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SXSW BLOG: “BOB AND THE MONSTER” DIRECTOR KEIRDA BAHRUTH, PART 3

Too early: March 19th — Southwest Airlines back to Los Angeles. My husband and daughter are to my right (I’m an aisle girl). I’m almost too tired to blog. That’s a ridiculous statement, isn’t it? Too tired to blog? The word “blogging” hardly seems to infer any effort on its behalf. Blog.

Okay, enough of that. Back to the point, SXSW, right? Right. It was amazing, in every sense of the word’s overuse. I loved it. The rest of the week I spent hanging out with other filmmakers and then musicians as they rolled into town. We screened the film two more times, with much more ease than the first. One lesson that I learned as a first-time director is that the projection of your film varies in each theater. I may have had knowledge of this prior, but did not experience it emotionally the way I just did with Bob and the Monster. Some of you out there may be having a “no duh” moment with me, but I honestly did not expect my film to look so different in each theater. I thought it looked great at the second and third screenings, but was having a small heart attack at the first one. There’s always something to investigate and something to learn. I’m taking the film back with me to do some final clean up work and then head on down to Nashville in April. Here’s to hoping that this has been the beginning to a long, wonderful life of the film, and if that’s true than I’m so proud that we began it here in Texas. SXSW and the city of Austin provide a very unique experience for their attendees. Yes, it’s overcrowded, yes, it’s got an air of exclusivity to it with its badge system, but in its heart there is an appreciation of life and art that I enjoyed being a part of. I loved the mix of film, music and technology. A little artistic trinity. Overall, it was an unbelievable experience, I took meetings about new film distribution models, saw Roky Erickson play a set with Billy Gibbons and topped my night off with a little Fishbone, not to mention I won the new Avid Media Composer at a luncheon – C’mon… it doesn’t get better than that.

Any regrets? I never got to sit and chat with Janet Pierson, whom I will be forever grateful to for inviting me to be apart of this great festival. I’ll come back anytime they’ll have me. SXSW alum for life.

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