Producer’s goal: SXSW in ABQ

Thwarted temporarily by Mother Nature, one man’s vision is taking root in drier ground.

Rich Henrich said he has always wanted to create a bridge between opposing views. After some experience in politics, Henrich said he was inspired to use film, one of the most powerful vehicles for provoking potent dialogue.

“I saw two aisles,” he said. “The problem is that no one really crosses the aisles, you just have a divide. But you go to a movie, and if it’s a good movie, it doesn’t matter what side of the political aisle you’re on, you talk about ideas.”

Henrich said that in 2005 he was struck with the idea of a film festival. He tried to hold a festival in Cancún, but Mother Nature foiled his plans.

“A hurricane came screaming through the Yucatán Peninsula and wiped out Cancún and our plans for the festival,” Henrich said.

Take two of the festival was set for the following year, again in Cancún, and again cancelled after another hurricane drowned all but his hopes for eventual success. Instead of a third go in Cancún, he went to the land nature left mostly alone and got back into screenwriting.

His first successful foray into film festivals was in aiding the Santa Fe Film Festival. Shortly after, he founded Film 4 Change, his avenue for promoting films that have the potential to cause social change.

A film narrative is a point of view, one that offers the audience a chance to get to know an individual from a safe distance, Henrich said. He said individuals, through film making, can express an opinion without the threat of judgment from their peers. At the same time, we become close to the people on screen and we open our hearts to those our minds may have shunned, Henrich said.

“I think film really acts as a social mirror that reflects our values culturally,” he said. “It gets us out of our minds. If we feel again to where we have compassion, we’re more understanding of an issue. I think it will alter our logical minds.”

The annual Albuquerque Film Festival is Film 4 Change’s main project. Henrich said the festival is steadily becoming more widely known, but the real trouble is getting locals to see it as a “cultural confluence” rather than just a party.

“How did SXSW get to be SXSW?” he said. “Because somebody had a vision to create it. I see that as very possible. We could do the same thing here, it’s just getting people to see that vision.”