PANEL - EMBRACING DIVERSITY IN FILM, MUSIC AND THE ARTS

Moderator:

Andrea L. Mays, PhD. American Studies

Andrea L. Mays holds a PhD in American Studies, focusing on the areas of 20th Century African American Culture and Politics, Visual Culture and Gender Studies. She has a M.A. in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies from the University of New Mexico and a B.A. in Communications from George Mason University. Andrea is also a cultural critic and creative writer and has performed original spoken-word pieces in performances spaces in Chicago, Washington DC, Santa Fe and Albuquerque, NM. Her essays and articles have been published in USA Today, the Albuquerque Journal, and the Santa Fe Reporter. Andrea's original work was also included in the film Letters to our Daughters directed by native New Mexican filmmaker Christopher Roybal and narrated by Dolores Huerta, the co-founder and First Vice President Emeritus of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO. Contact: acrossthegapsconsulting@gmail.com

Panelists include:

D'Santi Nava

D'Santiago "El Brujo" Nava is a native of Santa Fe, NM descended of indigenous bloodlines: Mexhika Chichimeca, Otomi, Apache, SW Pueblo and Iberian Spaniard. He blends his culture roots, childhood love of classic rock, classical guitar training, paternal musical teachings and all eras of blues into his own “Brujo” sound. He has been an integral part of the local music scene for over 40 years being self taught at the age of 7. He has kept busy via private performances with Guitar Shorty, a 13 state jam tour in 2013 through the Midwest, a 6 southern state jam tour in 2014 ending in Key West and sitting in with Ozomatli in 2015. He released his 1st CD “Desde Corazon” Nuevo Flamenco instrumentals and sat in with Larry Baeder and Bill Blue in 2016. He won the New Music Music Award in the World Genre for his original song “Sonrisas and jammed with the Iguanas in 2017. He is planning a 2nd CD release July 2018. He is founder/lead guitar with Underground Cadence and Una Mas, leader of the Brujo Trio and lead guitarist with Shelley Morningsong. He has several duo projects with local and national vocalists. As a soloist, he shares his originals. D’Santiago is a 2-spirit Transgender Indigenous Ceremonialist. After a NDE, he committed to follow his destiny so that his life becomes a prayer with music.  D’Santiago believes playing music brings healing to the soul! For more information, please visit http://dsantinava.wixsite.com/elbrujo 

Saneh Boothe

Saneh Boothe, born in Iran. She is a US. Citizen and resides in Albuquerque. Saneh is a SAG-AFTRA actress and voiceovers.

She has been active in the Film community. As a local board member of SAG-AFTRA, Saneh has developed an active diversity committee of New Mexican actors.  She is Chairwoman of the Diversity Committee. 

Saneh is also on the Board of Directors for Women in Film and TV in New Mexico. She is the Co-chair of Indian pueblo Film Festival.

Saneh has been cast in the feature film “Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot” by Paramount. She has been recently in “The Cosmos” by FOX Network and “The Brave” by NBC. Appearing in the Pilot for” DIG” and other film and TV productions and pilots including “Highly Functional” and “Stanistan” are just a few examples of her acting roles.

As a public speaker, Saneh has been appeared on Diversity programs and Women’s Panel in Santa Fe film festival and several Radio talk shows. Saneh is fluent in four languages, Farsi, Turkish, Arabic and English. 

Diane Villegas

Diane Villegas is a native New Mexican and has been a stage actress for 20+ years. Diane transitioned to film in 2010 and has appeared in television series such as Better Call Saul, House of Cards, Preacher, and From Dusk ‘til Dawn, with recurring roles in The Night Shift, Longmire, and The Messengers. While based in NM, Diane is represented by agencies in NM, TX and GA. Diane has been a proud board member of the NM SAG-AFTRA Local Chapter and loves being able to help support the thriving acting community in NM.

Diane has also built a career in marketing and has held leadership positions with national corporations. Diane now owns a marketing consulting agency, Big Picture Marketing Strategies, which focuses on assisting businesses in creating effective and strategic marketing plans.

Diane holds an MBA from the University of New Mexico and in 2014, Diane was selected as an honoree of Albuquerque Business First’s “Top 40 Under 40 Award.”

Micki Free

Chances are you've heard MICKI FREE play guitar before--and remembered it, even if you didn't know it was him.

It might have been on Shalamar's Top 20 smash “Dancing in the Sheets” from the Footloose soundtrack, or its Grammy Award-winning “Don't Get Stopped in Beverly Hills” from Beverly Hills Cop. Or maybe it was with Crown of Thorns, the hard-hitting band he and the Plasmatics' Jean Beauvoir fronted during the early '90s. Or perhaps it was on albums by Janet Jackson and Wendy O Williams.

Free, whose bloodline comes from the Comanche and Cherokee tribes, formed a band, Smokehouse, that played shows with Ted Nugent, Rush, REO Speedwagon, KISS and a nascent Cheap Trick, with the 17-year-old Free earning a reputation as something of a six-string prodigy on the Midwest scene. KISS' Gene Simmons was so impressed that he told Free, “You're a star. If you ever get to L.A., look me up.”

FREE headed west in 1979, and after sleeping on girlfriends' floors and hanging out at the famous Rainbow bar, he eventually did hook up with Simmons again--a chance meeting at a studio where both happened to be working. FREE wound up going on tour and being managed by Diana Ross, Simmons' then-girlfriend, and after coming off the road he was offered membership in Shalamar; though his initial instinct was to turn it down, Simmons counseled FREE that “if you join this band it will be like getting into a limo instead of a cab right now.” FREE took the gig and didn't look back. “I won a Grammy Award with them, so it was obviously the right move,” he says.

For more information on Micki and to check out his music, please visit https://www.mickifree.com.

Darryl DeLoach

Darryl has been an vibrant member of New Mexico's thriving film community for more than a decade. After acting in and helping produce many of Albuquerque's Duke City Shootout films. Darryl went on to write and produces several of his own local indie films including award winning 48 hour shorts. He was a documentary fellow chosen for NALIP's Producers Academy. Giving him the opportunity to work with and learn from diverse talents like the Emmy award winning Gina Rodriguez. His cinematic writing earning him a spot in Robert Redford's Milagro program at Los Luceros and recognition by then Governor Richardson. Also a dedicated cinephile, he has supported AFME since it's inception, assisting in the production of some of it's most memorable events. It has gotten hard to keep Mr DeLoach away. Additionally, he is a very active member of the local theatre community playing such favored and prized roles as Othello and Lincoln in Pulitzer winning play, Top Dog/Underdog. Eventually getting booked in a movie, doing his own stunts along side John Cena. As a person of color who consistently auditions for many of the feature film, network and cable series that shoot in our state, Darryl has a good idea of what he calls, The Hustle, to sell yourself on film. 

Free for AFME pass holders; $7.00 for non-pass holders.