Nella Domenici Advocates Bringing Sundance Film Festival to Santa Fe

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 23, 2024

Albuquerque, NM — In response to the  Sundance Institute selecting Santa Fe as a finalist to become the new home of the Sundance Film Festival Nella Domenici wrote to Robert Redford and Acting CEO Amanda Kelson pointing out the unique capability that Santa Fe and New Mexico have that no other venue can offer:

• New Mexico showcases a broad range of scenic beauty and diverse landscapes for film settings and locations.

• We have cutting edge supercomputing capabilities at our national laboratories.

• We have a community of innovative companies exploring how technologies can be applied for a new generation of artistic-empowered experiences. They are pioneering new formats and new modes of expression for stories.

• “In our current age of Generative Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Production, High Performance Computing and Digital Distribution, New Mexico is ideally suited as an environment to host deeply reflective and sometimes challenging explorations and collaboration regarding  the role of Science and Technology and the Arts.”

• New Mexico’s tapestry of culture provides an invaluable fresh perspective and context for a next generation of storytellers.

Nella shared some of her vision’s details with Robert Redford. They include bold, new initiative for a Creative Arts and Computing Institute for the Future that will be a convergence of humanities and computing. She wrote:  “It will attract talent from around the world and provide a reason for them to come to New Mexico and a reason for New Mexicans to come back. I hope to unite the skills of our national laboratories, universities including New Mexico Tech and St. John’s College.  I want to engage the young and aspiring students at the New Mexico School for the Arts and the Albuquerque Institute for Math and Science. We need and have the private sector, too.”

 The letter continued  “We have a dramatic mix of GPU and LLM infrastructure resources along with an arts-centered advisory board to explore the deeper questions facing all of humanity as technology enters a profound new phase across entertainment, healthcare, education, energy and resource management.” 

Read the full letter:

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