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The Desert Light Film Festival, while held in Alamogordo, has a strong Las Cruces component. A competition for New Mexico middle- and high-school students who are dipping their feet into the film world, it gives them the opportunity to see what the world of filmmaking is like.
The competition, held Friday, April 29, gave students an opportunity to showcase their work, compete for prizes and participate in seminars designed for young filmmakers. Desert Light is open to all high- school and middle-school students, including students who attend public, private or charter schools, or who are home schooled.
This year, festival organizers hosted an on-campus festival at New Mexico State University-Alamogordo for the students. Competitive categories included drama/comedy, animation, music video, documentary, experimental film and 30-second commercial. The criteria for all categories included production quality, creativity and originality, resourcefulness and entertainment value. Films are submitted and judged in either the high-school or middle-school division. The students receive cash prizes for their work.
The keynote speaker this year was Kevin Bar, Netflix studio manager. Breakout seminars were led by Rajeev Nirmalakhandan and Ross Marks from the Creative Media Institute at NMSU; Vincent Conway, head of NMSU Sports Broadcasting; and Jeff Griggs and Kathy Wallis.
A best of festival award selected from all the first-place winners went to a young filmmaker from Las Cruces, Jair Garcia, who goes to Organ Mountain High School, for his film “Body Bag.” His entry was in the division of drama/comedy.
From Las Cruces, in addition to Organ Mountain High School, there were winners from Sierra Middle School, Centennial High School and Mayfield High School.
“Desert Light Film Festival was founded on the idea that when we all work together great things happen,” said festival Director Joan Griggs. “Our committee is made up of local leaders from government, business, education, the arts and White Sands National Park.”
The deadline for youngsters to send in their films is generally in the middle of March, Griggs said.
“So much fun to hear the kids clap and cheer for everybody and each other,” she said. “It just seems to be a good thing for students and for teachers. It was impressive how they designed their programs.”
While the Covid-19 caused a lapse in education, the festival did have 330 students and 140 films submitted this year, said Otero County Film Liaison Jan Wafful.
“Kevin Bar told our students that he got his start by submitting films to a local film festival when he was in high school, so a lot of people can get their start with events like Desert Light,” Wafful said. “We were so fortunate to have him as our keynote this year.”
