Prada Marfa -- Episode 1 of "Photo Opportunities (Texas Edition): Miles and Miles of Texas"

Prada Marfa is the first segment of "Photo Opportunities (Texas Edition): Miles and Miles of Texas," a series of vignettes about Texas roadside attractions as photo opportunities. As both official art and perhaps the most Instagrammable place on earth, Prada Marfa, which simulates a Prada store in the remote desert landscape near Marfa, TX, is a fitting subject for the inaugural episode of our series.

Outlier's interest is in the nexus between landscape, art (both "official" and "outsider"), and roadside attractions, such as the beer can house and the cathedral of junk on the one hand, and Prada Marfa and land art such as Spiral Jetty on the other, all of which are listed as attractions on sites such as RoadsideAmerica.com. But where do you draw the line between those attractions, and more commercial ones, such as Buc-ee's, Cabela's wildlife tableaux within a retail store, or Playboy Marfa (now located in Dallas), commissioned to an important artist, but intended to update the Playboy image to appeal to a more hip, millenial audience, and threatened with removal as an illegal billboard? We don't profess to have the answers, but we hope to raise some interesting questions and create a dialogue with our viewers.

  • Pamela Falkenberg
    Director
    The Cost of Living, The Bloom, The Eternal Footman, The Nat King Cole Post Office
  • Jack Cochran
    Director
  • Jack Cochran
    Writer
  • Pamela Falkenberg
    Producer
  • Pamela Falkenberg
    Cinematography
  • Jack Cochran
    Editing and sound design
  • Pamela Falkenberg
    Production design
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short, Web / New Media
  • Genres:
    Travel, Webisode, Essay, Art
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 54 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 31, 2016
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Thin Line Festival
    Denton, TX
    United States
    April 21, 2018
    World Premiere
    Finalist, True Texas Travel Category
Director Biography - Pamela Falkenberg, Jack Cochran

Jack's bio:
Jack Cochran is an independent filmmaker who has produced, directed, or shot a variety of experimental and personal projects. He also works as a Director of Photography, with extensive experience shooting commercials, independent features, and documentaries. He has a varied commercial client list which includes BMW, Ford, Nissan, Fujifilm, Iomega, Corum Watches, and Forte Hotels. His features and documentaries have been shown at the Sundance, Raindance, Teluride, Tribeca, Edinburgh, Chicago, Houston, and Taos film Festivals, winning several honors. His commercials and documentaries have won Silver Lions from Cannes, a BAFTA (British Academy Award), Peabody Awards, and Cable Aces. Jack was trained at the University of Iowa Creative Writers Workshop as well as the University of Iowa film studies program. Some of his notable credits include Director of Photography on Brian Griffin's Claustrofoamia, Cinematography for Antony Thomas’ Tank Man, Director/Cinematographer of vientonocturno, and Cinematographer of Ramin Niami’s feature film Paris.

Pam's bio:
Pam Falkenberg is an independent filmmaker who received her PhD from the University of Iowa and taught at Northern Illinois University, St.Mary's College, and the University of Notre Dame. She directed the largest student film society in the US while she was at the University of Iowa, and also ran film series for the Snite Museum of Art in South Bend, IN. Her experimental film with Dan Curry, Open Territory, received an individual filmmaker grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as grants from the Center for New Television and the Indiana Arts Council. OT was screened at numerous film festivals, including the AFI Video Festival, and was nominated for a regional Emmy. Her other films include museum installations, scholarly/academic hybrid works shown at film conferences, and a documentary commissioned by the Peace Institute at the University of Notre Dame.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Jack Cochran and Pam Falkenberg are making personal films together again, this time under the name Outlier Moving Pictures. They hope their new films will be worthy of the name -- avoiding the usual patterns and approaching their subject matter from the margins (which sounds better than saying that as filmmakers they're oddballs and cranks). Pam and Jack met in graduate school and made films together when they were young. Jack went on to become a professional cinematographer working out of LA and London, while Pam stayed in the Midwest, where she was a college professor and independent filmmaker before dropping out to work in visual display. Their first films together are based on Jack's short poems. Next is a film about the North Dakota landscape and Teddy Roosevelt. Along with that, a series of shorts about photo opportunities and roadside attractions in Texas. Then, who knows?