Story and Pictures by Staff Reporter Roman Apodaca
Charlie O’Dowd, a Film Technology Professor, said that the CNM Film Program is getting a boost from Netflix Films, such as Airforce, being shot in Albuquerque.
The film program has exploded, said O’Dowd, and now there are three times the number of students enrolled in the film technology program than there were a year ago.
“I love entertainment, I’ve always loved entertainment. I’m a singer, I’m an actor but I don’t want to be a poor entertainer, so in the film industry … you’re doing stories, you’re working with actors and you’re making a living.” said O’Dowd.
O’Dowd explained that it was netflix coming in and putting lots of money behind different films being shot in albuquerque and the appeal of being able to work on an actual film that really made people want to join the program.
The program lets students get hand-on learning with equipment for working on a movie set, said O’Dowd.
Other community projects like recruitment videos for the Albuquerque Police Department are also influencing the program, said O’Dowd.
O’Dowd has worked in entertainment for over thirty years, starting on the management teams of numerous feature films including City Slickers, White Sands, Young Guns II and Suspect Zero, and has been teaching in film tech at CNM for 8 years now.
“For people with no knowledge of production, it’s impossible to know what you want to do prior to really getting out there and starting. So enroll now, don’t be afraid.”, said O’Dowd.
The classes and sets for the program are located at the Applied Technologies center.
