Get ready, Austin audiences: The thrilling conclusion of SXSW Presents Season Three will commence on Tuesday, February 6, on KLUR-TV (Austin PBS). After our winter hiatus, we have four remaining episodes left for you, all starting with Chris Elley's BBQ: A Texas Love Story, narrated by the late Ann Richards. Enjoy!

This week's episode of SXSW Presents features Allison Berg's 2004 documentary feature Witches in Exile. Berg's doc is a candid and disturbing portrait of a "witch village" in modern-day Ghana, West Africa. A place where women are sent when their purity is called into question, the witch camps themselves face public scrutiny and an ongoing debate about their value and purpose. In the middle of this discussion, are the women themselves, forced to live a life secluded from their families and homes. Allison Berg, an accomplished and award-winning nonfiction storyteller, has produced a compassionate and stirring look at this relatively unknown phenomenon.

Click here for more, and be sure to catch SXSW Presents: Witches in Exile on KLRU-TV in Austin, this Tuesday at 9 p.m.

SXSW Presents Season Three continues on Tuesday night, with a very special and controversial documentary. Ryan Polomski and Frank Bustoz's 2006 doc, State vs. Reed, follows the Bastrop, TX conviction of young Rodney Reed for a murder he may not have committed. Using interviews with various sources, the filmmakers weave a compelling and disturbing argument on Reed's behalf. Is justice blind? That's just one of the many questions asked in State vs. Reed, which remains just as timely with Reed still sitting on death row. Click here for more information about Tuesday night's episode. And tune in, 9 p.m. on KLRU-TV, in Austin.

Whether you're going out for a night of "trick or treat," or staying in to hand out candy, Austin audiences can spend part of their Halloween night watching the fifth episode of SXSW Presents, season three. This week's episode will be a special presentation of Michael Ferris Gibson's 2004 documentary 24 Hours on Craigslist, which puts a hilarious spotlight on the popular networking site. Plus, as part of SXSW Presents, we're including an interview with Craigslist founger Craig Newmark, which took place during SXSW 2006. So, get some more information, and spend your Halloween night watching SXSW Presents, 9 p.m. CST on KLRU-TV in Austin.

Tuesday night delivers the third episode of SXSW Presents, on KLRU-TV in Austin. This week's episode features a slew of award-winning short films and the feature presentation, Nancy Higgins' Viva Les Amis. A true Austin story of artists finding a homebase, the documentary looks back on the history and culture surrounding the once-popular (but now gone) cafe, Les Amis. A famous destination for both locals and tourists (and the setting of a few scenes in Richard Linklater's Slacker), the hotspot is now home to a Starbuck's. Higgins uses her camera to check in with the former regulars, staff, and even the new generation of locals who have no clue about the history they missed. Catch the film, at 9 p.m. on Tuesday night. And, stick around after the feature to watch the panel discussion which includes filmmaker Nancy Higgins, and some special guests.

Each week, for our Austin PBS program SXSW Presents, we'll have a panel of local filmmakers and film thinkers sharing in the discussion about that episode's film(s). So, if you're ever interested, you can check out part of what happens every Tuesday night, on SXSW Presents. For example, here's this week's panel discussion about Liz Lambert's documentary, The Last Days of the San Jose. Check back to the official site each week, for more.

The second episode of SXSW Presents season 3 airs Tuesday night, 9 p.m. CST, on KLRU-TV in Austin. This week, we're showing Liz Lambert's great documentary, The Last Days of the San Jose. Made in Austin, the doc chronicles the community that lives in an old, run-down motel called The San Jose. Lambert, who owns the hotel, turned her camera on and captured several heartbreaking stories of the American dream gone wrong, and people looking for a better life.

Regular visitors to Austin know the San Jose as the hip boutique hotel on South Congress. Lambert still owns it, and she converted it into what has now become one of the "it" spots to hang out and sleep while in South Austin. But, this doc, is a great record of what it was like before the renovations. More than just a local story, though, the documentary becomes a universal look at modern, urban community. Check it out Tuesday, as we'll also have an on-air discussion with Lambert and some guests.

The final new episode of SXSW Presents: Season Two, will air Friday night in Austin. This week's episode is headlined by the documentary feature, Prizewhores, directed by Jenn Garrison. The film is "a glimpse at the lives of a handful of adults who obsess over the pursuit of contests, giveaways, and prizes." It's a memorable and entertaining document of how far average Americans will go when it comes to radio contests and autographs. It will air Friday, 10 p.m. on KLRU in Austin. Check out the show's official Web site for more details about the whole season. It's been a fun run, and we thank everyone for their support!

If you don't live in Austin, but hope to see SXSW Presents in the future, ask your local PBS station and request it. I'll be returning from Amsterdam just in time to tune in.

SXSW Presents continues to roll as the homestretch of season two is upon us. The season is left with three more episodes, and everything seems to have been quite a hit. Friday night will bring our episode of East Austin Stories, compiling great short films from Andy Garrison's acclaimed UT film class. For those not familiar with East Austin Stories, here's how The Austin Chronicle describes the program:

"This week's installment is a compilation of East Austin Stories, the video project that UT professor Andy Garrison started with his documentary class in 2001 (www.eastaustinstories.org). 'Flying in the face of the popular wisdom that good fences make good neighbors, the East Austin Stories video project makes prying its modus operandi,' Chronicle contributor Kimberley Jones wrote in 2004. 'The goal of the project is to give the Eastside community the chance to share its many stories.'"

For more on SXSW Presents check out the show's official Web site.

While we're in the thick of accepting submissions for the 2006 festival, the second season of SXSW Presents continues to roll. Our season premiere of How's Your News? happened this past Friday, and seemed to be a success for everyone involved.

This Friday, we have the documentary feature, 7th Street, directed by character actor Josh Pais. So, if you're in Austin, tune in to KLRU at 10 p.m. Here's more details about this season of the show.

Thanks to Shawn O'Keefe of SXSW Interactive, we have now launched the new site for the new season of our TV show, SXSW Presents. The season premiere is set for Friday night, on KLRU in Austin. Our first episode will be a presentation of Arthur Bradford's acclaimed documentary, How's Your News?

I'm actually getting ready to head over to set up for tonight's launch party. I still have come nowhere near recovering from my Toronto week. Going to see Foo Fighters and Weezer only a couple of hours after my return flight didn't help, but it was a really fun arena rock show.

Anyway, in the meantime, enjoy the new Web site for SXSW Presents.

Earlier this week, we spent a day filming more segments for SXSW Presents. Here's filmmaker/professor Andy Garrison and I during a lighter moment, filming at Gene's Restaurant, of the "East Austin Stories" episode. We're likely laughing because I flubbed a line...

(photo by Mike Woolf, of Beef & Pie Productions)

At Arkie's Grill on East 1st Street, the Beef & Pie Productions crew set up a shoot for an episode of SXSW Presents (more on the TV show's second season soon). The basis of the episode? The 8th anniversary of director Dan Brown's Austin-made feature, American Detective...

(Members of the cast and crew from American Detective reunite and chat.)

(Dan Brown, the director of American Detective, sits down for his on-camera interview segment, with Mike Woolf of Beef & Pie.)

SXSW and Beef & Pie Productions just wrapped the first few days of work on season two of TV show SXSW Presents. There's still plenty of work ahead of us, but this was all a great start. More details on the show itself soon...

(Outside of the hangars of Austin Studios, Beef & Pie's Mike Woolf, left, chats with filmmaker/actors Wiley Wiggins and Nathan Zellner after a scene.)

(Andrew Yates of Beef & Pie gets ready with the camera, as the crew begins to set up the lights and sound as we film on the rooftop of the Bling Pig Pub in downtown Austin.)

(The crew, left, begins to move some of the equipment after we shoot in the upstairs section of the Old Pecan Street Cafe. This section of the restaurant, and those windows in particular, was used in the final sequence of Joel and Ethan Coen's Blood Simple.

(That's me grabbing a drink in-between takes while we shoot at Top Notch, the burger joint featured in Dazed and Confused. The Austin film locations theme is something that runs through various episodes of SXSW Presents.)

With a little Guinness, Dos Equis, and some sweet tea, we get together yesterday on the patio of The Cedar Door to hash out schedules and brainstorm for the second season of SXSW Presents.

(Mike and Andrew from Beef & Pie Productions chat with Cathy and Jarod from SXSW.)