As the All Roads Film Festival gets underway in Santa Fe, New Mexico please note the following programming changes:

• Tehran Has No More Pomegranates has been added to tonight's schedule with a 6:15 screening at DeVargas 3.
• Sikumi will screen at the New Mexico Film Museum Friday, December 5@5:45pm and at Sunday, December 7@10:15am.


• Tale of the Geological Shake Up, from the "Kid's Stories" series will screen with River of No Return on Thursday, December 4@10:00am and Sunday, December 7@5:45pm.

All Roads Filmmakers made a significant impact at the 2007 Santa Fe Film Festival awards ceremony collecting 3 awards. The night kicked off to a rousing start as host Ali McGraw called announced All Roads seed granteeDarlene Johnson's (pictured w/Brutus) "Crocodile Dreaming"as the festival's "Best Short Format Film" as selected by the Jury. Darlene was shocked and humbled that her mystical film, that delves into ancient aboriginal traditions, was recognized among the many competing films covering more mainstream subject.

More to come...

The 2007 All Roads Film Festival has landed in the "Land of Enchantment" for its final destination of the year. With last night's premiere screening of "Super Amigos" and the opening of the photography exhibit, All Roads set into motion a very strong presence here at the Santa Fe Film Festival. Still to come, are more captivating films and the music of Tinariwen on Friday. For the filmmakers and photographers, the fellowship shared among all is special. Coming from such destinations as Finland, Australia, Canada and Mexico to name a few, Santa Fe has the feeling of a family reunion after festival runs in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. It is truly endearing to witness the cultivation of the these relationships first hand.

More to come...

Photos courtesy of Lenny Williams & Elizabeth Stevens, National Geographic Society

Up next was the night's feature film Arctic Son.  This feature length film was a blunt portrayal of a young man's coming of age through the guidance of his father.  Caught in a tailspin of booze, night clubbing and drugs, Jr, was on a path of either prison or the grave.  He lived at home with his mother who had raised him alone since he was a baby.  His father, who also was afflicted with a nasty drinking habit, had picked up and left the temptations of Western living to pursue a simple life in his ancestral home in the Yukon.  For father and son, the time had come to reunite and begin to heal the wounds of lost time.  The father saw a reflection of his own destructive youth in his son, hoping that the call of his ancestral homeland would serve as the same saving grace.  Tough love provided the template as the father took Jr. on a perilous expedition through the Yukon wilderness to an isolated cabin that was their destination.  Throughout the journey Jr. learned the ancient ways of his ancestors from his father, fishing, hunting, crossing dangerous frozen lakes and dealing with struggles as they occur.  Life in the wilderness served as kind of rehab center, both for Jr's. destructive lifestyle as well as the father/son relationship.  The effects of global warming played a supporting role as we learned just how much had changed in the frozen tundra in just one generation.

More to come...

YeeeeeHaaa!! Today, All Roads filmmakers, photographers and staff were treated to a special tour of the iconic Bonanza Creek Ranch. This amazing piece of Americana provided the backdrop to such films as "The Cowboys" (featuring the late John Wayne) "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "Young Guns", "Walker, Texas Ranger" and countless other movies, commercials, television shows and music videos since the 1950's. From the authentic old fashioned saloons to the local jail, we were escorted throughout literal "ghost towns" ranch's passionate owner and caretaker Imogene Hughes.  Totalling over 30,000 acres, the ranch has been in Hughes' family since the 1940's. 

The most recent film to wrap production on Bonanza is the soon-to-be-released "Astronaut Farmer" featuring Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thorton.  Actually, the film is set to debut at this year's Santa Fe Film festival.

(Images courtesy of Lenny Williams, National Geographic Society)

 (Group image courtesy of Carolyn S. Brown)