“We’re getting cialis 5mg films being made in Botswana,” Robin Lambaria tells me. Lambaria is the founder and director of the Marfa Film Festival which makes its return on July 2 in Marfa, the one city in Texas that, somehow, is more obscure than El Paso.
With around 50 films being shown and at least 16 different countries being represented at this year’s festival, the film selection is diverse and penetrating.
Among the notable films to be shown is Mood Indigo, a film by famed French filmmaker Michel Gondry. To Lambaria’s knowledge, the film has only been shown twice in the US, with Marfa being the third showing.
El Paso native Ryan Piers Williams will also be having the Texas premiere of his latest film X/Y, starring his wife, America Ferrera and rapper Common.
The festival has had some notable films, including the directorial debut of the late Lou Reed in 2010, a film called Red Shirley. “I got an email that said that Lou Reed wanted to show his first ever film at the Marfa Film Festival and I thought it was a joke… I completely forgot it for four or five months. Then I got a DVD in the mail thinking, ‘Tricksters, haha, very funny.’ And I put it in and it’s not what you’d expect. It was this documentary about his 100-year-old great-aunt who escaped the Holocaust to New York and helped create the first unions in New York City. Then I heard his voice off camera. I thought, ‘Wow that sounds like Lou Reed.’ Then the camera panned over to him and I went, ‘Holy shit that is Lou Reed!’” Lambaria said.
Unlike most other festivals, this one is noncompetitive. “The year that Lou Reed was here, we also had a filmmaker who was 17-years-old and they were both filmmakers and they all sat together,” she said. “That’s the vibe we put out there, that everyone is equal.”
Making the trip and being in the city can become a fun experience for first timers. For starters, it’s a celebration of Marfa. With festival activities being held in various places around the city, it is an opportunity for out-of-towners to enjoy the scenery. Speaking of non-locals, having attended Marfa city council meetings where it was communicated in the past, Lambaria said, “It is the highest economic boom in the whole region and has been for years. Not just Marfa, but the tri-county.”
There’s also the music. This year, experimental freak folk duo CocoRosie will be performing their original score to the film The Color of Pomegranates.
In previous years, other notable musicians performed, including the first ever performance by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. “The first year we opened and this band wanted to come, and I thought their name was really silly,” Lambaria said. “We didn’t have any money, but they decided to come on their own and play their first ever show and it was Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.”
There will be a new interactive gaming area this year that will be added on to the festival. The people at Austin-based Juegos Rancheros put together a “game jam” back in late May through early June where independent game developers created games based around the theme of “Space Cowboy,” in honor of the festival being held in Marfa. They will host a gaming area where those games can be played at the festival. But, if you’re interested in the arcade-style games, there is also a link to all 58 games on the Marfa Film Festival Facebook page.
Also new this year will be a second screening area where all the short films will be played in a continuous loop for those who won’t be able to catch them all during the festival.
The people from the website Funny Or Die will also be making a return with a pub crawl planned and also, what Lambaria describes as “4:20 programming.”
Passes for the festival can be purchased at marfafilmfestival.com or at the actual festival.
view program here: marfafilmfestival.com/2014-program
TEXT: JOHN DEL ROSARIO | PHOTO CREDIT: COURTESY OF MARFA FILM FESTIVAL