James Lujan

James Lujan

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Thursday, 06 March 2008 19:52

James Lujan’s documentaries, which have been screened all over the world, include “High Strange New Mexico” (1997), a probe into the state’s UFO subculture. James Lujan is a filmmaker and playwright from Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, an alumnus of Stanford University and the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television.

As a filmmaker, his documentaries, which have been screened all over the world, include “High Strange New Mexico” (1997), a probe into the state’s UFO subculture; “Little Rock’s Run” (1998), following the odyssey of a Native American fugitive; “Fame Eater” (1999), a look into the twisted mind of Hollywood cult author John Gilmore; “Inner Spirit” (2001), a glimpse at the impact of AIDS in the American Indian community; and “Challenger: An Exploration of Art and Spirit” (2003), a profile of renowned Taos artist Jd Challenger.

As a writer, Lujan’s screenplay, “Nation,” was a winner in the 1992 Los Angeles Writers Workshop Minority Screenwriter’s Competition, and, in 2004, his screenplay, “Fast Elk” was workshopped at the Sundance Film Festival’s Native Screenwriter’s Forum.

Lujan is also produced playwright. His first play, “Casi Hermanos,” co-written with Ramon Flores, about the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, was produced in 1995 by La Compania de Teatro de Albuquerque. His second play, “Kino and Teresa,” a Native version of “Romeo and Juliet,” was an Equity production of Native Voices at the Autry in Los Angeles in 2005 and will be produced again in September 2006 by the VSA North Fourth Art Center in Albuquerque.

In 2000, Lujan founded the Taos Filmmakers Initiative (TFI), a nonprofit training organization offering filmmaking courses to the northern New Mexico community. In the first year, Lujan and his twenty-five students produced five short films comprising the feature-length “Tales of Taos,” which was screened at the 2001 Taos Talking Picture Festival. In the next four years, TFI’s classes produced numerous other short films, and Lujan’s students later have gone on to make their own films, a few have started their own production companies, one went on to launch a film festival and one even started teaching his own film classes.

Lujan now works for Southern California Indian Center, Inc., in Los Angeles, overseeing its training and production division, InterTribal Entertainment, which aims to provide more opportunities for American Indians in the entertainment industry.

Last Updated on Thursday, 15 May 2008 01:07

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