Paris, Texas

“Paris, Texas” is one of the most iconic films in the history of cinema. However, Wim Wenders didn’t shoot any of the scenes in the town that gives its name to the masterpiece of his filmography.

Javier Villabrille presents a visual narrative of this and other paradoxes that permeate the daily life of this small city of just 25,000 inhabitants. A territory that strives to conceal the economic difficulties of the area and struggles against the consequences of a highly segregated society, where religion plays a predominant role.

The motto “Paris, Texas: home to the second tallest Eiffel Tower, in the second largest Paris in the world” is visible in a parking lot on the outskirts, where a replica of the French monument stands with a red cowboy hat on top. The pride of a town that worked tirelessly and altruistically to build it, and the materialization of its national motto. The joy didn’t last long. A few years later, a Las Vegas casino built its own tower, 8 times taller, now truly becoming the second tallest Eiffel Tower in the world. A new setback for a community that fights day by day against its own stigma.

This fanzine reflects the peculiar characteristics of this town, immersed in internal struggle between its ambitious desires and limited possibilities. A journey steeped in the hopelessness and melancholy of those who live there.

Javier Villabrille is a journalist whose focus is on television news and other audiovisual content. In his more personal role as an author, his work reflects on the different meanings that common scenarios and landscapes can acquire, as well as the use that people who traverse them make of them.