New Mexico, Las Cruces Find Place at 2026 Cannes Film Festival

For generations, places like Las Cruces have often watched major cultural moments happen from afar.

This year, Las Cruces was part of one.

As filmmakers, studios and producers gathered along the French Riviera for the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and its influential Marché du Film marketplace, New Mexico arrived not as a novelty or outsider, but as a state increasingly confident in its place within the global film industry.

And in several meaningful ways, Las Cruces arrived with it.

Throughout the week, the New Mexico Film Office hosted “New Mexico Day” at the FilmUSA Pavilion in Cannes, where state representatives met directly with producers, studios and industry leaders from around the world to promote New Mexico’s growing film infrastructure, workforce and creative community.

“The focus is clear,” the Film Office stated before the event. “Building relationships and bringing more film and television production to New Mexico.”

The message coming from Cannes was unmistakable: New Mexico is no longer simply a place productions occasionally visit. It is becoming a place the industry increasingly expects to find.

That momentum was reflected in AMC’s Dark Winds, which continues filming its fifth season in New Mexico while employing nearly 900 New Mexicans both on and off camera.

“ ‘Dark Winds’ is a prime example of what the New Mexico film industry is about,” said Steve Graham, director of the New Mexico Film Office. “This production has found its home in the state and continues to not only tell a New Mexico story but have New Mexicans working in front and behind the camera to bring those stories to life on the small screen.”

Zahn McClarnon, “Dark Winds” executive producer and star, in a scene from the AMC series, which films in New Mexico. (Courtesy of AMC)

The state’s growing visibility at Cannes also extended beyond production numbers and industry panels.

The New Mexico Film Office was named a finalist for Cannes-related honors recognizing film commissions and culturally authentic storytelling connected to “Dark Winds” and efforts to expand opportunities for underrepresented communities in film production.

But perhaps the most personal connection between southern New Mexico and Cannes came through a film rooted directly in Las Cruces itself.

I’ll Be Gone In June premiered at Cannes on May 17 after being filmed in and around Las Cruces and Doña Ana County in 2024.

The film’s writer and director, Katharina Rivilis, did not discover Las Cruces through a location database or studio recommendation. She carried it with her for years.

“Las Cruces was the original inspiration for the film because I had spent time there as an exchange student years ago,” Rivilis said. “What began as a personal connection also became the perfect place to shoot.”

That emotional connection became the foundation for a film now connected to one of the world’s most influential cinema gatherings.

“After scouting across New Mexico, I realized everything I had imagined while writing the script was there: the landscapes, the atmosphere, the timeless locations, and the people,” Rivilis continued. “There is something truly magical about the light and nature in southern New Mexico, and the generosity of the Las Cruces community made this ambitious debut feature possible.”

The film follows a German exchange student navigating life in Las Cruces during 2001 as the United States reels from the aftermath of 9/11. According to Film Las Cruces, much of the cast and crew was made up of local residents. Rivilis credited Film Las Cruces and the local community for helping make the production possible.

“From my very first trip to Las Cruces to search for locations and put together our crew, Film Las Cruces became an essential partner to I’LL BE GONE IN JUNE,” she said. “Quite simply, this film would not have been possible without Film Las Cruces.”

Film Las Cruces liaison Andrew Jara said the project demonstrates how stories connected to southern New Mexico are increasingly finding audiences far beyond the region itself. “Film Las Cruces loves that Katharina was so inspired by Las Cruces that she centered her debut feature film around it,” Jara stated. “It was an honor to help bring her movie to life in the place that inspired it.”

Film Las Cruces also highlighted additional productions connected to Doña Ana County that generated attention during the Cannes marketplace, including promotional material tied to “Counter Strike,” which filmed in the area earlier this year.

For a community that has often viewed international cultural institutions like Cannes as distant or inaccessible, the moment carried a different kind of significance—not because Las Cruces suddenly became something else, but because the stories, landscapes, crews and creative voices connected to southern New Mexico increasingly belong in those conversations, too.