Invisible Hand Entertainment Owner Jon Ebanks on the set of ‘Jemez: A Murder Mystery’. Courtesy/IHE
Jaime Romero, left, and Roger Anaya on the set of ‘Jemez: A Murder Mystery’. Courtesy/IHE
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
Last year, the film, “Jemez: A Murder Mystery” depicted a camping trip in the Jemez Mountains going horribly wrong when someone is murdered. The movie ended ambiguously and audience members were left to ponder who the killer was. Now, more clues and pieces of this murder mystery puzzle will be revealed in the second episode, “Jemez: The Investigation”.
The film will premiere at 5 p.m. Friday at SALA Event Center. In this installment, in response to the murder, a retired detective steps into the role of sheriff to find the truth about the killing. Meanwhile, tensions are rising among the suspects.
There are a few things that set this film apart from the others on the movie theatre marquee. First, it was written, directed, filmed and acted by locals. The Los Alamos film production and website development company, Invisible Hand Entertainment, LLC, produced these films – there will be four episodes in total.
Owner Jon Ebanks wrote and produced the film. It was directed by Justina Medina, Celeise Bauer, Aedin Alderette and Ashley Anaya. All these individuals also acted in the movie along with Jaime Romero, Roger Anaya, Marcus Rivas, Savannah Michalski, Jaziel Felix, Emilo Rivas, Katherine Romero and Ariel Rivas.
The second thing that makes this film unique is that it is interactive. Ebanks said in writing the second episode, he took inspiration from audience feedback. He explained that ofduring the premieres of the first episode, the audience voted on who they thought the killer was.
“We got a tremendous amount of feedback,” he said, adding that there were close to 100 votes.
“It really was pretty overwhelming on what character they thought was the killer,” Ebanks said, adding that as a result, when the rest of the series was conceptualized, a lot of consideration was given to what voters had said.
Audience participation will continue to be encouraged throughout the episodes, Ebanks said.
“I think the whole project in general is very community-driven,” he said. “We’ve gotten a tremendous amount of support … from the community. It makes a lot of sense to involve them, and not only that, it is so much more fun. We have conversations with people who have seen the film … they feel they are a part of it.”,
Ebanks explained that filming the second episode began in January and wrapped up in March. Not only was it filmed in the Jemez Mountains but also in Las Vegas, N.M. He said a few of the cast members are from Las Vegas. He credited Medina and her connections to a Las Vegas theatre group for expanding the cast and crew.
“The community of Las Vegas has been very supportive as well,” Ebanks said.
With more experience under their belts, he said they became more knowledgeable and skilled with sound and presenting a better story. Also, “we just got better as actors and producers.”
The whole idea of this series started back in 2020, Ebanks said.
“It actually dates back to the pandemic,” he said. “With a lot of free time … we had thought about shooting a short film. The problem was where and how to film and what the film would be about. I would say a year or two later, I was on a camping trip and it just kind of clicked there.”
Ebanks said he felt the Jemez Mountains are a good location for a story; adding that the mountains are special to him. He explained that growing up, he camped a lot in the Jemez Mountains and his grandfather worked for the U.S. Forest Service.
Plus, “as far as the murder mystery, I think everybody loves a good murder mystery.”
The numbers for the first episode back this up; Ebanks said on his company’s YouTube page, where the first film is uploaded, there have been 14,000 hits.
It took a lot of community support to get to this point. Ebanks thanks the Small Business Development Center for its assistance as well as the community’s encouragement.
“It’s been a great experience, and we definitely want to give back with the best film series possible,” he said.
In addition to the screening at SALA, “Jemez: The Investigation” will be screened June 26 at the Dreamcatcher movie theater in Española. Furthermore, the film will be screened June 12 at Sommertime Somersaults in Las Vegas, N.M., and it will be uploaded July 31 to Invisible Hand Entertainment’s YouTube page, https://www.youtube.com/@iheonline, and website, www.iheweb.com/jemez.
For tickets for the screening at SALA, visit https://sala.losalamos.com/events/jemez-the-investigation/ and to learn more about the screening at Sommertime Somersaults, visit www.justart505.com/jemez
Celeise Bauer, left, and Justina Medina on the set of ‘Jemez: A Murder Mystery’. Courtesy/IHE
