Television Documentaries for PBS New Mexico
Long-format TV documentaries I produced, directed, wrote, and edited during 2007 - 2009 while working at PBS New Mexico.
From Curandera to Chupacabra
This Emmy-nominated half-hour biographical documentary explores the work of the author Rudolfo Anaya. Myth-maker, magician, and grandfather of Hispano literature, Anaya is best known for conveying the unique landscapes and characters of New Mexico, reawakening traditions, and defying stereotypes. His first novel was a coming-of-age story about a Nuevo Mexicano boy cast into a spiritual world of contradictions until he finds his own way with guidance from Ultima, a traditional healer or curandera. Bless Me Ultima put New Mexico on the literary map and gave birth to Anaya’s prolific writing career, earning him the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2003.
Producer, Director, and Writer Kelly Kowalski ︱ Editor David Leach ︱Director of Photography Robert McDermott
La Villa de Alburquerque
This one-hour historical documentary aired on PBS New Mexico in 2006 during the city of Albuquerque’s tricentennial celebrations. The documentary explores the life and times of settlers, soldiers, servants, and indigenous inhabitants during the tumultuous 18th-century colonial period. With the help of historians, musicians, re-enactors, and a DNA investigator, La Villa de Albuquerque explores the roots of New Mexico’s mixed heritage and celebrates its cross-cultural influences that define modern New Mexicans.
Producer, Director, and Writer Kelly Kowalski ︱Director of Photography John Britt ︱Editors John Britt and Kelly Kowalski
The Musical Adventures of John Donald Robb in New Mexico
John Donald Robb loved and composed all kinds of music, but his passion for the songs of everyday folk is what he is remembered for most. Roaming the Southwest during the ’40s and ’50s, Robb recorded and transcribed over 3,000 Hispano folk songs, the largest collection of its time. This Emmy-nominated half-hour documentary celebrates the life of this multifaceted musician and adventurous ethnomusicologist who recorded and archived New Mexico's disappearing folk music traditions.
Producer, Director, and Writer Kelly Kowalski ︱ Editor David Leach ︱Director of Photography Robert McDermott