New Mexico
Film composer chooses New Mexico as creative hub
As New Mexico’s film industry continues to grow, the state is not only seeing huge studio companies select the state as their permanent destination – but also world-renowned artists.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As New Mexico’s film industry continues to grow, the state is not only seeing huge studio companies select the state as their permanent destination – but also world-renowned artists.
“You feel the grandiosity of what can happen on screen – that’s what music can do,” Marcello De Francisci said.
De Francisci carries many hats in the film industry.
A recording studio can feel like a home away from home for artists like De Francisci, who is a film composer. But after working on Michael Mann’s 2023 biographical drama, “Ferrari,” De Francisci decided to make New Mexico his next home.
“I decided to come here after Ferrari, I basically packed an entire, my whole entire facility in a truck and picked it up in a warehouse out of Glendale and just drove through the Mohave to Albuquerque,” De Francisci said.
With tools like Zoom and Facetime, De Francisci said this gives him the flexibility to work on Hollywood projects in the Duke City.
“Zoom calls now have really changed the landscape of creativity,” De Francisci said. “And that’s the one thing that I took seriously into consideration when I moved here. I said, well, I already got the clients. Many times when I was in Los Angeles, and I was based in Pasadena for example, I had a director in Santa Monica, they would come one time to my studio and after that, they had to come back they’d always tell me, it’s going to take two hours to get to your place. Why don’t you upload the files? So that was the catalyst for me to say, well, wait a minute. If I can Zoom somebody and the quality control that I keep, which is very strict in what I do, I can deliver the same thing to the guy in Santa Monica from Albuquerque.”
As Marcello gets set for his next big project, he’s also looking for New Mexico talent.
“I like the people, I like what’s going on,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of room for growth here. I think I can bring that talent, with my production skills and my cinematic background, to introduce those talents to the film industry, and I find that idea to be pretty exciting.”
For more on De Francisci’s work, click here. To contact him, click here.
New Mexico
Grants cancels Christmas parade due to shootings
GRANTS, N.M. – The City of Grants is canceling this year’s annual Christmas light parade, citing the safety of the public and their own officers.
Dozens of floats were supposed to roll down Santa Fe Avenue on Saturday night, but Grants police are holding off until next year after three incidents where someone shot at law enforcement officers.
“It was definitely a difficult decision, but due to the incident that took place on December 8, where law enforcement was shot at in the area of Santa Fe Avenue, we made that decision to protect the citizens of Grants,” says Grants Police Chief Maxine Monte.
She says a New Mexico State Police officer was shot at while making a traffic stop. The officer walked away uninjured, but this was too much for the chief.
“We’ve had three different incidents where law enforcement was shot at. One was May of 2025, the other one was August of 2025, and then the recent event of December 8 of 2025,” says Monte.
It’s not a risk the chief wants to take, and points out people would be standing exactly where the last shooting happened.
“We have a lot of citizens that attend our parade, and our main concern was that they were out in the open in the middle of the night, and in the same area that our latest shooting took place.”
Grant residents will be able to see the floats during the day on Saturday. But even some daylight isn’t convincing some residents.
“I’ll be staying home,” said Amy Brigdon. “There’s too many people in the world that want to see bad things happen to other people. I’m not one of them.”
Police still don’t have a suspect for this week’s attempted shooting. Anyone with information is asked to get in touch with the Grants Police Department.
New Mexico
Colorado wolf rereleased in Grand County after crossing into New Mexico
Colorado Parks and Wildlife rereleased a wolf into Grand County this week after it had traveled into New Mexico, according to a news release.
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish captured gray wolf 2403 and returned the animal to Colorado.
Colorado wildlife officials decided to release the wolf in Grand County yesterday because of the proximity to “an unpaired female gray wolf,” nearby prey populations and distance from livestock, according to the release.
“Gray wolf 2403 has been returned to Colorado and released in a location where it can best contribute to CPW’s efforts to establish a self-sustaining wolf population while concurrently attempting to minimize potential wolf-related livestock conflicts,” said acting director of CPW Laura Clellan, according to the release.
The wolf was once a member of the Copper Creek pack but departed from it this fall.
A memorandum of understanding between Colorado and Arizona, New Mexico and Utah requires that any gray wolves that leave Colorado and enter those states be returned. That was created in part to maintain the integrity of a Mexican wolf recovery program.
“We recognized during the planning process that we would need to have consideration and plans to protect the genetic integrity of the Mexican wolf recovery program, while also establishing a gray wolf population in Colorado,” said CPW’s Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell, according to the release.
New Mexico
New Mexico man sentenced to nearly 20 years for distributing meth
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A judge sentenced a New Mexico man to nearly 20 years in prison for distributing meth and having guns in his possession to use while doing so.
Court records indicate 43-year-old David Amaya sold meth from a trailer on his parents’ property in Anthony throughout July and August 2024. Agents executed a search warrant Aug. 22 and found 1.18 kilograms of meth, two firearms and ammunition in the trailer and a makeshift bathroom.
Amaya pleaded guilty to possession of meth with intent to distribute it. A judge sentenced him to 235 months in prison.
Once he is out, Amaya will face five years of supervised release.
The FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office and the Las Cruces Metro Narcotics Task Force investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Williams prosecuted it.
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