On Sunday, October 16, 2022, Anthony “Tony” DellaFlora spoke about the history of the Atrisco land grant, the creation of the video on the topic and showed the documentary “One With the Land: Voices of the Atrisco Land Grant“. This is the oldest and largest land grant in NM going from the Rio Grande to the Rio Puerco. Learn how the land grant ended up being sold to a development company in 2006. The program was held at the Albuquerque Museum at 2000 Mountain Rd. NW in Old Town Albuquerque.
The footprint of the former Atrisco Land Grant makes up the west side of Albuquerque, from the Rio Grande to the Rio Puerco. “One With the Land: Voices of the Atrisco Land Grant” tells the story of Atrisco, one of New Mexico’s oldest and largest Spanish land grants. It focuses on the connection between the land and the people and the fight to preserve that connection in the face of corruption and development pressures. Ultimately, the land was lost in 2006 when shareholders in the Westland Corporation agreed to sell the remaining acreage to SunCal for $250 million. Today, many heirs and groups like the Atrisco Companies fight to preserve the legacy of Atrisco. But concerned heirs worry about the future of the former grant lands as proposed development threatens to increase sprawl and deplete water supplies.
Anthony DellaFlora began his award-winning documentary film career more than 25 years ago as producer of the cult classic High Strange New Mexico, an independent production about the state’s UFO subculture. Since then, he has produced dozens of documentaries for PBS, GOV-TV and the city’s Public Art program on a variety of subjects including the Balloon Fiesta, Open Space, the National Senior Games, Breaking Bad, volcanoes, Native American cosmology, public art projects, and the federal judicial system. He is currently finishing the seventh in a series of profiles on Albuquerque neighborhoods.
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