Governor's Council

According to Section 9-15-4.1 NMSA 1978, the Governor’s Council on Film and Media Industries is currently comprised of ten (10) members, each appointed by the Governor per statute to four-year staggered terms provided that the initial appointments shall be made so that one-half of the members shall be appointed for two-year terms and one-half of the members shall be appointed for four-year terms.

The Council’s mission is: “To serve as a resource and recommending body to the Governor and the New Mexico Film Office (NMFO) to promote film, television, and emerging media within and throughout New Mexico and assist in carrying out the Economic Development Department’s Film Division strategic plan.”

An agenda for the meeting will be available at least 72 hours before. If you are an individual with a disability who requires a reader, amplifier, qualified sign language interpreter, or any other form of auxiliary aid or service to attend or participate in the meeting, please call (505) 476-5600 at least one (1) week before the meeting or as soon as possible.

The next virtual meeting will be held in 2024—agenda to follow.

For questions, please reach out to info@nmfilm.com.


James Gollin, Chair

James Gollin was born in upstate NY, where his father founded the Film Studies Department at the University of Rochester in association with the George Eastman House Film Archive. He studied at Princeton University, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, the International University of Japan, and France and Italy. After working at many think tanks and as an investment banker at Nomura Securities in Tokyo and Morgan Stanley International in Tokyo and London, Mr. Gollin co-founded the investment management company Pacific Partners in New York and managed securities investments, real estate, and other projects. He is a founding member of the Social Venture Network of socially responsible business people. As Director of the Angelica Foundation, Mr. Gollin funds environmental and human rights groups, primarily in Mexico. He is currently or has recently been on the boards of non-profits and commissions such as Rainforest Action Network, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, the Santa Fe Film and Digital Media Commission, the Santa Fe Network, Prajna Mountain Buddhist Order, the Canyon Neighborhood Association, Community Change Action, Livingry Foundation, and others. He is an active investor in private equity and real estate. He has been a Santa Fe resident since 1992. He is eager to serve as Chair of the Governor’s Council on Film and Media Industries, where he hopes to work with the New Mexico Film Office, the Economic Development Department, and others in government service, as well as with the private sector and relevant non-profits to help promote a rapidly growing, sustainable film and related industry ecosystem in New Mexico.


Jo Edna Boldin

Jo Edna Boldin CSA -In 2020, Jo Edna was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. This is the first year that a regional casting director has been invited. In 2019, Jo Edna was inducted into the New Mexico Film & TV Hall of Fame. Jo Edna was on the founding board of New Mexico Women in Film. A proud member of the Casting Society of America (CSA) Jo Edna served on the National Board from 2017-2019.


Marc Comstock

Marc Comstock has been a member of SAG-AFTRA since 1995 and is currently serving his third term as SAG-AFTRA President for the New Mexico Local. Marc has worked on numerous New Mexico Productions in film, TV, and theater. Having grown up in New Mexico and Colorado, he is happy to call New Mexico his home. Before returning to New Mexico, Marc worked for the WGA and was a founding member of the staff union. Marc is honored to serve on the council and looks forward to working with our film family to keep our industry growing and thriving.


Paula Dal Santo

Paula Dal Santo was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She earned her bachelor's degree and master's degree in architecture at the University of New Mexico and became a licensed architect and general contractor. Fifteen years ago, her daughter, a film student, suggested she look into film production. Since then, she has worked on some of New Mexico's top productions as a set designer, art director, and production designer. The film has offered Paula a gratifying career working with masterful and talented crews and the belief that the film industry is an avenue to retaining our young talent and providing strong economic growth for New Mexico.


Ramona Emerson

Ramona Emerson is a Diné writer and filmmaker from Tohatchi, New Mexico. She received her degree in Media Arts in 1997 from the University of New Mexico and her MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) in 2015 from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She has worked as a professional videographer, writer, and editor for over twenty years and is currently working on her 8th film project, Crossing the Line. She is an Emmy nominee, a Sundance Native Lab Fellow, a Time-Warner Storyteller Fellow, a Tribeca All-Access Grantee, and a WGBH Producer Fellow. Ramona just finished her first novel, Shutter, the first of a trilogy, and is now working toward publishing and adapting the series into a screenplay. Through her storytelling, Emerson looks at contemporary stories about her people and aims to question and redefine the expectations of Native cultural identity, highlighting stories that are not a part of mainstream media. She resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she and her husband/producer, Kelly Byars run their production company Reel Indian Pictures.


Ken Fischer

Ken Fischer worked for over forty years in feature-film post-production, primarily as an award-winning sound editor at Lucasfilm’s Skywalker Sound. Ken’s credits include Apocalypse Now, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Terminator 2, and Avatar. Ken volunteers with various New Mexico media non-profits and Santa Fe Search and Rescue. He enjoys mentoring new and seasoned film professionals in New Mexico and the industry at large. Ken lives in Santa Fe with his wife, author, Carlyn Montes De Oca.


Jocelyn Jansons

Jocelyn Jansons is an award-winning writer, producer, and director. She was recently selected for the NBCUniversal New Mexico Director’s Initiative and shadowed on MacGruber, starring Will Forte and Kristen Wiig. Her screenplay Because Maybe (formerly Wolf) is a winner of the George RR Martin Screenwriting Award. Jocelyn and her producing partner Laurence Dumortier are seeking financing for the feature film to be shot in Latvia in 2022-2023. Jocelyn is the founder and director of the non-profit New Mexico Girls Make Movies. She taught film production for the New Mexico Filmmakers Intensive at the College of Santa Fe and Santa Fe School for the Arts and Sciences and was a guest lecturer at UCLA. She is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Bologna, Italy, and is a Fulbright scholar in Latvia, where she is a citizen. She is currently writing the pilot for a comedy series set in Santa Fe.


James Lujan

James Lujan is a filmmaker, playwright, and educator from Taos Pueblo. He launched the BFA degree program in Cinematic Arts and Technology at the Institute of American Indian Arts and has been the program’s Department Chair since 2013. He also launched IAIA’s Certificate Program in Broadcast Journalism in 2021. He currently serves on the advisory board of Camel Rock Studios. From 2016 to 2022, he served as Vice Chair of the Santa Fe Film and Digital Media Commission.


Liz Pecos

Liz Pecos is President of IATSE Local 480, the film technicians’ union representing below-the-line film workers in New Mexico. She is also a costume designer and supervisor and has worked on over thirty film and television productions in New Mexico. Ms. Pecos proudly serves as the first female elected to the presidency in Local 480. She chairs several union committees, is a Vice President on the New Mexican Federation of Labor executive board, is appointed as the Political Coordinator and Women’s Committee Coordinator for IATSE District 5, and serves as a union delegate to state and national conventions. Ms. Pecos was born and raised in New Mexico and is a member of the Pueblo of Jemez, known as “Walatowa,” or “this is the place,” by her tribe, and traces ancestors back to the original Pueblo of Pecos. In her free time, she enjoys hiking with her two German Shepherds.


Rajeev Nirmalakhandan

Rajeev Nirmalakhandan was born in Sri Lanka, raised in New Mexico, and educated in Los Angeles. He is now a writer and director and is a faculty member at The Creative Media Institute at New Mexico State University. Rajeev has worked creatively for over fifteen years in commercials, films, and other media and recently co-wrote and directed a feature film entitled “The Odd Way Home.”


Harris D. Smith

Harris D Smith is Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Montana State, where he was a Division one football player. He earned his MFA in Acting from the prestigious Professional Actor Training Program at the University of Washington School of Drama. Most recently, he served as Chair of the Department of Theatre at the University of Utah. Before that, he was the Director of the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska. He is a Certified Teacher of Stage Combat through the Society of American Fight Directors. (SAFD) He has worked as a professional actor and fight director in major regional theatres across the country, including the Tony award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival, St. Louis Black Repertory Theatre, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Capital Repertory (NY), Sacramento Theatre Company, Seattle’s Children’s Theatre, ACT in Seattle. He has also worked as an actor in film, television, and multi-media. He was the executive producer and stunt coordinator for the award-winning short film “The Healing of Harmon.” Starting in 2016, he has been serving as a Communications Coach for the New York State Defenders Association. (NYSDA). His current research focuses on incorporating Afrofuturism into stage combat.


Sam Tischler

Sam Tischler came up through the ranks of the New Mexico Film Industry. His work has given him first-hand experiences with the various areas and demographics of New Mexico and the many demands of the film industry. He has worked on 18 feature films and over a hundred episodes of television. He currently works as a Production Manager and Line Producer. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America, The International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, and the Location Managers Guild International.


Rebecca Puck Stair

A former English teacher, diversity trainer, magazine editor, and barn hand, Rebecca Puck Stair has worked as a location scout & manager, and producer for over fifteen years. Notable projects include No Country For Old Men, 3:10 To Yuma, Terminator: Salvation, Independence Day: Resurgence, Jumanj Jungle Sequel, and The Harder They Fall. The current president of IATSE Local 480, she’s also a member of NM Women In Film and served on the Executive Board of the Location Managers Guild International. In 2017 and 2018, she took a sabbatical from the biz to produce podcasts and conferences for the Franciscan monk Father Richard Rohr. When not filming, she rides horses, and skis, runs triathlons, and does other questionable activities that require helmets.


2023 quarterly meeting minutes and agendas:
November 27, 2023 draft agenda and draft minutes (coming soon!)

October 20, 2023 agenda and minutes

September 11, 2023 agenda and draft minutes

March 8, 2023 agenda and draft minutes

2023 Annual Report

2022 quarterly meeting minutes and agendas:
November 17, 2022 agenda and draft minutes

October 5, 2022 agenda and minutes

July 8, 2022 agenda and minutes

April 15, 2022 agenda and minutes

2022 Annual Report

2021 quarterly meeting minutes and agendas:

November 19, 2021 agenda and minutes

September 17, 2021 agenda and minutes

June 18, 2021 agenda and minutes

March 25, 2021 agenda and minutes

2021 Annual Report

2020 quarterly meeting minutes and agendas:

November 20, 2020 agenda and minutes

October 21, 2020 agenda and minutes

August 27, 2020 agenda and minutes

June 30, 2020 agenda and minutes

May 8, 2020 agenda and minutes

2020 Annual Report

2019 quarterly meeting minutes and agendas:

February 25, 2019 agenda and minutes

August 23, 2019 agenda (no quorum present and minutes were not taken)

October 24, 2019 agenda (no quorum present and minutes were not taken)

November 14, 2019 agenda (no quorum present and minutes were not taken)

2018 quarterly meeting minutes and agendas:

February 12, 2018 agenda and minutes

May 10, 2018 agenda and minutes

August 2018 agenda and minutes

November 2018 agenda and minutes

2018 Annual Report

2017 quarterly meeting minutes and agendas:

February 13, 2017 agenda and minutes

May 5, 2017 agenda and minutes

August 24, 2017 agenda and minutes

November 9, 2017 agenda and minutes

2017 Annual Report

2016 quarterly meeting minutes and agendas:

February 8, 2016 agenda and minutes

May 5, 2016 agenda and minutes

August 25, 2016 agenda and minutes

November 3, 2016 agenda and minutes

2016 Annual Report

2015 quarterly meeting minutes and agendas:

February 23, 2015 agenda and minutes

May 7, 2015 agenda and minutes

August 13, 2015 agenda and minutes

November 5, 2015 agenda and minutes

2015 Annual Report

2014 quarterly meeting minutes and agendas:

February 10, 2014 agenda and minutes

May 8, 2014 agenda and minutes

August 19, 2014 agenda and minutes

November 20, 2014 agenda and minutes

2014 Annual Report

2013 quarterly meeting minutes and agendas:

March 28, 2013 agenda and minutes

June 26, 2013 agenda and minutes

September 26, 2013 agenda and minutes

November 21, 2013 agenda and minutes

2013 Annual Report

For inquiries related to the Governor's Council on Film and Media Industries, please contact Rochelle Bussey, Senior Program Manager, at rochelle@nmfilm.com or 505-476-5600.