Marfa hosts first annual film festival starting on May 1

by John P. Meyer

Since the town has no movie theater, the screenings will take place under the stars - on the set of There Will Be Blood.

Personally, I'm thrilled to hear that little Marfa, Texas - known outside town limits mostly as the site of the eponymous spectral lights - will be hosting a film festival all its own.

Marfa got a lot of insider attention in 2007 as a filming location for two big critically-acclaimed Hollywood movies: There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men (which, of course, went on to win the Best Picture Oscar). It seems only fitting to bring a film festival to the majestic birthplace of these and other epic films.

To kick off the event (on the evening of May 1), a 35mm screening of There Will Be Blood will happen under the stars at the actual wide-open-spaces site where the movie was filmed. Closing out the festival (on May 5), actor and bon vivant Dennis Hopper will return to the area for the first time since acting in the movie Giant in order to screen his seldom-seen Venice Film Fest-award-winning western, The Last Movie.

Other films on the lineup include the Robert Mitchum starrer Night of the Hunter; Deborah Kerr playing the haunted governess in Henry James' The Turn Of The Screw-inspired The Innocents; and David Byrne's über-goofy True Stories.

For more information - including lodging options and further event details - check out the festival website.