You Are Family
Violet Crown Cinema (1606 Alcaldesa St., (505) 216-5678) kicks off its first-ever Summer Movie Camp, a free (yes, free) summer series featuring family-friendly movie screenings throughout the summer in weekly bursts—and we’re talking screenings every dang day. The series begins Friday, May 31 with Despicable Me, a Steve Carrell-led animated thing that birthed the now painfully ubiquitous Minions characters. Good thing VCC phases to Minions: The Rise of Gru on Friday, June 7. June 14? Shrek. June 21? How to Train Your Dragon. June 28? Kung Fu Panda. July 5? The Land Before Time (good luck not crying, what with animation icon Don Bluth’s tear-jerking fetish). July 19? Puss in Boots. August 2? Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken.
Queen of Queens, or Violet Crown 2: The Legend of Curly’s Gold
OK, so indie film Queen of Knives from director Jon Delgado (an accomplished cinematographer, btw) dropped on streaming platforms like AppleTV+ and Amazon Prime already, but that doesn’t mean it won’t screen gratis at Santa Fe’s Violet Crown Cinema at 7 pm on Friday, June 14. Why do you need to know this now, some weeks ahead of time? Because Santa Fe-based actor/filmmaker Alexandra Renzo is in it, so it might fill up fast. Queen of Knives follows aging New York City dad Frank (Gene Pope, who also co-wrote the script) as he grapples with divorce and daughters and a third “D” word that feels elusive just now. Renzo plays Autumn, the younger lady who teaches Frank how to live and laugh and love again. Also? Thirtysomething star Mel Harris is in the movie. Pope and Renzo are slated to attend the screening for a post-movie chat, too, so mark your calendars.
They Are Family
If all those Violet Crown screenings aren’t enough, don’t forget the Lensic Performing Arts Center nonprofit events imprint Lensic360 has quite a slate of summertime movie screenings scheduled for Railyard Park. The series begins with the Saturday, June 1 screening of Barbie, wends its way through the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense on Saturday, June 15, flips over to the Saturday, June 29 screening of The Wizard of Oz and then continues into the following months. Our top pick: The Muppet Movie on Saturday, July 20. All films start at 7 pm, and they’re free. Visit lensic360.org for more or to feel the rainbow connection.
Miss You Every Day, Madeline Kahn!
The Jean Cocteau Cinema hosts another banger throwback this week with two screenings of the farcical 1985 comedy classic Clue (7 pm Wednesday, May 29 and Thursday, May 30, $10. 418 Montezuma Ave., (505) 466-5528). Of all the movies based on board games, this is the only one with a stacked cast including Martin Mull, Michael McKean, Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, Christopher Lloyd and the unforgettable, inimitable Madeline Kahn, it’s an obvious must-see for longtime fans or those who have somehow missed out over the last not-quite-40-years.
Spielberg Pays Up
No, not that Spielberg. Destry Allyn Spielberg, daughter of Steven and Kate Chapsaw, whose low-budget post-apocalyptic feature debut Please Don’t Feed the Children reportedly wrapped production here last fall but still owed approximately $200,000 to vendors, Variety magazine reports. Now, the publication says, the production has paid up. “As of today, every single New Mexico vendor that worked on Please Don’t Feed The Children has been issued payment,” producer Jason Durbin says in a statement printed by Variety. “We deeply regret the delay in getting these funds to the incredible artisans of Santa Fe and throughout New Mexico who gave their time and talent to this production.”