Brian Fishbine of Atomic City Lights Publishers visits the Los Alamos Daily Post to talk about his company’s latest offerings. Photo by Bonnie J. Gordon/ladailypost.com

Brian Fishbine has always been a Renaissance man. He holds a PhD in plasma physics and was initially hired at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a writer/editor. He also worked in research and development. He was the main science writer of Los Alamos Research Quarterly magazine, where he worked with “great editors and first rate designers,” Fishbine said.

Fishbine is a Los Alamos native. His father Harold Fishbine came to town as a soldier, straight from the New York jazz scene, and founded the first Los Alamos Big Band during the Manhattan Project.

Retirement around 10 years ago provided the younger Fishbine with time to explore his lifelong love of “all things New Mexico” and he met a lot of very creative New Mexicans along the way with whom he’s teamed up. Using his skills as a writer and editor, his knowledge of print production and his photography and video skills, Fishbine is helping to bring his native state to the world, in print and on film.

One of his recent projects is Atomic City Lights Publishers, which has published two books focused on the unique culture of New Mexico so far. The most recent is “Fringe: Maria Benitez’s Flamenco Enchantment” by New Mexico author and filmmaker Jaima Chevalier. The beautiful hardcover book, published last summer, is a work of art as well as a meaningful tribute to Benitez. Emilee Rae Jones did the graphic design.

“Fringe” chronicles the life and career of María Benitez and includes almost 200 rare and exclusive images from locally famous to world-renowned photographers, all showcasing Benítez’s central role in dance history. Benitez is an iconic figure in American flamenco. Her story begins with the complexity of her mixed Native American and Puerto Rican heritage followed by her extraordinary journey as a young woman leaving her home on the outskirts of Taos Pueblo to study flamenco in Spain.

A Native American woman striving to master the art of a culture that had colonized New Mexico, Benitez epitomizes the culture of the state. Her illustrious career, from appearances in film and television to stages across the world, shines a spotlight on New Mexico. Her dedication to flamenco has inspired a renaissance of the art and a new generation of dancers.

Chevalier, a Santa Fe native, is the author of five books including “La Conquistadora: Unveiling the History of Santa Fe’s Six Hundred Year Old Religious Icon” and “Nativo” (with Oliver Galvan-De La Cruz). Her documentary films include Veiled Lightning/Native Voltage (director) and El Corazon de Santa Fe (associate producer for El Corazon de Santa Fe).

“The project went fast,” Fishbine said. “Jaima is a very fast writer. We wanted to finish ‘Fringe’ while Maria is around to enjoy it.”

Fishbine helped edit the book and provided his publication skills to the project.

“All of us had a hand in the production,” he said.

One of the most challenging aspects of producing the book was tracking down and getting permission to use the many photographs in the book, Fishbine said.

Published in June 2019, Fringe now adorns many New Mexico coffee tables, including the one at the Governor’s Mansion.

This is not the only project Fishbine and Chevalier have teamed up on.

Atomic City Lights Publisher’s first book, published in 2018, is the screenplay of the pilot episode of “Nativo” by screenwriters Oliver Galvan-De la Cruz and Jaima Chevalier, with illustrations by Israel Francisco Haros Lopez. “Nativo” presents the pilot script for what has been called a “Pueblo-Revolt-Meets-Game-of-Thrones” episodic television series that encompasses themes of Indigenous mythology, supernatural creatures and profoundly relevant social justice issues.

“Jaima and I met Oliver through the screenwriting contest sponsored by the New Mexico Governor’s Mansion Foundation in 2017,” Fishbine said.

Chevalier was president of the foundation at the time and Galvan-De la Cruz won for his script “Monstrous”. Galvan-De la Cruz and Chevalier teamed up to write the pilot script of “Nativo” based on Galvan-De la Cruz’s concept. They are pitching it to producers in California as an eight-season television series.

The collaborations don’t stop with Atomic City Lights. Fishbine and Chevalier also are part of Picture This Production Company, which is working to develop “Nativo” as a television series. Picture This also produced the 2017 documentary Veiled Lighting.

This feature-length documentary is composed of 10 chapters that detail The Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The first chapters of the film demonstrate the scope of the problem in modern times, with references back to invasion and colonialism by the Spanish in the American Southwest. Natives alive today also remember punitive measures by the American government, such as forced sterilization as recently as the 1970s, meaning that the echoes of the past still have serious repercussions today. Cultural appropriation and social justice issues reverberate through our shared national history. As the chapters build up the strong case to reject remnants of colonialism, the story climaxes with coverage of the 2015-2017 “Abolish the Entrada” protests surrounding Fiestas de Santa Fe.

“My footage and that from a half a dozen other members of our team went into Veiled Lightning,” Fishbine said. “ I edited the film and four Native Americans coproduced it: Natachee Momaday Gray, Gomeo Bobelu, Ashley Lynn Browning and Tazbah Gaussoin. I was also an executive producer on the film. Jaima directed it, did nearly all the interviews, and distilled a huge volume of transcripts to produce the script I edited from. I was the data manager, too.”

“I have more than 1TB of video mostly at 1080p. FNX is looking at an online screener of Veiled Lighting now for possible use on their network. The Entrada was in fact abolished after the 2017 protests, so our film played a big role in this social justice issue,” Fishbine said.

Footage by Chevalier and Fishbine also was used in a Swiss documentary on New Mexico.

Fishbine said he feels that producing Veiled Lightning helped him better understand the culture and wisdom of the Indigenous peoples who have lived and flourished in New Mexico for many centuries.

Following Veiled Lightning’s successful theatrical run and tour of the film-festival circuit, Fishbine is currently looking into possible tv/streaming venues for the film.

Fishbine and his collaborators continue to pursue their many creative projects. Fishbine hopes to produce a book about his father’s life and adventures.

“We’re open to new ideas,” Fishbine said. “My love of New Mexico just continues to expand.”

Copies of “Fringe” and “Nativo” can be purchased at Collected Works in Santa Fe and through Amazon.com. Information on Picture This Production Company and its films can be found at veiledlightning.com.