Lights! Camera! Action!

Nonprofit Littleglobe kicks off filmmaking workshop series

While just about everybody loves movies of all stripes, not everyone considers the prep parts of filmmaking—the writing, the lighting, the interviewing, shot setup and so on. Film is...complicated, and its high bar of accessibility could likely be a turnoff for those looking to tell or help tell stories. Where do you start? In Santa Fe, it could be as simple as an upcoming workshop from nonprofit Littleglobe.

This Saturday at the Southside branch of the Santa Fe Public Library, Littleglobe kicks off the first in a series of free lessons in filmmaking, this one with an emphasis on interviewing and the nuts and bolts of making that happen.

“The idea is really about giving people tools in story gathering and crafting in order to be able to tell their own stories and the stories of their community, however they define that,” says Littleglobe’s director of education, Katy Gross. “The idea is that rather than documentary filmmakers or people outside the community coming in and gathering stories, it’s about people...having the resources to not only tell them, but to become a part of an archive through a partnership with the library.”

In practice, it’s simple: Gross and other Littleglobe personnel such as Dylan Tenorio (whose filmmaking efforts won him top prize at SFR’s 3-Minute Film Fest last year), Anaid Garcia, Chris Jonas and Gross herself will help participants identify the stories they’d like to tell. They’ll then help them learn how to do everything from interviewing and shooting to audio design, boom work, lighting design and more. As the series progresses, participants will ultimately get the chance to produce their own work, some of it using the very smartphones in most everyone’s pocket. Think of it like the democratization of film and, by December, Littleglobe will kick off its next storytelling initiative, which includes positions with paid stipends. And while Gross is quick to point out that participants in the workshop series won’t automatically skyrocket to the top of the cohort list, it won’t hurt their chances. Either way, Saturday’s workshop is open to all ages, but slots are filling up fast.

“This is a chance for people to learn different aspects on a real film set,” Gross adds. “This is just to give people a taste, an opportunity for everyone to rotate through these roles.” (Alex De Vore)

Littleglobe Filmmaking & Interviewing Workshop: 1-5 pm Saturday, Nov. 19. Free. Santa Fe Public Library Southside Branch, 6599 Jaguar Drive, (505) 955-2820

Fractured But Still Whole

How do we reckon with the events of the last few years while continuing our lives in meaningful ways? Terrible things happened. We lived through them. And though whatever the world is now feels like some sort of dark, alternate timeline, at a certain point, we must carry on, no matter how fractured we might be. That’s a tough concept, and one that lies at the center of the new show at FOMA Gallery from photographer Laura Cofrin and painter Jennie Kiessling. The artists present various works that bring an awareness to the fleeting nature of existence and experience, a place where parts of us might be broken, but we still manage to hold it together. The artists achieve balance between the literal and figurative, finding beauty in what might seem ugly at first. If we’re to keep on keeping on, such confrontations feel almost necessary. Don’t look away. Don’t forget. (ADV)

Holding the Edge Opening: 5-7 pm Friday, Nov. 18. Free. FOMA Gallery, 333 Montezuma Ave., (505) 660-0121

“Happy” Holidays!

While the vast majority of Christmas-tinged entertainment tends to err toward joyous and celebratory, you’ve gotta hand it to Irish playwright Conor McPherson for his darkly poignant (OK, and maybe funny) 2006 play, The Seafarer. In short, the Christmas Eve tale finds an alcoholic who goes by Sharky moving in with his super-old brother Richard. Grappling with his newfound reality and the holiday stress, Sharky tries to keep it sober, but tough things, of course, arise. Oh, family; oh, holidays—you so crazy. The New Mexico Actors Lab tackles the McPherson play this week with consummate theater pro Matt Sanford sitting in the director’s chair. With a cast including notable locals such as Nicholas Ballas and Rod Harrison, we’re betting on some deep realizations and powerful storytelling. The theater scene is on fire around here lately. Get onboard. (ADV)

The Seafarer: 7:30 pm Thursday, Nov. 17-Saturday, Nov. 19; 2 pm Sunday, Nov. 20. $15-$30. The Actors Lab, 1213 Parkway Drive, (505) 395-6576

Too Hot to Handel

Let’s kick it back to 1741, when George Frideric Handel (or just Handel if you’re nasty) found himself in the transitory world of compositional stress. You think busting out operas and sonatas is easy? Heck, no. Anyway, Handel had done well in the opera world and all, but the tastes they were a-changing, and his newfound focus on oratorios was not quite there yet. Enter aristocrat Charles Jennens, from whom Handel would source lyrics for his then in-progress Messiah. By 1742, the piece was completed, and things seemed pretty OK—right up until the clergy dubbed the devotional piece blasphemous and the world at large didn’t much care. If fact, it wasn’t until 1749 that The Messiah caught on with a wider audience. Think of it like that Lizzo song “Truth Hurts” that bounced back some years after it first dropped, and then think about catching the Santa Fe Symphony & Chorus performing the dang thing this weekend. The Handel thing, not the Lizzo thing. (ADV)

Handel’s Messiah: 7 pm, Saturday Nov. 19 and 4 pm Sunday, Nov. 20. $22-$80. Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W San Francisco St., (505) 988-1234