Popular writer Lorraine Ali, of Newsweek, is just one of the many music-based journalists from major publications who decided to fly into Austin early and check out the film festival at SXSW.

Among the comments in her new report:

"Record industry folk, artists and critics all came late this week to SXSW to discover new acts, and hundreds of unsigned bands came to be discovered. It?s where musicians like Beck, The Fugees and Los Lonely Boys showcased their talent early on and impressed rock critics and major record labels. But slowly SXSW has become a new platform for launching independent film."

Joe O'Connell of the Austin Chronicle gets up close for the "Making Fun of Filmmaking" panel featuring Sarah Silverman, Thomas Haden Church, and more.

The panel touched on many aspects of working in comedy films, both large and small. Panelists were featured in several SXSW films including The Comedians of Comedy, Jesus Is Magic, and The Aristocrats. Here is his report.

Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood has been a frequent attendee of many festival events during SXSW 2005.

Here, Christy Lemire of AP, sits down and interviews the actor about his new award-winning SXSW feature as well as his budding musical career.

At an SXSW film panel over the weekend, insiders talked about the social side of the biz: parties, networking, drinking... Karina over at the re-launched Cinematical.com reported on the session:

Intended, as [Allen] Bain put it, as "a brief anthropological study of [the behavoirs of] people who work in film," the most comprehensively covered theme seemed to be "how to behave at a party if you want someone to read your script."

Meanwhile, "Four Eyed Monsters" filmmakers Susan Buice and Arin Crumley's latest videoblog dispatch from Austin gives a first hand look inside a film party, as a group head to an after-party at the Hilton and then stumble across a tipsy woman chatting on her cell phone with a guy she is interested in...

While film screenings continue in Austin until tomorrow, the music side emerged Wednesday at SXSW '05. Pictured earlier this week at BMI's annual "Howdy Texas" dinner at the popular local BBQ joint, Stubbs, is Charlie Robison who played a 45-minute set.

Now that the music festival portion of SXSW 2005 has begun, coverage has been falling in about some of the first events.

Billboard offers their report on the panel with rock legend Elvis Costello.

One of the most popular topics of the SXSW Film Festival this week has been the overwhelming crowds and audiences hoping to make it into the sold-out screenings.

Chris Garcia profiles this year's high attendance, taking a look at how things have grown.

If you've seen "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" no doubt you know about Laurie, the woman that the film's director Jeff Feuerzeig calls artists/musician Johnston's muse. Pictured after the screening of the film at SXSW is Laurie (right) with the Jeff Feuerzeig (center) and the film's producer Henry S. Rosenthal.

Film subject Daniel Johnston was also at the screening and the filmmakers tried to get him on-stage. After the surprise appearance by Laurie, he walked out of the Paramount, muttering that the woman was an imposter. [photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE]

Among the early reports now that SXSW has reached the half-way point, is this Variety write-up by Dana Harris. (Subscription required)

Among the insights of the column:

"The initial growth of SXSW was fueled by the charm of a city known for its barbecue and chile con queso as much as its well-educated and enthusiastic film audiences. Flying to Austin in March was less a strategic decision than a plausible excuse. Today, SXSW is a destination fest and mainstay of the independent film calendar."

Harry Knowles falls for a Chilean comic book coming-of-age film called Promedio Rojo, which had its U.S. Premiere at SXSW 2005. His report is here.

The director, Nicolas Lopez, flew in to Austin for the screening... which packed the Alamo South Lamar. Lopez, a self-professed fan of Knowles, Kevin Smith, and Robert Rodriguez was a fun presence at parties later on.

Eric Harrison of the Houston Chronicle reports on the "Texas Film, The Next Generation" panel during SXSW 2005. Plus, a look at Al Franken's discussion about politics, the media, and the role of entertainment.

Christy Lemire of the The Associated Press interviews character actor Stephen Tobolowsky during his visit to the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival.

The actor was in attendance with the narrative/documentary hybrid film, Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party, directed by Robert Brinkmann. The actor also joined a panel discussion called "Acting Out" featuring Marcia Gay Harden, David Krumholtz, and more.

"Hooligans" director Lexi Alexander tonight, winner of both the narrative feature audience award and the narrative jury prize at the 2005 SXSW Film Festival. Michele Ohayon's "Cowboy del Amor" was the winner of both the documentary audience award and the doc jury prize. [Photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE]

by Eugene Hernandez

Working here in Austin for nearly another month to produce Doug McGrath's Truman Capote story "Every Word Is True" (financed by Warner Independent Pictures), producer Christine Vachon spent time at SXSW on Saturday morning to participate in a Q & A session.

McGrath's film looks at the period of time in which Capote was writing "In Cold Blood" and while the story is not actually set in Texas, much of it is being shot at Austin Studios. It is one of many films about real people upcoming from Vachon's Killer Films, a company that she founded with Pam Koffler ten years ago. Also on tap are Mary Harron's "The Notorious Bettie Page" and Phyllis Nagy's "Mrs. Harris", based on the Scarsdale Diet Doctor Murder. Both are nearly finished HBO films and "Betty Page" is expected to get a theatrical release, according to Vachon. Talking about the fact that made-for-cable movies often are not released in theaters, Vachon said that she is starting to believe that a cable channel release can in fact trump a limited theatrical release.

» Continue reading "A Q & A With Christine Vachon"

Al Franken pulls double-duty with a SXSW interview, live broadcast, the same day. Matt Thompson reports in the Austin American-Statesman.

Todd Solondz, the maker of such dark, daring films as "Happiness" and "Storytelling," had very traditional influences growing up. While talking about his new movie, "Palindromes," which touches on teen pregnancy and abortion, he shared fond memories of going to see "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music" at New York's Radio City Music Hall as a child. The Associated Press profiles the director and film.

Execs representing five film companies joined a very crowded room Monday afternoon for the "An Acquired Taste" panel to listen to the thoughts, opinions and advice on how to strategize getting a film picked up for distribution. THINKFilm's Daniel Katz provided a little perspective at the beginning of the discussion, when responding to a question on the number of films made versus the number that will ultimately receive theatrical distribution, "The odds aren't good," he said, which solicited a laugh from the audience. The group of acquisitions execs, in addition to THINKFilm were also from Newmarket, Magnolia, Wellspring, and Samuel Goldwyn, and they offered some tips on how to go about increasing the chances for catching the attention of film companies.

» Continue reading "Buyers Talk the Acquisition Game"

Asked about his work, during a Q & A session at SXSW, "Palindromes" director Todd Solondz said yesterday, "I am out to explore, to understand some of the contradictions that we live with, who we are."

Continuing he compared his work to movies from Hollywood. In those movies he explained, "You are asked to identify with an attractive protagonist, who maybe acts heroically," adding that those films give you a "narcissistic high -- something we love to get when we go to (those) movies."

"If you are looking for that narcissistic high, you are not going to get it from one of my movies," Solondz said, eliciting laughs, and then applause when he added, "Maybe that?s why so few people go."

As reported in today's indieWIRE report from SXSW, Seventh Art Releasing has acquired the world rights to Daniel Peddle's "The Aggressives", the story of a group of six New York City lesbians who live their lives as men and call themselves The Aggressives.

» Continue reading "Acquisitions Envy"

Explaining that he has "faith in how much gold there is to be found in random social interactions," writer Malcolm Gladwell told SXSW Interactive attendees that it is through socializing that he comes across the many stories that fuel his writings.

In his new book, "Blink: The Power of Thinking Withouth Thinking" Gladwell hopes to "help us distinguish between those instances where we are really good at snap judgements and help us realize where are not." The Corante blog offers a full report from Gladwell's address on Sunday which drew an overflow crowd. [Photo and text by Eugene Hernandez]

Actor Elijah Wood put another of his talents to work during the SXSW "Hooligans" party, held at Maggie Mae's in party-central downtown Austin. Lexi Alexander's "Hooligans", which is a world premiere at SXSW, stars Wood, who brought on an eclectic mix of tunes until the bar closed at 2am, and crowds spilled into the packed streets -- not before a few rounds of applause for Elijah though, and a few snaps from people's mobile phone cameras. [Photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE]

Director Richard Linklater (right), founder of the Austin Film Society, at the Texas Hall of Fame evening held at the Austin Studios, a sprawling facility built out of former airport. Linklater chatted with University of Texas professor Paul Stekler during the cocktail hour as celebs, and fellow Texans arrived prior to the ceremony. [Photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE]

SXSW Film Festival and Conference producer Matt Dentler with director/star Luke Wilson at the opening night party Friday night. Wilson's film, "The Wendell Baker Story", which he co-directed with his brother, Andrew, opened the festival, and was the film's world premiere.

» Continue reading "Keeping Austin Weird"

"Governor Rick Perry and I go way back," smiled former Texas governor Ann Richards (pictured) at the Texas Hall of Fame dinner last night at Austin Studios, looking at the head table where the Governor was seated with his wife. "I knew him when he was a Democrat!"

[Photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE, text by Eugene Hernandez.]

» Continue reading "Saluting Texans and Honorary Texans"

Checking in became a bigger event than anticipated for many SXSW attendees who headed over to the Austin Convention Center on Friday afternoon. A computer glitch slowed check-ins early on, then later in the afternoon, large crowds emerged.

» Continue reading "Checking In"

Having just checked in to the hotel here in Austin, its time to settle in for SXSW '05. The festival seems to have a solid lineup this year, a roster that fest/conference producer Matt Dentler is quite proud of, as he explained yesterday in a brief email interview for indieWIRE on the eve of this year's festival.

More to come as we get our bearings... [Eugene Hernandez]

Luke and Andrew Wilson's "The Wendell Baker Story" will open the 2005 SXSW Film Festival on March 11th in Austin, TX, organizers announced Tuesday. The movie, starring Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Eve Mendes, Eddie Griffin and others, is about a good-hearted ex-con who gets a job at a retirement community where he joins forces with the elderly to fight corruption and win back his girlfriend. Some 200 shorts and features will screen at this year's event according to planners.

"As film fans and fellow Texans, we have nothing but admiration for the Wilson brothers," says SXSW fest producer Matt Dentler in a statement. "I can't think of a better idea than having their directorial debut launch this year's festival. You want to give audiences a great time, and this is a fantastic way to do it."

Read the Full Story @ indieWIRE.com