The WINNER of the Filmmaker Blog  "Around Austin" ridiculous festival hotel room set-up is: 

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# posted by Alicia Van Couvering @ 3/19/2009 05:39:00 PM Comments (0)

Last Day in Austin. Lack of sleep + hangovers + five girls in one room =

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# posted by Alicia Van Couvering @ 3/19/2009 03:40:00 PM Comments (0)

Arms locked together, smiles frozen in place awaiting the digital flash — we all have these photos on our cameras and phones when we return from a film festival. These moments sure look like happy ones now that a festival premiere has spackled over all the fractures that production wrought. At SXSW this year, however, one group tried to summon up smiles that were a bit more sincere in intent. Operation Smile is a non-profit organization that provides cleft-lip and palate repair to children and young adults around the world, many in developing countries. Reps from the organization manned a table on the third floor of the Austin Convention Center and snapped pictures of people smiling while holding signs detailing just what makes them smile. The footage then was fed into a video loop that played in one of the lounges. By the end of the festival, a wall was full of happy thoughts, a section of which is shown above. As SXSW was all about mobile apps, Operation Smile had one too, of sorts: if you text "Smile" to 90999 you will be billed $5 on your mobile bill and these funds will go towards the non-profit's work.

For more info on Operation Smile, visit their website.

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# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 3/18/2009 11:14:00 PM Comments (0)

Everything is big in Texas. Take for example this giant cabbage, growing freely in a parking lot, in Texas.

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# posted by Alicia Van Couvering @ 3/17/2009 09:29:00 PM Comments (0)

If you were at SXSW up until yesterday, you may have been accosted in one of several ways by protesters of a group who hated a man named Cain and wanted to "Stop Tarp." They threw a protest in the streets, threw dollar bills around the convention center, caused twitter uproars and otherwise seeped into the festival's consciousness. I was rude to one particularly aggressive flier-distributor, and for this I am sorry, because I now know the secret. 

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# posted by Alicia Van Couvering @ 3/17/2009 08:53:00 PM Comments (0)

Joe Swanberg's Alexander the Last is not the only Swanberg film here at SXSW. His wife Kris's movie, It Was Great, But I Was Ready To Come Home, premieres at the festival too. Pictured above at last night's Florida Fish Fry, from left to right, are Alexander the Last star Amy Seimetz, Swanberg, and Three Blind Mice director Matthew Newton.

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# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 3/16/2009 10:07:00 PM Comments (0)

When Jeff "The Dude" Dowd told David Lee Miller that Miller's movie My Suicide was as epic and groundbreaking as 2001: A Space Odyssey,  humble Miller replied that such a statement was blasphemy and insulting to filmmakers everywhere. Still seeking word on whether or not the Dude abides.

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# posted by Alicia Van Couvering @ 3/16/2009 03:02:00 PM Comments (0)

If you're at SXSW, you should definitely send photos of you and your roommates in your hotel room, along with a list of the room's residents at sxswhotel (at) gmail (dot) com... and prepare to be a part of the greatest film festival hotel room photo gallery of all time. 

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# posted by Alicia Van Couvering @ 3/16/2009 12:24:00 PM Comments (0)

Shut out of three sold out movies. Went to a panel but had to step out for a phone call the whole time. A complete bust of a day. Time for drinking. First at the Filmmaker's BBQ at Maggie Mae's, with... 

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# posted by Alicia Van Couvering @ 3/16/2009 12:05:00 PM Comments (0)

The goal in any festival director transition: to maintain the quality of a festival and begin to put one's personal stamp on it while not slowing its momentum or dampening its good will. Mid-way through SXSW, I'd say that for new director Janet Pierson, pictured here at the BMI dinner, that mission has been handily accomplished. Attendance is up; audience reaction to a good number of films is positive; the panels are informational and packed; there's the requisite fanboy buzz from the opening night I Love You, Man plus today's sneak of some of the Bruno footage; and there are even bits of controversy here and there, like the heated Q and A that followed Brett Gaylor's RIP! documentary. Congratulations to Janet on what so far has been a very good SXSW.

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# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 3/16/2009 02:15:00 AM Comments (0)

That was the view immediately following the premiere of Objectified, Gary Hustwit's new documentary about industrial design (specifically and in great detail, iphones.) 

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# posted by Alicia Van Couvering @ 3/15/2009 11:59:00 AM Comments (0)

The pervasive feeling around SXSW, as I feel it? A frenetic gathering of people who like each other very much. Like Range Life Entertainment chief and Box Elder-director Todd Sklar, and You Won't Miss Me-director Ry Russo-Young outside the premiere of Andrew Bujalksi's Beeswax. They are on a panel, "Indie Realities," later this week. 

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# posted by Alicia Van Couvering @ 3/15/2009 11:33:00 AM Comments (0)

Pictured above, on the second floor of the convention center, Alexander the Last director Joe Swanberg and Cinetic Media Rights' Matt Dentler. Dentler to me: "You know, I don't work here anymore, but you don't need to wait on this long line for your badge. You can go to the Panelists Registration over there."

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# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 3/14/2009 11:06:00 PM Comments (0)

I wish so much that I could have blogged yesterday about being Around Austin. But I was not around Austin, despite well-made plans. I was in the Laguardia Airport... forever... and the Atlanta Airport, and the Atlanta Airport Days Inn. Thank you, Delta Airlines. 

Then I got here, hooray. I was delirious. But nice faces like Lance Weiller jarred me back to reality. Weiller is not only premiering his new Babelgum web series here, but also promulgating some kind of Live Alternative Reality role-playing game, which I did not understand. He said it was all around me, and I would understand soon. Or I that maybe it wasn't, and I won't. Maybe I am still in the airport. Cagey Lance would give me no answers. 

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# posted by Alicia Van Couvering @ 3/14/2009 09:29:00 PM Comments (0)

Thinking of those of you who are heading to SXSW for the first time, we asked some festival vets about some of the really important stuff — like where to find the best barbecue and where to nab free Wi-Fi. (The Austin Convention Center Wi-Fi gets overloaded and is notoriously slow.) What follows are the answers we received, but if you’d like to add your own comments to the mix, email us at editor.filmmakermagazine AT gmail.com


BEST BARBECUE
- “There is no simple answer to that question.” – Mike S. Ryan, producer and contributor to Hammertonail.com

- You have to leave town, sorry — it’s in Lockhart.” – Robert Byington, Austin local and director of RSO: Registered Sex Offender and Harmony & Me (Premiering at ND/NF)

- Arthur Bryants BBQ, conveniently located 738 miles away in Kansas City, Missouri... the BBQ capital of the world.” Todd Sklar, Box Elder, Range Life Entertainment and SXSW ’09 Panelist


BEST NON-BARBECUE FOOD IN AUSTIN“Kirby Queso and Magnolia Café are good Breakfast.” — Frank V. Ross, director, Present Company, Hohokum

“Hoeks pizza.... what more could you want after all that free beer?” – Joseph Armario, director, Jurassic Technology (Music Video Showcase)

“The grilled Salami at Foodheads is in my top three sandwiches in the nation” – Todd Sklar

"Whole Foods! You can't go wrong there. Perfect for in-between screening meals. Beyond that - I'm vegan, so I'd recommend Casa De Luz, which is a macrobiotic buffet, and also Mothers, which has the best veggie burger in Austin, and Bouldin Creek, which is where I like to go for breakfast - and since breakfast is my favorite meal, I sometimes go there for lunch and dinner too." — David Lowery, director St. Nick.


HOW TO ID A LOCAL VS. AN AUSTIN NATIVE
“The Local is already drunk and pronounces it "Gwa-dah-loop" — Frank Ross

"If they're on 6th Street during SXSW, they're probably not local." — David Lowery

“Locals = Veneer of Entropy” — Bob Byington


PLACE TO GO FOR FREE WI-FI
“World’s biggest/best Whole Foods right between South Lamar & Downtown. So much free Wi-fi.” – Todd Sklar


BEST BET FOR FREE STUFF INCL. FOOD
"Parties, for sure. And the Filmmakers Lounge. This is important if you're poor and are planning on consisting on free things. You'll be eating a lot of bagels and chips and salsa, beggars can't be choosers. Sometimes they put little Cliff bars and stuff in the gift bags, but I just picked mine up and no dice. And alcohol seems to run like water everywhere that first weekend, so you can wash away your hunger pains with vodka." — David Lowery

“Whole Foods – Very lax policy on shoplifters and shoplifting.” — Bob Byington

“My plan is to raid Byington's house while he's at screenings.” — Todd Sklar


FAVORITE MUSIC VENUE
“The CHURCH! Bela Flek, crazy percussion, people who bonk on tubas, amazing things happen in the church.” — Josephine Decker, Director of Bi The Way, SXSW '08 and Where Are You Going, Elena? SXSW '09


THOUGHTS ON PARTIES
“The official parties seem to be where people go, and I tag along. But it’s crowded and the food gets molested and I don’t like Peroni.” – Frank V. Ross


FASHION ADVICE
“I always notice a lot of western wear. I mean, duh, it's Austin, but it's true. Cowboy boots, denim jackets, hats. Just go for it, we’re in Texas!” — Ry Russo-Young, You Wont Miss Me


AVOID AT ALL COSTS
“Austin Convention center kiosk (highway robbery). And, awards night. You will regret going.” – Frank V. Ross

“Sixth Street, Unless you’re a fan of date rape and watching people soil themselves.” — Bob Byington

"Getting on I-35 between the hours of 3 and 6 on weekdays." — David Lowery


DO NOT MISS
“The LBJ Library has a Presidential limo in the Library.”– Bob Byington

“I’m always invited to Barton Springs. Not sure what it is but fun seems to have been had there.”– Frank V. Ross

“Barton Springs is beyond peaceful and necessary. The bats on South Congress live up to the hype as well.” – Todd Sklar

"My damn movie!" — David Lowery


WORST SXSW MOMENT “Emailing Matt Dentler to say how sorry I was to see him go, and having the email automatically routed to Janet Pierson.”– Bob Byington

"The great '07 nervous breakdown. But that didn't have anything to do with the festival." — David Lowery


BEST SXSW MOMENT
“Dance off between a professional mime, two beat-boxers, me and a man who had painted a unicorn on his penis at 3 am in the Enchanted Forest at the Bi The Way Movie Premiere Party SXSW '08. When the beer ran out, we wandered over to a bonfire and listened to three forest gnomes play guitar.” — Josephine Decker

“Seeing someone drop their beer over a deck, then hurl themself over to save it.” – Joseph Armario

"Not getting into a party with a bunch of ther filmmakers and deciding instead to wander the streets of Austin in search of another soiree. We never found one, and instead found our own numbers growing as we wandered up and down the streets of downtown, creating our own flaneur party that was far livelier and edifying than whatever overcrowded event we were barred from surely would have been." — David Lowery


Answers compiled by Alicia Van Couvering

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# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 3/12/2009 10:11:00 PM Comments (0)

It doesn't matter where we're from, we all remember the way the place used to be. You know, before the local dive bar became a TGIF, the Kroger became the Whole Foods, and back when the scene was truly a scene. But, of course, as powerful as nostalgia can be, it is also self-generating. What's around us right now will one day be a newcomer's "way it was."

In terms of a filmmaker's celebration of his hometown, Rick Linklater's Slacker has, perhaps, no equal. It not only documented a place, Austin, but it grafted a sensibility onto that place, a sensibility that was both a generational and cultural marker. A year ago, filmmaker Spencer Parsons (I'll Come Running) revisited the Austin of old for FilmInFocus, and on the eve of SXSW it seems appropriate to read again his piece.

From his intro:

They used to call it "The Fingerhut," or the "Ollie Trout House," and for a while it was home to a hive of Austin filmmakers. Now it's a Quiznos, after a few years in the guise of a Johnny Rockets and another few as a Mark Pi's Express, if I remember correctly. To me it was the Slacker house, recognizable for the pointing finger painted on its side, the place where the guy in an Army tee-shirt goes after he runs over his mom near the beginning of the movie. I was surprised to find it on a walk to work days after I moved here, but disappointed that it appeared abandoned and in the kind of disrepair you would expect had it been recently associated with a real life vehicular homicide rather than one in a movie. So something had to be done with it.

At that time, people spoke wistfully of the recent loss of Les Amis, notorious as the University of Texas neighborhood's best place to get a $3 lunch, spend all afternoon shooting the shit, then stick around to prove punk not dead well into the night. Among its appearances in Slacker is the one at a sidewalk café where Charles Gunning memorably tells a pair of young documentarians, "To all those workers out there: every single commodity you produce is a piece of your own death!" But of course the place wasn't important because it had been in a movie; it had been in a movie because it was important. The cheap beans and rice, the free refills of coffee, the ornery staff more likely to sit down and add a cigarette to your conversation than actually serve food, it all fed the culture that inspired the film. It did a lot more for the lives of a relative few in Austin's artistic, political, crackpot and homeless scenes than it would for the relative many who would see its shadow in a cinema. Try to contain your surprise when I tell you that where Les Amis once stood is now Starbucks.

And, on the third page, there's a listing of a bunch of great bars, galleries and restaurants, most of which, we hope, are still there.

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# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 3/12/2009 05:27:00 PM Comments (0)

Celebrating the work of one of Austin's filmmaking treasures, Toby Hooper, SXSW will be screening his little know first film, Eggshells. In this week's Austin Chronicle, Louis Black, co-founder/editor of the paper and SXSW, writes about the film, which hasn't been screened in close to four decades.

An excerpt from the story:

There were many extraordinary talents that worked on [Texas] Chainsaw [Massacre], including cinematographer Daniel Pearl; Hooper's co-writer, Kim Henkel; art and production designer Robert Burns; and Wayne Bell doing sound. Even though, in so many ways, it is clearly a director's movie in that all the elements are used to build tension and create horror. Hooper's talent has always been clear, but just how much of the film was his vision and how much was his coordinating others' contributions has never been readily apparent. Eggshells illuminates that Hooper's vision and sense of cinema were in place long before Chainsaw.

Eggshells makes explicit what many have long assumed – that Hooper's sense of cinema is the defining characteristic that makes Chainsaw great. Eggshells is a true 1968 film, psychedelic and political; it seems clear that Hooper had watched more than a film or two by Jean-Luc Godard. The film celebrates alternative lifestyles and politics and people and an odd, kinky semimysticism that is grounded more in humor than the supernatural. It captures what Austin looked like in the Sixties as well as the political sensibility shared by so many at the time.

The film screens Tuesday, March 17, 7pm, at Alamo South Lamar.

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# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 3/12/2009 10:32:00 AM Comments (0)