New Mexico is a thriving hub for movie and TV production. This spring gives an opportunity to focus on film through Experiments in Cinema at Guild Cinema in Albuquerque from April 16-20.
Explore Albuquerque Film at the Experiments in Cinema Festival
Sanctification, Kokou Ekouagou, Togo
Bryan Konefsky’s blood must surely be made of celluloid, so deep is his fascination with and appreciation of experimental films. His organization, Basement Films, has collected some 6,000 16-mm film prints housed at Central New Mexico Community College available for scholars, researchers and artists to browse. He also founded Experiments in Cinema, the oldest and most comprehensive artist-focused film festival in the Southwest, called one of the top 10 experimental festivals in the world, and the number one experimental festival in the country by Senses of Cinema magazine.
“We’re the only festival of its kind in New Mexico that celebrates the poets of the film world,” Konefsky says. “These aren’t filmmakers per se, but rather moving image artists who work in sub genres of dance, poems, essay, abstract films, etc.”
In 2025, the festival celebrates 20 years challenging the form, format, content and composition of film, with a roster of more than 100 experimental moving images and film artists from around the world. Special activities include workshops by Christian Haardt, head of the antiquated video archive department at the ZKMCenter for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany, and Takashi Makino, a Japanese experimental filmmaker. This year’s artist in residence is Jeremy Rourke of San Francisco. The festival will also publish a yearbook featuring images of all 20 festival catalogues, a complete list of all the films and artists over the past 20 years, and special anecdotes.
Story by Kelly Koepke
Photos Courtesy of Experiments in Cinema
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