3 Questions

with Jeff Berg

If you haven't checked out Reel New Mexico and their monthly independent film series, this Thursday at Eldorado's La Tienda Performance Space is your chance. Film historian Jeff Berg leads the upcoming presentation of Sweet Land, a post-WWI indie period drama.

For the uninitiated, what is Reel New Mexico?
The series was founded by fellow El D residents, Bill Osher and Diane Thomas, who really got it going but had to stop due to other commitments. I know that Buck, a documentary about a horse trainer that played for weeks at CCA, was a huge hit, as was Rooted Lands, a doc about fracking in New Mexico. Their goal with the series was to get the work of New Mexico filmmakers out, but they kinda ran out of material.

Personally, what have been some of the highlights of the series?
Since I restarted it last fall, the best pic so far was Mother O'Keeffe, which had almost 100 people in attendance. We [usually] average 40 to 50. Another good one was a doc about John Nichols. I've been doing this for years and the O'Keeffe thing was an amazing turnout. It was directed by Richard Startzman, who lives in El D.

What in particular about Sweet Land made you pick it for a screening?
When I took the series over, I decided to mix it up a bit and add the occasional non-New Mexico feature, such as this one. Sweet Land is a very intimate, funny, dramatic film, with a story that is still rather relevant today when one considers immigration issues in the US. I doubt if many people saw it when it was released and I like to share overlooked films with audiences.

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