The State of New Mexico Film Office last month moved to the campus of Santa Fe University of Art and Design. “We’re excited to join the campus community at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. I believe this will be a great fit with the school’s focus on arts and creativity ” says director Lisa Strout. “The university has offered the film office the opportunity to lease vacant office space for five years at $1 per year. Volunteers from the film industry are helping with the move. Our new location puts us in a terrific environment with access to a state-of-the-art theatre and soundstage facilities.” She says “Insofar as a main focus of the Film Office is to support up-and-coming local filmmakers I am confident this will benefit not only the university and its students but also open opportunities for other New Mexico filmmakers. All while saving taxpayers money that would otherwise be spent on lease payments.” Santa Fe University of Art and Design formerly the College of Santa Fe offers a Moving Image Arts program chaired by Harry Mathias an Academy Award-nominated cinematographer. The program integrates film and digital production with critical studies and writing. Additionally the university has Garson Studios a renowned sound stage studio used regularly for the production of major motion pictures by the film industry and is home of The Screen a 170-seat cinema which offers great works of world cinema to students and the general public on a daily basis. “We are very pleased to welcome the New Mexico Film Office to the campus. The potential synergies will benefit not only our faculty students and alumni but also the community of Santa Fe ” says John S. Gordon president of Santa Fe University of Art and Design. “The university is proud of the fine films that have been produced in our facilities and we want that tradition to carry on into the future. We’re also proud of the role that The Screen plays in the education of our students and the life of our community. Both Garson Studios and The Screen enhance the university’s growing impact on our local economy.” Garson Studios is a 32 000-square-foot soundstage facility that film legend Greer Garson funded in 1989. Most recent films produced at the Studios include major motion pictures such as Steven Soderbergh’s Knockout the Coen brothers’ True Grit and Dreamworks’ Cowboys & Aliens.
