Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa

Beginning with a stunning aerial shot that moves swiftly across a desolate high desert dotted with rough-and-tumble dwellings, we know we're entering another America. In a 16-square-mile patch of northern New Mexico, far from electricity, running water, and any rule of law, the brother and sister Stulbergs offer up intimate access to a sequestered subculture. They introduce us to an apocalyptic mix of hippies, rebellious runaways, and Gulf War vets whose experiences have shown them the limits of civilization. The 300 residents of the Mesa, some of whom call it the "largest free-range insane asylum in America," are not living out some bucolic dream but more of an uneasy, violence-specked life. While ill-suited to mainstream life, they seem to thrive, or at least survive, far from the strip malls. When a group of rebels known as the "Nowhere Kids" begin to stockpile weapons and steal food, however, something has to be done. (PS)

Plays with Buscando Victoria (dir. Margaret Mair; 13 min.) — Searching Cuba for a Puerto Rican revolutionary who vanished without a trace.