Marfa

Driving to Marfa from Dallas slowly transforms you. As Refueled magazine senior photographer Gustav Schmiege, Refueled Films director of photography Lan Freedman and I drove the nine hours to the small West Texas town we grew quieter as we crossed the Monahan sandhills and soon found ourselves deep in the Davis mountains. With Monahans, a Austin roots/rock band named after the hills fueling the soundtrack, both Gus and Lan shot stills and video footage as I twisted through the beautiful terrain.

We spent four days at the Marfa Film Festival. We were there to shoot footage for my latest project. It seems the word had leaked out about Refueled Films coming to town, hearing “There are the guys making the documentary” as we would set up cameras around town, then download and review footage at the end of each day.

It’s strange to be in a small desert town in Texas and sit with people like John Paul DeJoria at Liz Lambert’s El Cosmico for a outdoor screening, to pass Lou Reed in the downtown square, watch Vogue shooting models in grunge Texas/Mexico inspired outfits and eat with Ugly Betty, I mean America Ferrera, out of a truck called the Food Shark - all the while sipping on slim cans of Bustelo Cool Café Con Leche and downing shots of Patrón...but I guess that’s Marfa.

Photos by Gustav Schmiege.