KATHLEEN BROYLES, an assistant to Robert Redford, remembers her first meeting with Jacques about an idea he had for a Santa Fe film festival. She was impressed by his youth, and the logic and power of his idea. She was particularly intrigued by his straightforwardness about what he didn’t know – a rare quality, especially in those starting out. By the end of the meeting she remembers thinking, This might just happen.
Of course, it did, and now it has become something of an institution. Every year it attracts an impressive, eclectic menu of American and foreign films from a wide range of genres, featuring the gamut of superstars to first timers. The curation is witty.
The only thing Jacques loves more than his bulldog is movies. Even so, it’s improbable for someone so young to be running such an acclaimed film festival. How did this happen?
How did you start this festival?
We were just a group of local film people who had an opportunity to show some movies for an audience that was eager to watch them. It was successful right away and snowballed into something much bigger. By 2011, it was the biggest event of its kind in the state. And now it’s the biggest for hundreds of miles in every direction.
Connecting with an audience, I think, is what made it so successful. We were showing movies that weren’t being shown anywhere else.
How do you decide to let one film in and not another?
We receive over 3,000 entries from more than 94 countries. And there’s a screening committee of more than 100 people who watch the early movies and recommend or pass on them based on whether they think it’ll be good for the festival.
We’re looking for the most significant stories. They should evoke an emotional response, whether you love a character or hate a character. A lot of it is gut. You look for those you connect to viscerally. Something that stands out from all the rest. A lot of times it’s something that has been really popular overseas or has gained a lot of attention, or has a local connection. There are so many different things that can make audiences here connect with film. We’re trying to look at all of them.
When did you come to Santa Fe?
My folks moved here in 1987 when I was about seven or eight. I learned Santa Fe is not the easiest place for everybody to navigate. I think it’s hard for us to trust outsiders for obvious reasons.
Because, every year there’s somebody who pops up out of the woodwork saying, I’m from LA and I’ll show you guys how we do it in LA, or someone from New York will say, Everything in New York is so much more hardcore.
Well, we’re not bumpkins here, we’re sophisticates, and I think there’s a kind of camaraderie with people who have been here a long time.
How did Santa Fe get a film festival?
These small town festivals started because Robert Redford wanted to ski in Utah, so he started Sundance in January in a great ski town. And then, a few years later the Telluride Film Festival began. They both gained a lot of attention by bringing filmmakers from all over the world to these little mountain towns.
We, as local people, wanted our own version of that. We had the idea to bring the best directors, make it about writers and creativity, and do it all in a place where they could have a great time, meet one another, make deals and connections, and scout locations for their next movies.
What are some of the high points for this year’s festival?
Catherine Hardwick is going to be here for the Visionary Award. She’s an amazing director. She started out in the independent world with 13 and was able to roll that into the success of Lords of Dogtown and Twilight, one of the biggest franchises of all time.
We’ve got George R.R. Martin with the short film that he produced, directed by Vincent D’Onofrio. Mark Polish of the Polish Brothers is coming out with his horror film. And we have Godfrey Reggio, an honest to god genius! I think filmmakers really enjoy the festival, since it’s so filmmaker focused.
It’s amazing that something that started not that long ago is such a big deal.
I have to hand it to the cofounders, to the people on my team for pushing it to the next level. Becoming one of the largest in the area so quickly is not something that happens often. It is kind of remarkable.
Learn more at santafe.film
Photo SFM
