By Scott Hannan (SFGI’11)
Even the most enthusiastic graduate student at St. John’s College needs a break from studying to revitalize her brain and spirit. In addition to Santa Fe’s variety of outdoors activities, festivals, markets, and restaurants, the City Different is home to six movie theaters with programming varied enough to appeal both to the casual viewer and the cinephile.
Standard Hollywood fare is covered by three major theaters: two Regal cinemas on the southwest end of town and the very popular Violet Crown in the Railyard District. Where the Regal cinemas show blockbuster action flicks and animated family films, the Violet Crown theater augments their mainstream programming with live-stream performances of plays, ballets, and operas.
For students interested in documentaries and more independent cinema, the Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA) operates three screens over two locations, one of these being an aptly-named cinematheque called The Screen. The CCA also offers film classes and lectures, in addition to housing a renowned art gallery and exhibition space.
For hyper-esoteric films and local New Mexican cinema, Johnnies head to the Jean Cocteau. Owned by Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin, the single-screen theater offers the most eclectic range of entertainment in town. Besides showing movies, the Jean Cocteau also hosts stand-up comedy, magic shows, and author events.
More broadly, Santa Fe hosts two major film festivals each year, bringing us graduate students the latest and greatest in world cinema. Careful, though: they have nearly the same name. The Santa Fe Film Festival is held in mid-February, but the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival is held in mid-October. Each spreads its programming across most of the theaters listed above; besides film premieres, St. John’s students can also attend workshops, after-parties, and networking events. These last attracts numerous heavy-hitters from the thriving film industry of New Mexico.
In short, if you’re looking to immerse yourself in Great Books and Great Films, Santa Fe is the town for you!
Click here to learn about one of our graduates who’s become an
acclaimed film director in his own right!
