by Joe Buffaloe
Daily Lobo
The TromaDance Film Festival began when two no-name kids sent their movie, "Cannibal the Musical," to Sundance and never received a reply.
In response, they screened their film in a theater across town through the duration of the festival.
Those two kids turned out to be "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Lloyd Kaufman, head of Troma Entertainment, who was distributing their film, was inspired by their action to start an independent film festival.
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"Sundance has pretty much become HBO-dance," said Kurly Tlapoyawa, owner of Burning Paradise Video in Albuquerque. "Unless you have celebrities or a big budget, they won't even look at your film."
This will be the second year Albuquerque has hosted TromaDance New Mexico. The original TromaDance Film Festival has been held in Park City, Utah, for the past six years.
The festival, presented by Burning Paradise Video, is open to anyone wishing to submit a film, regardless of genre or running time.
"We've received a few hundred entries so far," Tlapoyawa said.
The festival places a strong emphasis on local filmmaking.
"About 80 percent of the entries have been from Albuquerque," Tlapoyawa said.
Local filmmaker Chris Dylan of Blank Stare Pictures said the festival is a chance for unknown artists to showcase their work.
"There aren't a lot of opportunities to get a film screened without studio backing," Dylan said. "TromaDance has probably been the best thing for that in Albuquerque."
Tlapoyawa supports this focus on local independent filmmaking.
"So much of the movie business in New Mexico is about bringing Hollywood here," he said. "We want to encourage local people to make their own films."
In addition to a lack of opportunities for screenings, many filmmakers run into financial barriers. That's why Dylan, whose feature film "Cross" received the grand prize at last year's festival with a budget of about $150, has produced two short videos for this year's festival on how to create cheap special effects.
Blank Stare Pictures also submitted a comedy short, "Noise," for this year's festival.
"It probably cost about $10 to make," Dylan said.
Many first-time filmmakers have submitted work as well. Skylar Silva, an Albuquerque resident, filmed her first feature, "Time Bomb," with TromaDance in mind.
"I went to the festival last year and it was really encouraging," she said.
Silva is drawn to the festival because of its founder, Kaufman.
"I saw 'The Toxic Avenger' a while ago and just thought it was the best movie I'd ever seen," she said. "It inspired me to make my own movie."
She said "Time Bomb" is about a guy who has trouble making friends with anyone. He manages to get a date, but something goes horribly, horribly wrong.
Silva filmed the movie with her digital camera and the help of some friends, she said.
Adding to this year's festival will be the presence of Kaufman. He will be giving a class on filmmaking titled, Make Your Own Damn Movie on Friday at the Southwest Film Center for $10. He will also host a screening of "Tromeo and Juliet" at 10 p.m. Friday at Guild Cinema.
The festival gets under way Saturday at noon, running until 10 p.m., then from noon to 10 p.m. on Sunday. A grand prize will be given, as well as second and third prizes. Passes for the entire festival are $30, or individual tickets for a block of films on either day can be purchased.
