Stan Lee film boosts ailing festival

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) - After losing $50,000 in an alleged swindle that targeted nonprofits around the nation, the Albuquerque Film Festival is struggling to stay afloat.  Now organizer hope a very big name will ring in some big bucks.

If they don't raise the big money this weekend, the annual festival could end up on the cutting room floor.

In May KRQE News 13 reported how the FBI is investigating after the nonprofits say a Los Angeles-based company that was supposed to manage the festival's money took it all and vanished.

Now the Albuquerque Film Festival is hosting Geek Fest on Film  hoping a featured documentary on comic book giant Stan Lee, introduced by Lee himself, will bring financial stability.

The documentary is called " With Great Power, The Stan Lee Story ."

Lee is the creator of Spiderman, The Hulk, Fantastic Four, Iron Man and The Avengers to name a few. The Avengers movie now out was shot in New Mexico and is raking in box office gold grossing nearly $2 billion worldwide.

The documentary will be shown at Albuquerque's KiMo Theater and the director, Will Hess, hopes it will help the film festival raise the money needed to hold the annual event in August.

"This may go away if it's not supported, and I think we're starting to pick up a little more momentum," said festival founder Rich Henrich. "People are starting to recognize it is something that has value to the community."

Henrich said without the festival, big names might go elsewhere. He says major directors, actors and producers come to the festival each year checking out the state, and the money follows.

"They say, 'Yeah, I was just out in New Mexico. I was in Albuquerque. It's OK.  We can send stuff there,' and lo and behold, "Thor" and "Avengers" came," added Henrich.

Henrich is doing everything he can to keep the festival from perishing like an evil villain in one of Lee's comics. The documentary's director says it's a message Stan Lee is proud of.

"He found ways to create characters based on those realities and hardships of life and turn it into something that we could all gain from," Hess said comparing Henrich's situation and Lee's characters.

As the FBI investigates the disappearance of the festival's money, without much luck, Henrich refuses to give up.

"We just really feel part of the energy of what we're doing in this community creatively to bring everybody together," he said.

Since News 13's story in May, the festival has received a couple of big donations including $3,000 from Bernalillo County.

Click here for more information on the Geek Fest on Film and The Albuquerque Film Festival .

Stan Lee will also be in town all weekend. He'll be featured at the Albuquerque Comic Festival.