tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62569289552911738492010-03-16T17:43:18.874-04:00Webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03643468321632241172noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-55056158887009584672009-03-19T17:39:00.003-04:002010-02-25T14:45:11.963-05:00

The WINNER of the Filmmaker Blog  "Around Austin" ridiculous festival hotel room set-up is: TEAM EMBASSY SWEETS: Director David Lowery, Director Joe Swanberg, Director Kris Swanberg, Writer Jade Healy, composer Mike Vasitch, Actor Chris Trujillo, and several more who wish not to pay for their space on the floor and thus will remain unnamed. 

Alicia Van Couveringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639318364132968261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-40036998101098940872009-03-19T15:40:00.002-04:002010-02-25T14:45:11.963-05:00

Last Day in Austin. Lack of sleep + hangovers + five girls in one room = So it seemed like a good idea to get out of the Alamo (where they serve BEER AND HAMBURGERS to you while you watch movies!) (!!!!!!!!!!!!) A group trip to Barton Springs was organized. Below, Creative Nonfiction's Lena Dunham and Carlen Altman, co-star of Ry Russo-Young's You Won't Miss Me. Ry and Tom Davis (New World Order)

Alicia Van Couveringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639318364132968261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-17175265649361829012009-03-18T23:14:00.002-04:002010-02-25T14:45:11.963-05:00

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.

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-45093032474150768882009-03-17T21:29:00.002-04:002010-02-25T14:45:11.963-05:00

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

Alicia Van Couveringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639318364132968261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-73864687797199907572009-03-17T20:53:00.004-04:002010-02-25T14:45:11.963-05:00

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

Alicia Van Couveringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639318364132968261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-34467720054725507442009-03-16T22:07:00.004-04:002010-02-25T14:45:11.964-05:00

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.

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-79429904171050289752009-03-16T15:02:00.002-04:002010-02-25T14:45:12.165-05:00

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.Pictured: Eugene Hernandez (Editor-in-Chief, indiewire.com) and Tim LaTorre abiding at the My Suicide party. 

Alicia Van Couveringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639318364132968261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-52862597908927395022009-03-16T12:24:00.002-04:002010-02-25T14:45:12.166-05:00

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. 

Alicia Van Couveringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639318364132968261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-79579456416806484592009-03-16T12:05:00.003-04:002010-02-25T14:45:12.166-05:00

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... Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones of Breaking Upwards, processing juicy gossip from Audrey Gelman, co-star of Lena Dunham's Creative Non-Fiction (interview forthcoming)......Jody Lee Lipes, Brock

Alicia Van Couveringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639318364132968261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-48592499946705190182009-03-16T02:15:00.003-04:002010-02-25T14:45:12.166-05:00

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

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-26037921792172101982009-03-15T11:59:00.002-04:002010-02-25T14:45:12.169-05:00

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

Alicia Van Couveringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639318364132968261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-89519631959263378202009-03-15T11:33:00.005-04:002010-02-25T14:45:12.169-05:00

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. Or It Was Great, But I Was Ready To Come Home-director Kris

Alicia Van Couveringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639318364132968261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-2504474398117045942009-03-14T23:06:00.003-04:002010-02-25T14:45:12.170-05:00

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."

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-50371348211884421382009-03-14T21:29:00.004-04:002010-02-25T14:45:12.170-05:00

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. Shout Outs to my Terminal D buddies, Outfest Programmer Cameron Yates, who left me in the carpeted, airless dust when his desk agent

Alicia Van Couveringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14639318364132968261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-89605075959092591872009-03-12T22:11:00.010-04:002010-02-25T14:45:12.170-05:00

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

Jason Guerrasiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14958031172216065142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-90566741658037537762009-03-12T17:27:00.003-04:002010-02-25T14:45:12.170-05:00

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

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6256928955291173849.post-81136753135103234802009-03-12T10:32:00.013-04:002010-02-25T14:45:12.171-05:00

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 [

Jason Guerrasiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14958031172216065142noreply@blogger.com0