9th Santa Fe Independent Film Festival Announces First 10 Feature Film Selections

The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival represents Santa Fe as a world-class destination for films and theaters. These first 10 announced titles comprise one-fourth of the feature films to be shown at the festival this October and will be followed with a full line-up of short films, educational events and parties at the hottest venues in downtown Santa Fe. John Sayles and Maggie Renzi will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Stay tuned for Opening Night and Closing Night announcements.

Save the date for the ninth annual Santa Fe Independent Film Festival October 18-22, 2017.

Early-bird Festival Passes are available at santafeindependent.com Individual tickets and full schedule will be available in late September.

Only The Brave

Directed by Joseph Kosinski

A drama based on the elite crew of firemen from Prescott, Arizona who battled a wildfire in Yarnell, AZ in June 2013 that claimed the lives of 19 of their members.

Producer Michael Menchel in attendance



Becoming Who I Was Directed by Moon Chang-Yong, Jeon Jin

Deep in the highlands of northern India, a young Buddhist boy discovers that he is the reincarnation of an ancient Tibetan monk. This documentary explores the boy’s coronation as Rinpoche, the reincarnation of a spiritual leader, and his journey to discover the secrets of his past life.

Ol' Max Evans: The First Thousand Years Directed by David Leach, Lorene Mills, and Paul Barnes

Fast paced ride through life and times of internationally renowned, best selling New Mexico author, Max Evans, telling his stories of Hollywood, ranching, publishing houses and brawls with friend with director and friend Sam Peckinpah. Sam Elliott and Peter Coyote lend their voices to the film.

Max Evan and Co-directors David Leach, Lorene Mills, and Paul Barnes in attendance

Pinsky Directed by Amanda Lundquist

North American Premier

In the wake of a bad breakup and the death of her grandfather, Sophia Pinsky moves back home under the martial law of her Russian grandmother and is forced to reevaluate the terms of her adult life.

Director Amanda Lundquist, Producer Rebecca Karpovsky, and Actor/Producer Ara Woland in Attendance

Sami Blood

Directed by Amanda Kernell

Elle Marja, 14, is a reindeer-breeding Sámi girl. Exposed to the racism of the 1930’s and race biology examinations at her boarding school, she starts dreaming of another life. To achieve this other life, she has to become someone else and break all ties with her family and culture.

Atomic Homefront Directed by Rebecca Cammisa

A major metropolitan area in the United States lies dangerously close to a large landfill containing radioactive waste and an escalating underground fire.The film documents those (mostly women) who have mobilized to get answers, created a powerful coalition and continue to fight for environmental justice.

Producer Larissa Bills in attendance

The Sensitives

Directed by Drew Xanthopoulos

A loving grandfather struck down by a debilitating, mysterious illness faces an agonizing choice: an uncertain future with his family or the lure of an isolated, safe community built for sensitives ​like him. As his wife and daughter struggle to keep their family together, we meet others who faced the same impossible choices: an aging mother and her twin sons living in quarantine deep in the desert and an activist in fragile recovery, who advocates for those worse off than herself. The Sensitives is an intimate, verité film focused on three families put to the test by an ​unknown illness.​

Director Drew Xanthopoulos and Producer Andrea Meditch in attendance

On A Knife Edge Directed by Jeremy Williams

Set against a background of rising tension and protest, a Lakota teenager learns first-hand what it means to lead a new generation and enter adulthood in a world where the odds are stacked against him. Filmed over a five-year period, On a Knife Edge provides a privileged view into the interior world of George Dull Knife as he becomes politically active with the American Indian Movement, confronts the challenges of growing up on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and wrestles with accepting leadership of his storied family from his aging father.

Most Beautiful Island Directed by Ana Asensio

Most Beautiful Island is a chilling portrait of an undocumented young woman's struggle for survival as she finds redemption from a tortured past in a dangerous game.

Tickets Now On Sale for John Waters Live & A Tribute to John Sayles and Maggie Renzi

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The 9th Annual Santa Fe Independent Film Festival: October 18th-22rd, 2017. The Santa Fe Independent Film Fest begins October 18th and comes to a close October 22nd, presenting films, panels, discussions, and parties in the heart of downtown Santa Fe. Over 100 films, five days and nights of community events, galas, educational panels and discussions, the hottest independent films of 2017 and much more...

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