Award-Winning Documentary Feature AWAKENING IN TAOS Makes Los Angeles Debut At LA Femme International Film Festival

 

"Awakening in Taos", a film by Mark J. Gordon and narrated by Ali MacGraw will screen at this year's LaFemme International Film Festival on October 22 at the Laemmle's Music Hall theater at 10:00 am..

"Awakening in Taos" follows the personal evolution of Mabel Dodge Luhan as a writer, salon hostess, art patroness, social activist and a resident of New Mexico. Born in Buffalo, New York, Mabel was a woman unique to her time. Her influence extended into the world of arts, music, literature and activism for social change. In her late 30s she experienced a life-altering arrival into a small town in Northern New Mexico and embraced the Taos Pueblo Indians in a way that seized the attention of the artistic and literary world. Her unconventional marriage to Antonio Lujan, a full-blooded Tiwa Indian from Taos Pueblo, created a revolutionary bridge between two cultures.

She lured progressive thinkers and artists, including D.H. Lawrence, Aldous Huxley, Willa Cather, Dorothy Brett, Ansel Adams, Georgia O'Keeffe and others to the remote town of Taos to attend her salons. Many of these visitors stayed for periods of time and several remained their entire lives. Mabel's home and salons made an extraordinary contribution to the culture of Taos County and the State of New Mexico. Luhan was a writer and advocate for the arts, women's rights and Native American culture in a time when women were still fighting for the right to vote.

Shot entirely in New Mexico with a local cast and crew, the film features breathtaking cinematography and aerial footage of Taos landscapes and landmarks. These physical features produced a visual response captured in 20th-century paintings and photos by Mabel's guests.

It was a book, "Edge of Taos Desert: An Escape to Reality" written by Mabel herself that piquEd Gordon's interest and set him off on a ten year journey to get the book transformed into a film worthy of the topic.

Filmmaker Gordon assembled a large team of writers, editors, art experts, historians and documentary producers to bring the many varied details of Luhan's life into sharp focus. Actress Ali MacGraw happened to sit next to him on a plane and they began discussing the book which she already loved. She offered to read some pages at a fundraiser in Taos and then signed on when the project was greenlighted. Through a biographer of Luhan's, Gordon met Leslie Harrell-Dillen,an actress who had been performing a one woman show portraying Mabel. She joined the production and appears as Mabel and reads her words from books and letters.

"Awakening in Taos: The Mabel Dodge Luhan Story" won Best Feature made in New Mexico at the 2015 Santa Fe Film Festival. The film was a joint production with New Mexico PBS.

The film will be shown Oct. 22 at 10:00 am at the Laemmle's Music Hall Theater, Venue 2, at 9036 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills. Tickets can be purchased online at www.lafemme.org/festival or at the box office before the screening.

 

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