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Luminaria Films in Production in New Mexico on Spoken Word

Luminaria Films has begun production on the feature film Spoken Word, starring Kuno Becker (Goal!, Goal! II, Goal! III), Rubén Blades (The Milagro Beanfield War, All The Pretty Horses), Miguel Sandoval (Medium, Blow, Jurassic Park), and Persia White (Girlfriends), and directed by Victor Nunez (Ulee's Gold, Ruby in Paradise).

Blades is taking a rare leave of absence from his position as minister of tourism in the country of Panama to return to northern New Mexico. The actor, who is also an accomplished salsa singer, songwriter, and graduate of the Harvard School of Law, was appointed Panama's minister of tourism in 2004 after his popular run for president.

Spoken Word marks Nunez's first feature film in six years, since he wrote and directed Coastlines. The Florida-based Nunez, an independent film pioneer, garnered notable critical success with 1997's Ulee’s Gold, which he directed, wrote, and edited, and before that with Ruby in Paradise, which launched Ashley Judd's acting career.

Becker is one of Mexico's most recognizable stars, known internationally for portraying Santiago Munez in the Goal! trilogy. He also starred in Nomad, executive produced by Milos Forman, and was featured in Gap's Spring 2007 "Khakis with Attitude" print campaign.

Spoken Word is being produced by Karen Koch (Adaptation, Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man, Can’t Hardly Wait, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4) and Bill Conway (Miami Vice) for their newly launched Luminaria Films. The screenplay is by Conway and Joe Ray Sandoval. Noted Chicano poet and activist Jimmy Santiago Baca is poetry consultant. Associate producer is Kent Kirkpatrick (Ride, Suspect Zero).

Principal photography began March 24 on locations in northern New Mexico, including Santa Fe, Chimayo, Española, and Truchas. The behind-the-scenes team includes cinematographer Virgil Mirano (Coastlines, Ulee’s Gold), production designer Bryce Perrin (Legends of the Fall, Dungeons & Dragons), costume designer Lahly Poore (Save Me, Seraphim Falls), and casting director Rick Pagano (X-Men: The Last Stand, Hotel Rwanda).

Spoken Word is based on the poetry of artist-performance poet Joe Ray Sandoval. It depicts the edgy collision of old and new worlds as a San Francisco spoken-word artist returns to New Mexico to be with his dying father, only to find he loses his "voice" as he is sucked back in to the dysfunctional life of drugs and violence he left behind. The film takes us into the poet's mind as he forges a new, even stronger voice, and heals his relationships with his family, his community, and himself.

Says Koch, "There is an untapped niche of intelligent filmgoers who are underserved and hungry for films with international appeal that illuminate and inspire and are character-driven. People in Chimayo say, 'We didn't cross the border. The border crossed us.-' And I think it has profoundly affected their identities–that sense of it being such a struggle to have land and a place. You could say that Spoken Word is the Latin 8 Mile. It's an artist trying to reclaim his voice inside a very specific community."

Adds producer Conway, "This once-agrarian community is now caught between two worlds, and people are falling in the middle, into heroin abuse. You can run away, but you're stronger if you accept where you're from and if you integrate that."

Often giving a voice to the disenfranchised, the spoken word movement coalesced in the 1990s and has launched a feature-length film (SLAM!), documentary (SlamNation), MTV television show (Spoken Word Unplugged), and numerous performance poetry competitions, or slams.