The Marfa Film Festival is a film festival occurring annually in Marfa, Texas.
Contents
The Marfa Film Festival is a film festival occurring annually in Marfa, Texas.
The Marfa Film Festival was created and curated by Filmmaker Robin Lambaria. Filmmaker Cory Van Dyke was involved and is credited as "co-founder" of the festival ( Van Dyke participated in and designed the website for 2 years.)
The program features works from promising newcomers and established filmmakers, as well as beloved or forgotten classics, including outdoor evening screenings in the arid landscape surrounding Marfa. The Festival does not designate winners, celebrating innovation and excellence in film through passionate curation and fostering a relaxed social space where up-and-coming filmmakers mix with adventurous cinephiles, industry veterans, and living legends in a captivatingly scenic, culturally rich environment. Movies are shown one at a time to allow the possibility of viewing every film in the program without scheduling conflicts. Musical performances by popular acts, art installations, lounge spaces, and other special events are also a customary part of the 5-day event.
Celebrated festival alumni include PT Anderson, Dennis Hopper, Larry McMurtry, Lou Reed, Wim Wenders, Barry Jenkins, Joey Soloway, Wendell B. Harris Jr., Omar Rodríguez-López, David Lowery, David Byrne, David Lynch, Terence Nance, Luke Davies, Andrew Garfield, America Ferrera, Richard Linklater, Cocorosie ,Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Heath Ledger.
The 2008 festival received accolades for an opening night screening on the "Little Boston" set of There Will Be Blood , which was filmed near Marfa. 400 attendees including crew members and extras who had never seen the film were shuttled to the set location 20 miles outside of Marfa. Other movies shown that year included Night of the Hunter , True Stories , The Innocents , Man On Wire , and two music videos directed by Heath Ledger. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes played their first-ever show at the 2008 festival, with an opening performance by artist Mia Doi Todd and Antony Langdon's band Victoria. John Paul and Eloise Dejoria, owners of Patrón and Paul Mitchell, financed the first festival. It was named one of the Top 10 Film Festivals "Worth The Entry Fee" and was named one of "The Top Destination Film Festivals In The World" on a list that also included Cannes, Venice Film Festival and Telluride by Wired magazine.
Renowned author Larry McMurtry made a rare appearance to accept the first "Texas Screen Legend Award" presented by Marfa Film Festival in association with the Texas Association of Film Commissions at the 2009 Marfa Film Festival. Polly Platt and Dianna Ossana were also in attendance during an outdoor screening of The Last Picture Show .
Iconic musician Lou Reed attended to premiere his documentary Red Shirley at the 2010 festival. Omar Rodríguez-López's attended to show his feature film The Sentimental Engine Slayer . Other films screened include The Athlete or Atletu, directed by Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew, the 1972 classic The Harder They Come by Perry Henzell, and The Sun Ship Game , a 1971 documentary about competition soaring shot primarily in Marfa by Robert Drew, an American documentary filmmaker known as the father of cinema vérité, or direct cinema. Poet and Academy Award-nominated writer Luke Davies premiered his first directorial debut – a short film (Produced by Lambaria) AIR featuring the celebrated British Andrew Garfieldin his US debut. America Ferrera and collaborator husband writer-director Ryan Pierce Phillips Williams premiered The Dry Land produced by Academy nominated producer Heather Rae.
In 2011 there was a 2-year lull due to a legal dispute between Lambaria and Vandyke.
In 2013 Lambaria brought back the festival and celebrated its return with actor Elijah Wood. That year the festival celebrated with an Indian Holi party and the rarely screened "A Face in the Crowd" by Elia Kazan on 35mm. The festival opened with an outdoor screening of Texas Filmmakers (David Lowery) [Ain't Them Body Saints 9film)\Aint Them Body Saints)
2014 festival highlights included a live score performance by CocoRosie to Sergei Peranajov's 1969 masterpiece The Color of Pomegranates, advance screenings of Richard Linklater's Boyhood and Michel Gondry's Mood Indigo, and an interactive experimental arcade designed especially for MFF around the “Space Cowboy” mythos.
The 2015 Marfa Film Festival celebrated and honored Native Americans and First People in support of the Standing Rock protests. Teepees were erected behind the theater and chiefs gathered to share and connect with festival attendees. The festival hosted a rare 35mm outdoor screening of the rarely seen Japanese animation Belladonna of Sadness at Liz Lambert's famous "El Cosmico" campground/air steam hotel many festival attendees watched the film from wood fire hot tubs.
In 2016 Joey Soloway's much anticipated Amazon series I Love Dick which was shot in Marfa, Tx Starring Kevin Bacon and Kathryn Hahn and festival creator Robin Lambaria (who is featured in her iconic red jumpsuit in the first scene).
In 2017 The festival honored filmmaker Kevin Cacy, Lambaria long time friend and collaborator who had been involved with the festival since its inception, The filmmakers dinner an annual beloved event by the filmmakers featuring international chefs featured all of Kevin (who was 1st generation Korean American) favorite dishes, with recipes by his mother who is a celebrated chef. The festival's screenings featured many of Kevin's favorite classic films including a special outdoor 35mm screening the 1990 film Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
In 2018 the Festival celebrated women in film with a program heavily dominated by female filmmakers and artists featuring all female installations by local and international artists the closing film was a tribute to Maya Deren of whom Lambaria claims to have always drawn inspiration from as an artist.
The festival a pause to restructure in 2019 however due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been on hiatus since 2020. During the Pandemic Lambaria continued to curate privately for festival fans and friends sent links to hundreds of films during the quarantine.
The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is a film festival held annually in Calgary, Alberta, in late September and early October.
The Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF) is an annual nonprofit international festival dedicated to the exhibition of underground and avant-garde cinema, video, and performance.The festival offers an opportunity for independent artists who are frequently overlooked by other conventional, market-driven film festivals to showcase and be recognized for their work though jury and audience awards. In addition to screenings, the festival also hosts events to build community amoungst the audience. Founded in 1993, the festival is widely regarded as the longest running festival of its kind.
The Austin Film Society (AFS) is a non-profit film society based in Austin, Texas. Founded in 1985 to exhibit independent, experimental, foreign and various other non-mainstream art films, the film society has grown from just film exhibition to fostering independent filmmaking in Texas and has served as a cornerstone in building the film industry in Austin. The film society also owns and maintains Austin Studios, hosts the annual Texas Film Awards gala, and oversees the Austin Film Society grant program. The film society was founded by film director Richard Linklater, who currently serves on the board as artistic director. Other notable members on the board and advisory board include Tim McCanlies, Robert Rodriguez, Charles Burnett, Guillermo del Toro, Jonathan Demme, Mike Judge, John Sayles, Steven Soderbergh, Paul Stekler and Quentin Tarantino.
Sheffield DocFest, is an international documentary festival and Industry Marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England.
The Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) is an annual film festival held in Brisbane, Australia. Organised by the Screen Culture unit at Screen Queensland, the festival has taken place since 1992, with the program including features, documentaries, shorts, indies, experimental efforts, retrospectives, late night thrillers, animation, and children's films. The festival has attracted more than 400,000 visitors across its history. The festival was replaced by the Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival from 2014-2016 but has been revived in 2017 while the Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival has ceased operations. In 2018, BIFF was held at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), with screenings held across multiple venues.
The Cambridge Film Festival is the third-longest-running film festival in the UK. Historically, the festival took place in early July, but now it occurs annually during autumn in Cambridge. It is organised by the registered charity Cambridge Film Trust.
The Roxbury International Film Festival is the largest film festival in New England that celebrates people of color. RoxFilm was founded in 1998 and holds both an annual film festival and year-round screenings and events in the historic Roxbury neighborhood of Boston.
Popcorn Taxi was an Australian independent non-competitive film festival that presented regular film screenings followed by a live Q&A with related 'talent' immediately afterward. The unique nature of each screening was that the events provide patrons with the opportunity to discuss the film with the filmmaker, actor, producer, et al. immediately after viewing it. Feature films, shorts, TV projects and documentaries were all represented within Popcorn Taxi.
Reel Affirmations (RA) is a non-profit, all-volunteer LGBT film festival in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1991 and held every year in mid-October, as of 2011 Reel Affirmations was one of the largest LGBT film festivals in the United States. Baltimore's Gay Life newspaper called it "one of the top three films festivals for the entire LGBT community." A 2007 guidebook claims it was one of the largest LGBT film festivals in the world. A listing of LGBT film festivals claims it is the largest all-volunteer film festival in the world.
The Maryland Film Festival is an annual five-day international film festival taking place each March in Baltimore, Maryland. The festival was launched in 1999, and presents international film and video work of all lengths and genres. The festival is known for its close relationship with John Waters, who is on the festival's board of directors and selects a favorite film to host within each year of the festival.
Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (BFMAF) is an annual festival with a focus on new cinema and artists' moving image. The festival programme takes place across Berwick-upon-Tweed in the North East of England, UK and includes exhibitions, film screenings, live events, school screenings and family activities.
The Trinidad and Tobago film festival is a film festival in the Anglophone Caribbean. It takes place annually in Trinidad and Tobago in the latter half of September, and runs for approximately two weeks. The festival screens feature-length narrative and documentary films, as well as short and experimental films.
Branchage is a film festival held in the Channel Island of Jersey. The festival was founded in 2008 by filmmaker Xanthe Hamilton to bring film and arts to the island. It is a mix of site-specific film screenings held across the island in churches, castles, barns, and bunkers alongside more conventional arts spaces and cinemas, alongside film and art commissions, live soundtracks to film, short film programmes, industry networking and spectacular themed parties mixing live performance, name DJs and cabaret.
The Boston Jewish Film Festival (BJFF) is an annual film festival that screens the best contemporary films on Jewish themes from around the world. The festival presents features, shorts, documentaries, and conversations with visiting artists in order to explore the Jewish identity, the current Jewish experience and the richness of Jewish culture in relation to a diverse modern world.
The European Independent Film Festival is an annual international film festival dedicated to independent cinema. Held in Paris, France, it was created in 2006 by Scott Hillier.
The Seattle Asian American Film Festival was founded in 1985 and has been revived over the years by different producers. The current iteration was founded in 2012 and made its debut in 2013 by co-founders Kevin Bang and Vanessa Au. It is a revival of of the previously running Northwest Asian American Film Festival, which was directed by Wes Kim from 2003 to 2007 and which had experienced a five-year hiatus. The inaugural film festival was also held at the Wing Luke Asian Museum from January 25 to 27, 2013. The festival is currently run and directed by Executive Director, Vanessa Au, and Festival Director, Victoria Ju.
Far Marfa is a 2013 feature film written and directed by Cory Van Dyke in Marfa, Texas, United States.
The Geelong Pride Film Festival (GPFF) is an LGBT film festival held in Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
The 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, the 45th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 10 to 21, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, the festival took place primarily on an online streaming platform, although limited in-person screenings still took place within the constraints of social distancing restrictions.
The Forest City Film Festival is a film festival located in London, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2016, the Forest City Film Festival centres on exhibiting the work of filmmakers from Southwestern Ontario in juried competition for features, shorts, documentaries, short animations and other categories, although it also screens a selection of other Canadian and International films out of competition.