Marfa

April 24, 2008 on 11:48 am | In Film Festivals, Film, - Jauretsi |

Texas Desert Under the Stars

(Susannah holdin’ it down in Marfa)

If you’re looking to travel on a whim to one of the downlo sexy cities in America, take a look at West Texas. Marfa is in the middle of nowhere and takes trains, planes, and automobile’s — so the fact its the First Annual Marfa Film Festival next week, is reason alone to take the hike. Susannah Lipsey is acting as the festivals Special Events Director (May 1st to May 5th), and told me about the cool happenings next week.

A little background for those who’ve never heard of Marfa (I can hear some jaded fashionistas now rolling their eyes with the quintessential line, “oh Marfa, we already knew about that”). So this is for the virgins.

(Downtown Marfa)

A remote town located near the Big Bend National Park, Marfa has been a hub for high-art due to the children of Donald Judd who’ve managed to rebuild the town as an art community. There is one monster collection outdoors (referred to as The Chinati Foundation), except this tour is an outdoor gallery/museum/space/collection unlike any other. Read Men’s Vogue for that feature. The New Yorker referred to it as the “Xanadu of Minimalism”. ‘Nuff said.

Then there’s the cinematic history this little town embodies. It was the set for James Deans’ last film, Giant, with Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and Dennis Hopper about the lives of Texan barons. The movie’s grand mansion (a hollow Hollywood-built facade still exists in Marfa!).

(James Dean in Giant with the famous mansion in the background)

But back to the festival next week, good ‘ol Dennis Hopper is attending the screening in a few days to represent for Giant. He hasn’t been to Marfa in 50 years since she shot the movie. Oh, and he’s also bringing with him some rare little film he made called The Last Movie which won at the 1971 Venice Film Festival. Memories!

(Dennis Hopper in Giant)

Onto contemporary cinematic history. Marfa is responsible for helping a major assist at the Oscar race this year. That’s 8 nominations for No Country For Old Men and 8 nominations for There Will Be Blood, altogether 16 trophy opportunities for a tiny little town with no movie theater.

(There Will Be Blood)

The best part is that the festival will be hosting a 35mm screening outdoors of There Will Be Blood on the actual set where it was made. The gigantic 40 x 20 foot screen belongs to Austin’s famous Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Roadshow. It’s gonna be a sweet night for the locals, cast, and crew of the flick — some whom haven’t even seen the movie yet!

I can’t list the entire week of screenings and events on this blog, but one more thing is worth mentioning. There is a music/film collective called “The Masses” who will be visiting Marfa to premiere some music videos directed by Matt Amato, Shannyn Sossamon, and Jon Ramos. Heath Leger (who had created within this collective) will be there in spirit as they all present never-seen-before stuff he was involved in. Peace to the Texan desert air that night. Heath was our James Dean.

(No Country For Old Men)

If you care to hit the town for these screenings, go to their website (Marfa Film Festival), and reach out to Susannah (pictured above) who’s acting as hostess-with-the-mostess down there. Her words on the city this week: “The vibe here is sunny — warm in days, cool at night. It’s pretty mellow but there is ALWAYS something going on. I always seem to find myself in the most random and spontaneous of situations down here – I love it. People from New York, LA, and artists from all over seem to be navigating here. There’s a broad range of locals (young to older) in a very relaxed environment inspiring one another creatively and appreciating one another’s individuality.”

Stay tuned for a future post where I’ll write about Susannah’s little bohemian headpieces which she designs and creates herself. For now, we’ll let her focus on the hectic schedule that awaits her.
J