Texas festivalWest Texas/Big Bend

Marfa Film Festival

The Marfa Film Festival was founded in 2008 by San Antonio's Robin Lambaria and filmmaker Cory Van Dyke as a noncompetitive festival in far West Texas. Afternoon programs of features, shorts, music videos and experimental work played the Crowley Theater, and evenings brought outdoor classics under the desert sky. The first edition, May 1–5, 2008, opened on the There Will Be Blood set outside town, and the 2010 edition closed with the North American premiere of Lou Reed's Red Shirley. The festival's own archive skips 2011 and 2012, then resumes from 2013 through 2018, when it ran July 11–15. Its site now says the festival is on hiatus.

Festival · Marfa · Since 2008 · Dormant since 2018

When it ran

Held in May
Crowley Theater (Goode Crowley Theater); There Will Be Blood "Little Boston" set (2008 opening night)
Founder Robin Lambaria and co-founder Cory Van Dyke
Old website ↗︎

Notable


The first edition, May 1–5, 2008, showed nearly 50 films and opened on the There Will Be Blood set outside Marfa; founder Robin Lambaria ran it as a noncompetitive event	↗︎
About 300 people watched the 2008 opening-night screening of There Will Be Blood on the Alamo Drafthouse's inflatable screen at the film's Little Boston set; the first year drew more than 300 submissions	↗︎
The 2010 edition, May 5–9, showed 20 shorts and 17 features and closed with the North American premiere of Lou Reed and Ralph Gibson's Red Shirley	↗︎
The 2016 edition ran July 13–17	↗︎
The 2018 edition ran July 11–15 and honored women filmmakers from around the world; a full pass cost $300	↗︎
The festival's site lists past programs for 2009, 2010 and 2013–2018 and now says the festival is on hiatus	↗︎

Sources

Marfa Film Festival Marfa Film Festival
About Marfa Film Festival
Passes (2018) Marfa Film Festival
You Can Leave Your Hat On: Watching movies in Marfa The Austin Chronicle 2008-05-09
Mostly Marfa San Antonio Current 2008-05-07
2010 Marfa Film Festival Announces Program Film Threat 2010-04-21
Marfa Film Festival Texas Film Commission 2016