A new home base: Basement Films set to make move to Central New Mexico Community College, collaborate with film program

Dec. 2—For a few months this fall, an added pressure was thrust upon Bryan Konefsky.

As the founder of Basement Films, Konefsky and the organization had a home with the University of New Mexico Film Department.

That changed when the department decided not to keep space for Basement Films.

This left Konefsky scrambling to find a home and he took to social media.

Enter Central New Mexico Community College.

"Three librarians at CNM saw our plea for finding a new home," he says. "Renee Goodvin at CNM first saw our release and contacted two colleagues. One was Poppy Johnson-Renvall who is the director of libraries at CNM. All three recognized the importance of our collection of films. Our is the largest of its kind in the Southwest."

Konefsky says the archive will be in storage for the remainder of the year, but we will be open by appointment in 2024.

The Basement Films collection is one of the few remaining film archives of its kind.

The archive comprises 7,000 16mm films from the Albuquerque Public Schools library and the South Broadway Cultural Center, as well as unique 8mm home movies and more.

Since 1991, Basement Films has been a volunteer-run micro-cinema supporting experimental and under-represented forms of media-making through public screenings, performances, workshops and lectures.

The membership is made up of artists, activists, media makers and "film buffs." Basement Films provides a forum for voices not heard in mainstream media.

"We are a resource for artists, filmmakers and students interested in exploring new, old, dead and experimental approaches to moving image art," Konsefsky says.

Konefsky says Basement Films is interested in championing communities of cinematic experimentalists — regional and international.

"We feel it is our responsibility to keep the experimentalists part of the current, statewide conversation about movie making," he says. "As New Mexico reimagines itself as a new Hollywood, Basement Films is reaching 'deep into our mission' to broaden popular notions of what a film might be."

Konefsky says Basement Films utilizes the archive for public film screenings, workshops, youth internships, and an annual artist residency funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Konefsky is grateful for the six years that Basement Films was housed at Mesa Del Sol as artists-in-residence in the UNM Film Department.

"We'll miss the sunsets and the rear window view of Netflix's sound stages," Konefsky says. "We're excited for this new chapter and the new possibilities it affords."

Konefsky says the community support has been welcoming.

He also got an endorsement from Rick Prelinger, who is an archivist and writer.

"Rick wrote us this beautiful letter of the national importance of our archive," he says. "We've known that our archive is important but to have it mentioned by Rick was amazing."

Konefsky says while Basement Films is closed to the public, the organization is still doing community programming.

It recently was at Amy Biehl High School, where it hosted a film event.

"We're continuing to use our archived material for educational purposes," he says. "When we move into our new space, we will be conducting workshops and making our resources and archives available to CNM classes."

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