Marfa Film Festival Announces 2013 Lineup

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Marfa Film Festival 2013 logoThe Marfa Film Festival is back after a hiatus of a couple of years, and several of us at Slackerwood couldn't be more thrilled. Yesterday, the fest announced most of the movies that will screen from June 26-30. The lineup includes several films with Austin and Texas connections:

  • An Oversimplification of Her Beauty -- Dallas native Terence Nance's narrative film is about what happens when a young man is stood up. It will screen here in Austin at Alamo Drafthouse Ritz later this month.
  • The Taiwan Oyster -- Don reviewed this movie about two Americans on a road trip in Taiwan when it screened at SXSW 2012. He said, "The Taiwan Oyster is a gorgeous and captivating film, a physical and spiritual journey in an exotic land. It has much to say about life, loneliness and death, and our eternal struggles with all three." Filmmaker Mark Jarrett is from Austin.
  • The Passage -- Houston filmmaker Alex Douglas shot this documentary about the Panama Canal. The movie will have its world premiere in Marfa.
  • Houston -- This German film was shot partially in the title city. A German headhunter is sent to Houston on a business errand and finds his life upended. Director Bastian Gunther is now living in Austin.
  • See the Dirt -- This short documentary from local filmmakers Eric Mauck and Chelsea Hernandez is about a 14-year-old boy who collects and is fascinated with vacuum cleaners. It won the documentary short jury prize at Austin Film Festival 2012.
  • Sahasi Chori (Brave Girl) -- Former Austinite Erin Galey made this short about a 13-year-old Nepalese girl traveling to her first job in the city. Brave Girl was one of the Austin Film Society ShortCase films this year -- see Debbie's article for more details and a short interview with Galey.
  • Once It Started It Could Not End Otherwise -- Houston filmmaker Kelly Sears' experimental short film premiered at Sundance 2012. Don saw it at a preview screening and said it's "a clever horror film based on photos from a 1970s high school yearbook" with an "intriguing narrative."

For a full listing of the shorts and features that were announced, check the Marfa Film Festival's 2013 program. One note: I saw Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction at SXSW and I think Marfa is the perfect setting for this lyrical movie about Stanton, a nontraditional documentary that includes sequences of Stanton singing.

The fest has yet to announce its opening-night film, the "American Classics" that will be screened outdoors at night,  and other programming/events. We'll keep you posted.