Good day for those still recovering and thinking back on the recent South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin. There must be a few. If you're still checking in with this blog, it's likely that you couldn't get enough of the festival, wanting to relive the Sleater Kinney show or any number of other parties. I just arrived back in New York, and began going through some festival withdrawal myself-- for the past couple of months we have been alternately mixing, color-correcting, traveling to and from LA for meetings, then Sundance, Rotterdam, Berlin, more color-correcting and mixing before traveling to and from Austin.

I was just IM'ing with Greg Gilpatrick and I think he put it best: "I am so glad to be back. I was so sick of nice weather, fun parties and old friends."

For all of you who came to the screenings of GRETCHEN and OLD JOY, thank you. It was a great time. If anything, the lack of blog entries from me is a testament to that.

The elation of sitting among an audience during the premiere of a film that you have been a part of is such a fun, exciting and anxiety-ridden blur. When it goes well, it's comparable to a near death experience that gives you a new lease on life; when it goes poorly, it's like getting dumped by your lover and then stabbed through the heart. For GRETCHEN at SXSW, the crowd lined up around the block, filled The Paramount theater--well, mostly--and their laughter filled the hall from the very start.

Going into the film we couldn't control our own giddiness. This was the first time any of us who had worked on it would see GRETCHEN on a big screen with the sound, music and picture all polished up. We did a test right before and knew that the film looked great, and the projector in the Paramount exceeded our expectations. But while we were completely excited by the film, you never truly know what's going too make people laugh until you're in the room with them. Approximately 800 of our closest friends, only some of whom we actually knew, were laughing, crying, gasping, cheering. Giving themselves to the film, they gave us the near death experience. Yes!!!

After the premiere, with a new lease on life, we had some serious fun. It started with a fun premiere party off the beaten path at The Peacock on Sunday night, that hosted a gathering of filmmakers, actors, musicians and goers from the festival. Then, the next couple of days were all about meetings and getting ready for the next screenings for both GRETCHEN and OLD JOY. I, for some foolish reason, had the misconception that the second-screenings would be easy-going. Not so. As soon as the premiere was over, the reality hit me that we would have no time to relax. GRETCHEN played at Alamo South Lamar, which during the hour leading up to the screening seemed like the middle of some desert. I was convinced we were going to have an empty theater. After all, this screening was at noon on a Wednesday. We got there and set up our posters, and watched the clock until people started to show up. As it turned out, they did, and festival volunteers had to turn away about 40 people--which if you have ever been through it, is actually a very uncomfortable experience because they are so bummed. I ended up giving my seat to our production coordinator (also good friend), who wasn't able to make it to the Sunday premiere and had just then arrived in town from San Francisco for this screening. It was fun in that theater. GRETCHEN wouldn't be getting dumped at SXSW.

After a week or so at SXSW, some alchemy of beer, spring-time, barbecue and good movies forms the filmmakers, film lovers and lots of people from the press and industry into a real community--not unlike a SUMMERCAMP! Needless to say, we were extremely happy to premiere GRETCHEN at South by Southwest. And not just because the sun was shining on everyone, or there was a movie called FUCK there, or because we could learn about the sobering realities of the credit card debt we wracked up to make the film in MAXED OUT then feel the shock of OILCRASH or witness Jake and Bryan's exciting CASSIDY KIDS. Where else could a group of Rollerskater JAM Ladies square off with a bunch of Medieval DARKON Men inadvertently playing out their own zany sequel for all to behold.

At SXSW the sun is shining or the first time in any given year of a festival tour, and you're doing all sorts of strangely liberating outdoor activities like walking from place to place instead of driving or catching a taxi. You fantasize about some other life you might have lived, where the Tex Mex you had for lunch was actually followed by a siesta. And friends that you have been bumping into over the previous 6 weeks of non-stop travel are all there. At SXSW, it just feels more carefree--like people could actually relax a little.

I volunteered at SXSW under Mocha Jean Herrup in the Interactive portion of the festival in 1999 (and still have my T Shirt), so this felt like some sort of personal achievement to be back with the first two films that I had a hand in producing. Beyond that, Steve's film GRETCHEN AND THE NIGHT DANGER won at SXSW before moving on to Tribeca and other festivals. That win put us on the map when we needed it most, looking for financing and bringing the film together logistically. And during last year's SXSW we were shooting GRETCHEN the feature.

But we weren't the only people that were back. Tons of other filmmakers returning from years past were there in person and in spirit. Dia Sokul, who I met last year, for instance (she produced MUTUAL APPRECIATION) went back to Austin this year as a juror. Bradley Beesley and Sarah Price. Joe Swanberg was back with another great film that he directed: LOL, that had umm. . some very special contributions from Andrew Bujalski, Susan Buice and Arin Crumley--all of whom had films at the festival last year. ***Is it too romantic to think that they all met at SXSW, and gave in to the laid backness of it all--then decided to film each other making noises with their mouths? Who knows? Regardless, the more I think back on LOL, the more I love it. It will hit soooo close to home for anyone that owns a lap-top and is in a relationship--or anyone who has had an argument over the finer points of cell-phone sex.

I also caught Paul Gordon's MOTORCYCLE. I couldn't resist going to MOTORCYCLE. After all, Paul saved GRETCHEN by fixing Ricky's motorcycle with time to spare for the biggest night of shooting on our schedule--the Prom scene. This is actually a much more involved, rambling story: but briefly, Pope John Paul II had just died. Important, because our production office was housed in an abandoned dormitory behind a Catholic church in East Austin. The church bell ominously tolled all through the afternoon leading up to Gretchen's prom, and we needed that motorcycle running. It was a night scene, and the sun was setting. Paul calmly did much more than tap the carburetor to get Ricky's bike up and running. Paul did indeed save our skins. But back to his MOTORCYCLE. I had caught one of the parts of this film previously at another festival, and found myself drawn right back into it on Thursday at the Alamo downtown. I relished every last bone-dry moment.

Speaking of relishing every last moment, you might just have the foolish thought that it should be SXSW all year round? But NO!!! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. Summer in Texas is so hot it makes people go insane. Growing up there, you really have only a couple of choices to save yourself: either go to the movies or. . . walk the aisles in an air-condition induced haze at your local Wal Mart.

So if I catch any of you hanging on to your relished moments in the heat of the Texas summer, you better get over to your local movie-house and see the films that you missed at SXSW because you were too busy hanging out in Austin last week with other filmmakers and friends you met making mouth-noises in the sun!