wafful, Otero County Film Liaison

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Desert Light 2011 getting posters	John Cowart presents 1st place High School Film Award
Six teachers	Alan Mendoza and Felix Wolters