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"It almost seems like a different time."

Bill Nevins was talking about the start of the war in Iraq in March 2003.

This weekend, he is revisiting that time of opposition to the war and his own battles with Rio Rancho High School with the debut of the film "Committing Poetry in a Time of War." The locally produced documentary will be shown Sunday evening as part of the New Mexico Film Expo, the five-day prelude to the Santa Fe Film Festival.

Nevins said he experienced "a big sense of déjà vu" when watching a rough cut of the film that centers on the protests in the streets of Albuquerque and of the Rio Rancho High poetry team, coached by Nevins and Priscilla Baca Y Candelaria.

"There is the sense that we've changed since the events of March and April 2003," he said. ". . . But I'm not sure we've changed for the positive. So it's a bittersweet feeling."

The film is packed with performances by poets and musicians from Albuquerque, many from a KiMo Theater event that raised funds for Nevins' lawsuit against the high school. (He eventually settled out of court.)

Eric Sirotkin was Nevins' lawyer for that case, and he served as executive producer of "Committing Poetry" via his civil rights group the Poetic Justice Institute. Sirotkin sees the film not only as a document of free speech and protest, but also as a celebration of Albuquerque's community of poets and musicians.

"It's a wonderful potpourri of New Mexico artists wrapped around this issue of global consequence," he said.

The filming of the KiMo fund-raiser couldn't be isolated from the idea of a bigger film, he said.

"What started as a compilation of poets took on a larger life," Sirotkin said.

Nevins is enthused about the performances in the movie.

"I'd go see it just for the music," he said.

Sirotkin said the film has been submitted to juries at 20 film festivals. This weekend's screening is expected to be the only exposure in New Mexico for a while. He is shooting for a summer theatrical release if all goes well.

Nevins said it's disheartening to look back not just three years to the start of the Iraq war but to his own youthful activism as a poet during the divisive Vietnam War.

"Forty years ago I thought we'd learned some lessons," he said.

Whether we have or not, Nevins sees room for hope.

"On the positive side, I still see poets standing up for free expression," he said.

"Committing Poetry in a Time of War" will be screened at 7:45 p.m. Sunday at the Santa Fe Film Center, 1616 St. Michaels Drive.