Renee Pezzotta is bringing her variety of experience in the film industry to this year’s Roswell Shorts Indie Film Fest, screening her sci-fil short film Encounter.
This year event marks the second annual festival, which is set for Sept. 25-26 at the International UFO Museum & Research Center, drawing filmmakers from around New Mexico to showcase their work.
The idea for Encounter came from an assignment during Pezzotta’s first term at Central New Mexico Community College. The challenge was to create a video of three minutes or less using only cell phones. She said the production was put together with “a skeleton crew.”
“I wrote it and created a storyboard and shot list and then shot it in two three-hour days,” said Pezzotta, 56. “I grabbed a couple of actors I know here in Albuquerque, Stephanie Jones and Zane Barker, and had my husband, Alex Bram, on sound. And that’s it. Two actors and two crew, including myself.
Short films are generally less 30 minutes and offer filmmakers the opportunity to work on their craft without huge budgets of full-length productions.
“Roswell Shorts was created to give filmmakers and audiences a focused two-day experience in a place unlike any other,” said Festival Director Dewey Paul Moffitt. “This year’s 31 official selections bring together distinct voices, ambitious ideas and a broad range of filmmaking styles.”
In Pezzotta’s film, viewers can expect an exciting ride that will leave them wanting more than the short three-minute runtime, Pezzotta said. The short has already earned bronze medals at the Independent Short Awards and Pezzotta is thrilled to have more New Mexicans check out her work.
She describes the film: “A routine ride share takes a dark turn when a passenger armed with a worn notebook full of indecipherable charts and coordinates, and an unshakeable belief in the impossible convinces her driver to pull over and witness a remarkable event.”
A big fan of the X-Files, the filmmaker has always been drawn to darker, ambiguous paranormal projects – fitting for a festival in the UFO capital of the world, she said.
“It’s always great to be included in a festival so that people can see your work,” she says. “That’s why we make it — to share it with people. And what better of a festival can we ask for than to have an abduction short screen in Roswell, New Mexico?”
The festival isn’t Pezzotta’s first foray into the world of film
For the last 20 years as a working actress, producer, writer, and comedian, Pezotta earned small parts in several popular TV shows such as Frasier, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Supergirl and How to Get Away with Murder. She lived in Los Angeles for 25 years before recently relocating to Albuquerque, where she lives today.
“When I got here, I heard about the great film and digital media programs offered at CNM [Central New Mexico Community College], so I decided to learn the whole process so that as a director, I can speak to each department with a real knowledge of what they do,” she says.
When not producing her own work or attending film school, Pezzotta produces instructional and industrial videos for companies like Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and more. She also provides freelance editing work for a marketing agency.
Pezzotta’s hoping more directing is now in her future, and the Roswell festival may be a nice step in getting there.
“My ultimate goal is directing episodic television,” she says. “I’m built for it. I know how to plan and move quickly when shooting. Obviously, the ultimate would be to direct an episode of PLUR1BUS [an Apple TV+ sci-fi series]. But no matter what I will keep creating and making things even if they are just for fun and just for the sake of doing it.
“I mean hey, Chrisopher Nolan started in industrial and training videos just like me!”
For more information and a complete schedule for the Roswell Shorts Indie Film Fest, visit RoswellShorts.com.
