The Sound of Us

The Santa Fe Film Festival is a 10-day celebration of the best in cinematic arts, the 23rd Annual Santa Fe Film Festival will run in February 2023 with a program of over 100 screenings, panels, juried awards, workshops, and parties. We will have confirmed dates announced March 1st 2022.

Long before New Mexico received statehood, artists have found our diverse landscapes, light, and culture integral for sharing their stories.

New Mexico has been a key part of filmmaking since the first ‘short film’ entitled “Indian Day School” was shot by a crew sent by Thomas Edison in 1898. Filmmakers found that shooting in the light in our state added more drama, depth, and atmosphere to the story.

With a rich history in film, it’s not surprising that over 300 feature films from Westerns to Action genres and everything in between has been shot here since 1911. Select titles include 3:10 to Yuma, The Astronaut Farmer, Silverado, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Grapes of Wrath, Red Dawn, Independence Day, Young Guns, and Wild Wild West.

In the 1920s, Film Festivals became popular with independent filmmakers as an alternative to Hollywood-controlled theaters, allowing them to share their important stories from documentaries to avant-garde films; allowing them to show their work to audiences, film distributors, critics, and fans.

The Santa Fe Film Festival’s beginnings started to grow organically forty years ago with an off-shoot from a festival in the region creating a “New Directors/New Film” program in partnership with MOMA (NYC) which attracted many notable Hollywood directors and film stars. From this start as a hub for celebrating filmmakers, the Santa Fe Film Festival was officially created in 1999 as a nonprofit and awarded “The Cider House Rules” as the first Best Feature.

Over the years, the Santa Fe Film Festival has garnered international industry acclaim receiving submissions from all over the globe by bringing together distinguished industry professionals and film-lovers alike with the diverse categories of cinema. We welcome you to join us.

Come experience the beauty of Santa Fe's culture and outdoors (skiing, hiking, biking, etc) and join us for our upcoming celebration of cinematic arts.

2022 Santa Fe Film Festival Award Winners

Best US Narrative Feature: The Falconer
Best in Show: The Falconer
Best Feature Documentary: The Sound of Us
Best Story: The Brilliant Darkness!
Best Short Documentary: Yupiit: Eye of Both Worlds
Best Short Film: What We Find in the Sea
Best International Narrative Feature: Oliver and the Pool
Best New Mexican Produced Short Film: Breathe
Best 1st Time Filmmaker (documentary): Hello Sunshine
Best First Time Feature: Samland
Best Student Filmmaker: The Island
Best Director: Oliver and the Pool
Best Performance (male): Pedro Correa “Lucas” - My Dead Dad
Best Performance (female) : Nha Uyen Ly Nguyen "Song" - The Brilliant Darkness!
Best Cinematography: The Roommate
Best Costume Design: The Machinery of Dreams
Best Editing: The Long Isolation
Best Production Design: The Machinery of Dreams
Best Sound: Alchemy of the Spirit

Casting Society’s 2022 Casting Director Santa Fe Film Festival Awards

Best Casting Director for a Feature Film: Rick Montgomery and Thomas Sullivan for “My Dead Dad”
Best Casting Director for a Short Film: Emily Schweber for “Undercut”

The Santa Fe Film Festival’s opening night film “The Art of Making It” included a curated private tour of Site Santa Fe along with a reception at “Charlotte Jackson Fine Art” before the screening at the Center for Contemporary Arts.

The Gala Screening on Saturday, February 5th, “The Tricky Part” based on the book from the award-winning performer, Martin Moran, who won the OBIE for his one-man show, had director, Raphael Sbarge and Matthew Ennis, executive director of the non-profit, 1in6.org to talk about the film which touches on childhood abuse of men and how to normalize the conversation. Not in attendance at the screening but was at the filmmaker luncheon earlier in the day was producer, Anthony Edwards, who is also the spokesperson for 1in6.org and who also received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his wide body of work and philanthropist.

Chris Gero, 12-time Emmy Award winner and Grammy Award-nominated record producer, founder of Yamaha Entertainment Group of America and Chief Artist Relations Executive for Yamaha Artist Relations Group, won Best Director for his documentary “The Sound of Us.”

First-time feature documentary filmmaker, AJ Martinson’s film, “The End of Blindness” was screened with a special presentation about Dr. Samuel Bora, the only ophthalmologist for 3 million people in Ethiopia who does free cataract surgery, following which was so well-received that audience members donated to the charity Tropical Health Alliance Foundation involved helping this important work continue.

Cinema lovers were out in force as there were many sold-out screenings including two World Premieres for New Mexicans. Santa Fe native and Los Angeles filmmaker, America Young and her film “Back to Lyla” and local Albuquerque filmmaker, Doug Montoya’s film “Third Act” also played to a packed house.

America Young was also honored with the first “Spirit of New Mexico” award for her work as a director, producer, writer, stunt-coordinator, and philanthropist with her The Chimaera Project, a non-profit, which helps female-identifying filmmakers with finishing funds for their projects.