- Meeting a ton of fascinating people. Ranging from the band Bee vs. Moth to many film directors, editors, and film critics of all stripes etc. My experience has been that people at SXSW couldn't be more friendly and ready to chat. Regardless as to what brought them to Austin.
- Watching the legendary Bad Brains front-man HR take over a Q&A after a screening of the dynamite documentary Bad Brains: Band in DC during which he demonstrated many of the qualities that brought drama to the film.
HR of the Bad Brains at Q&A for Bad Brains - Band from DC - Eating barbecue - Including finally getting a chance to eat at Stubbs and make my standard stop at The Saltlick's Austin Airport outpost (the only airport food I actually seek out).
- Watched smidge of live music - stopped by the Red 7 venue hosted by Sony for a while on Wed night. My first time being at a SXSW music event. Sort of what I expected - super busy with some talented folks playing
- Live music combined with film. There are a few festivals that have been featuring old-school silent films with new musical scores created by working bands and played live along with the film. SIFF typically has at least a couple of these each year I believe. On my final day in Austin I watched the 1919 film The Oyster Princess with an original score played live by Bee vs. Moth. The picture is described in the SXSW catalog as representing "director Ernst Lubitsch’s early Berlin-era silent comedies, and it revels in lush, intricate sets and absurdly choreographed parades of servants." It's a bit crazy, very funny at times (and not because a situation is called meshuga). A great way to end the festival.
Bee vs Moth conducting Q&A after The Oyster Princess Screening - The venues - Got to checkout some new venues such as the Austin
tiny screening roomjewel-box theater Violet Crown Cinema as well as the old Austin favorites. Including the big comfy couches in the back of the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz 2 theater. Midnight films get that extra oomph when you're enjoying them with a late dinner, dessert, or a delicious hard cider. I may write more later on the Violet Crown Cinema - it's probably going to be on the top list of suggestions from people giving feedback to the festival. Personally, I love the theater - great rooms, good food and delicious drinks (all of which you buy outside and carry in from the lounge). But for the festival its tiny size (sub 60 seat screening rooms) and some very poor management at least in the start you had to really work at seeing things there. My feeling is that if some changes are made it's worth keeping. More on that in future days. - The crazy energy that is Austin during SXSW. This isn't the town (at least during the festival) for those with a tendency towards light based epileptic seizures or looking for peace and quite. But there's something insanely cool (at least for a few days) at being in what feels like the United State's artistic party epicenter. To give a sense, below is a snippet of video I shot Wed. night around midnight on 6th Street (a main drag for SXSW). I have some other footage that should be higher quality that I'll post in the future.
And then of course there are the films. Below is the list of films I watched. Roughly in the order I screened them. The first four are things I watched prior to the festival - either via screeners or in one case a local preview screening. Not on the list is the exceptional short Tumbleweed! which I didn't include only because I didn't have a chance to see the entire session it played in. Over the next week(s) I'll be working hard to catchup with either full or abbreviated reviews of each of the films on the list. I may do a SXSW top-ten list first. Depends on my moods - which can be fickle. I also have something on the order of 300 photos I need to go through and post. So if you'd like to learn more about this year's SXSW Film Festival - you may have come to the right place.
- Italy - Love it or Leave It
- Girl Model
- 21 Jump Street
- The Hunter
- God Bless America
- Midnight Shorts
- Electrick Children
- The Last Fall
- Thale
- Safety Not Guaranteed
- Iron Sky
- Los Chidos
- Central Park Effect
- Do Deca Pentathalon
- The Raid - Redemption
- Modus Anomali
- Her Master's Voice
- Documentary Shorts 2
- Booster
- Beast
- John Dies at the End
- Wonder Women!
- Funeral Kings
- Sleepwalk With Me
- Girls Against Boys
- The Sheik and I
- Intruders
- Bad Brains: Band in DC
- The Aggression Scale
- The Oyster Princess
- Mustafa's Sweet Dreams
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