SXSW Film Festival
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“BETTER THIS WORLD” DIRECTORS KELLY DUANE DE LA VEGA & KATIE GALLOWAY
When two young activists from Midland Texas were arrested with Molotov cocktails at the 2008 Republican convention, their story became a media sensation, but documentarians Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega couldn’t escape the feeling that there was more to this story than the good-kids-turned-domestic-terrorists version the media was reporting. So, they did what any skilled documentarians do: they took a leap of faith, jumped a plane and started talking to people involved with the case. The result is Better This World, a documentary that explores what happens when idealistic, angry young activists stop being polite and start getting mixed up […]
by Mary Anderson Casavant on Mar 11, 2011 -
SXFANTASTIC’S TIM LEAGUE ON 2011’S MIDNIGHT EDITION
Despite their protestations to the contrary, festival programmers are often a competitive bunch, jostling for not only premieres but status. That’s why SXFantastic, now in its third year, is such a welcome event. A collaboration between SXSW and Fantastic Fest, which unspools its own main event in September, SXFantastic brings Fantastic’s genre smarts and midnight-movie acumen to the South By sprawl. The result is a focused section that has been producing its own fan favorites, critical hits and even industry acquisitions. Last year’s successes included Gareth Edwards’ Monsters and the unlikely pick-up A Serbian Film (which just landed the SITGES […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 9, 2011 -
Janet Pierson on the Films — and Crowds — of SXSW
Six weeks before the festival, every hotel room in downtown Austin was booked solid. Badges were already selling out a month prior, and, in the last few weeks, LAX-AUS flights have become almost impossible to come by. Last year the festival was, by all accounts, over-crowded — press and industry felt needlessly constrained by the impossibility of special access to screenings, and complaints of line cutting were all over Twitter. Pierson and her staff took all of these criticisms hard. In the wake of the grumblings, there are new and bigger theatres (the renovated State Theatre, next to the Paramount; […]
by Alicia Van Couvering on Mar 9, 2011 -
SXSW CLOSING WITH THORNTON’S “THE KING OF LUCK” & ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL TITLES
The South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival revealed today that its closing night film this year will be the world premiere of Bill Bob Thornton‘s documentary on Willie Nelson, The King of Luck. They also announced additional titles to the fest, including a work-in-progress screening of Bridesmaids, starring Kristen Wiig and produced by Judd Apatow, and a short from Harmony Korine. More info on the closing night film and additional titles can be found below. SXSW will take place March 11-19 in Austin, Texas. Read full list of features here; Midnight, SXFantastic and shorts here. CLOSING NIGHT FILM The […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 2, 2011 -
SXSW REVEAL MIDNIGHTERS, SXFANTASTIC & SHORTS
The South By Southwest Film Conference and Festival announced today the lineups for its Midnighters, SXFantastic and short films sections. Midnighters has always been a popular section at SXSW having highlighted the talents of Eli Roth and Ti West in the past, but its notoriety grew a few years ago when the fest added the SXFantastic sidebar, which are midnight films programmed by the largest genre fest, Fantastic Fest. Last year, the section had the world premiere of Gareth Edwards‘ impressive debut feature Monsters. The complete list of Midnighters, SXFantastic and short films titles are below. SXSW will take place […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Feb 10, 2011 -
Peter Byck, Carbon Nation
Hope is easy to sell, but fear is easier. Billing itself as a “climate change solutions” movie, Peter Byck’s Carbon Nation doesn’t want you to panic. If fear of the consequences of climate change has been the primary emotional content associated with the slew of climate-themed docs that have found their way to screens in the wake of An Inconvenient Truth, Carbon Nation dwells more on the possibilities that technological innovation, communitarian initiative and an end to political gridlock could have on our world. Time is short, but in Byck’s telling, the means to stymie the long-term catastrophes associated with […]
by Brandon Harris on Feb 9, 2011 -
My 10 Favorite Festivals Of 2010
It was a grueling and exhilarating year. Last year from January to December I road-ripped in my van, the “Red Devil,” occasionally flew on airplanes, a few times rode on trains, sprinting across and around America, then over and around Europe, parachuting in on nearly 50 film festivals. It was a manic-depressive trip on the rollercoaster-roadway. One minute I was kissing the stars and the next I was eating asphalt. It was madness, but madness that made complete sense. To understand America today, non-fiction books are giving fewer and fewer clues. Literature has become passé for making sense out of […]
by Stewart Nusbaumer on Feb 4, 2011 -
Uncle Kent Director Joe Swanberg
Since Joe Swanberg’s first feature film, Kissing on the Mouth, premiered at SXSW in 2005, he’s managed to make at least a feature a year, multiple web-series, and found regular launch-pads at SXSW and IFC Films. When Swanberg directs a film, he really functions as a craftsman of the entire work: while he eschews screenplays in favor of improvisation, he works as cinematographer, editor, and usually acts in the film. As the nexus of a low-budget film movement stressing honesty, stories chronicling the lives of people in their twenties, and improvisation (this movement begins with an “M,” ends with “core,” […]
by James Ponsoldt on Jan 23, 2011 -
SXSW ANNOUNCES DUNCAN JONES’ “SOURCE CODE” AS OPENING NIGHT FILM
Moon director Duncan Jones’ second feature, Source Code, will open the 2011 SXSW Film Festival, it was announced today. Excerpted from the press release: The smart action thriller is the second feature from SXSW Alum Duncan Jones (Moon), and stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Love and Other Drugs, Brokeback Mountain), Michelle Monaghan (Eagle Eye, Due Date), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air, The Departed) and Jeffrey Wright (Quantum of Solace, Syriana). The South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival runs March 11 – 19, 2011 in Austin, Texas. When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of an […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 16, 2010 -
New Model Army
by Filmmaker Staff on Oct 25, 2010
Making a business out of independent film is harder than ever. But still, great films are being made. In this series of short profiles, Filmmaker asked a number of leading independent producers about their producing models and how they’re finding everything from financing to material to office space.
