Aside from screening films, Marfa offers glorious views, real Texan cowboys, and art. This year, music band Life on Earth, will also be making an appearance, as will as a host of special guests that include Larry McMurtry and James Mcmurtry, who will perform after the screening of The Last Picture Show. Afterwards, viewers will be able to grab cookies and milk at the Marfa Tea Party.
Although the Marfa Film Festival has accomplished a high degree of success, this has not always been the case. The festival was founded in the summer of 2007 by Robin Lambaria and Cory Van Dyke, who spent months preparing the community for what would be their biggest triumph and a true sensation.
Lambaria, who had a passion for movies, wished more than anything to have her very own festival at which people would gather and immerse themselves in a cinematic culture foreign to others.
“It was something I had always wanted to do I’m one of those people who can happily watch 10 hours of movies in a day. I had directed a music festival the year before, purely because I wanted to someday create a film festival–it was 170 bands, 7 days, 5 venues, and a complete nightmare of sorts, but it was a great lesson and I cut my teeth. I never thought that that someday would be so soon, but it was and I have no regrets,” she recounts.
Riding on their bikes they went from house to house delivering beautiful invitations in the form of tiny blue film canisters.
“People responded in two ways either they were really excited because they knew Marfa and could see how a festival could be amazing, or they basically said ‘Mar-fa? Is that a place? Where is that?’ That answer killed me because Marfa is so hard to explain if you have never been here, it’s not just about the place and the land, it’s the feeling it evokes, I’m not good at spiels so that was rough,” Lambaria recalls.
Nevertheless, the festival was finally opened and curious individuals arrived from across the country to discover this entirely fresh festival.
“The opening was amazing, it was like having a baby and not knowing if it would have all its fingers and toes. I actually did Lamaze on the way out to the There Will Be Blood set for our opening screening. I was speeding down the long dirt ranch road and I could see the dust from the first shuttle buses full of people behind me and it hit me. As the sun set, the inflatable screen started to go up and it was one of the best moments of my life. It was like seeing the seed we had been cultivating sprout out of the earth. The response was amazing people were so happy and having such a great time it really blew my mind. I was very proud as was Cory.”
In their spare time, they work in the film industry as directors of photography, and are gradually witnessing their festival growing and becoming the little festival that could.
“At this point I would change nothing, we are growing and it will be a challenge to keep it as relaxing, but we are up for it. Marfa has embraced us, so I think that, with the support of the locals, we can work to keep it feeling small even if it grows bigger than it is now,” Lambaria concludes.
The Marfa Film Festival will run untill May 3 2009.
