The Santa Fe Film Festival is dedicated to providing a showcase for excellent cinema from around the world, surveying the best in contemporary cinema, and paying homage to the contributions of veteran film artists through select tributes recognizing their body of work. Film preservation and restoration are causes they actively champion, along with educating the public about the future prospects for this evolving medium.
The 2001 festival line-up includes 76 programs of film and video from around the world, with special presentations, including salutes and retrospectives honoring the work of veteran film artists Felipe Cazals, Mary Woronov and Ismail Merchant. The festival’s three bold choices for tributes are among cinema’s most unique voices:
Felipe Cazals ^ One of the most important and perceptive filmmakers of the New Wave of Mexican cinema that evolved in the bitterness and angst of the late 1960s, Felipe Cazals allows his audience to reflect upon the social history he brings to the screen. His films address profound and often disturbing issues from Mexico’s history that reflect upon the nation’s tortured identity. The Santa Fe Film Festival offers works by Felipe Cazals that have never before been seen in the United States.
Ismail Merchant ^ In 1961 India-born Ismail Merchant partnered with American James Ivory to make films in India with American funding. For nearly forty years the Merchant-Ivory name has been a trademark of quality, from The Householder (1963) to Mystic Masseur (2001). Most often the producer of Merchant-Ivory films (A Room With a View, 1986, Remains of the Day, 1993), Ismail Merchant has occasionally directed as well (In Custody, 1993, The Proprietor, 1996). “We are committed to making civilized films,” says Merchant, “films that say something about our life and our time.”
Mary Woronov ^ An art student that chanced to step into the challenging world of Andy Warhol’s Factory, Mary Woronov has had a unique career in film acting. She saw her early work as performance art, before it was called that. She has performed in New York theater and on television but her reputation was made by such cult classic films as Death Race 2000 (1975) and Rock’n’Roll High School (1979) in which she exploited her hard-edged, idiosyncratic physical presence.
Get more info including a full schedule of films by visiting the official Santa Fe Film Festival web site.
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