My last several days at SXSW were a flurry of activity of interviews, screenings, panels and really good tex mex. We shot interviews with everyone from BORDERLAND's Zev Berman to SMILEY FACE's Gregg Araki, I hosted a few segments at Studio SX, and had a really tasty dinner at El Chile (tortilla crusted tilapia & strong margs!).

But since a picture is worth 1000 words, I’ll let the video do the talking for me…sorry, no videos of the margarita dinner...some things that happen in Austin stay in Austin...

SXSW Awards Reception: Interviews with Fest Producer Matt Dentler and the filmmakers and talent from ORPHANS, FALL FROM GRACE, A LAWYER WALKS INTO A BAR..., KING CORN, TRIGGER MAN & more: click to play video

Gregg Araki on SMILEY FACE: click to play video

More coming soon...

SMILEY FACE

I spent Sunday afternoon exploring the Interactive side of SXSW. First stop: the Interactive Keynote Conversation with Adafruit Industries’ Limor Fried and Phillip Torrone, Sr. Editor, MAKE Magazine. Billed as covering a “variety of fascinating topics including open source, hacking and the do-it-yourself (DIY) technology movement”, I thought it would be a good opportunity to stretch my brain a bit.

Torrone and Fried began the conversation by taking a look at some of their favorite recent projects, including:
-The bacon alarm clock – it actually warms up bacon for you. Ick.
-Gummy bear chandelier –The maker swears you can eat them for up to two years after it’s done. Don’t they melt from the heat?
-Plant project – the plants call you when they need water. And they’re pissed when they call.
-Deathstar subwoofer – need I say more?

[So far so good – I am understanding everything. The Deathstar subwoofer is now on the gift list for my brother, and the plant thing actually sounds like something that might save some of my greenery…]

The duo then went on to talk about how people are building their own technology and sharing it. At the most basic level, people share mechanics, i.e. they tell one another where to build the holes in the case. The next level of sharing is circuit board design, followed by sharing the software that runs inside microdevices. Fried also suggested that people may want to release data sheets and parts lists so that people can figure out where to get them. Apparently, Radio Shack is about to stop carrying all electronic components, so it’s really helpful to have info about where to get things.

[I have to admit – this panel is now officially over my head. I’m a film chick working for an online outlet. I took the SXSW guide’s suggestion to go to a panel out of my area and I have firmly landed outside of my comfort zone. Lots of talk of computer hardware and software I’ve never heard of. But this is the way you learn.]

Other tidbits I think I (correctly?) picked up:
-There’s a linksys router that you can tinker with to turn a $75 router into a $500 router. Now if only I’d spent the big bucks on a degree that taught me how to tinker…
-There is a lot of tension between various technology companies and their maker-savvy users. Apparently, the phone companies haven’t been the friendliest when it comes to letting people tinker with the software inside their devices. Not a surprise.
-Limor was working on an open source cell phone jammer, which is illegal in the United States. With open source projects, showing how to make the device is OK; building it and using it is not. Limor’s jammer fits it into a cigarette box. She did a demo of it during the panel…Verry sneaky, sis.
-Current debate: City-wide wifi debate. It’s an interesting concept that you can own property but not the airwaves above that property. Do you have the right to turn off city-wide wifi if you don’t want it in your school or your store or your company?

ONLINE FAN BASES & BLOGEBRITIES
Decided to continue my day of interactive panels at “Building an Online Fan Base”, where a group of experts and filmmakers talked about how to go about taking advantage of the web to promote one’s projects.

Top tips for indie filmmakers:
-If you take the time to listen & communication with your audience, you build what could be a community that has a vested interest in what you do.
-The very first step in building an online fan base is keeping it personal. Reach out to friends and family – call the 50 people you know. Then it will spread from there.
-Figure out what your hook is and the reach out to communities who would find that interesting, and get them talking about it. Look at the sliver of influential audience out there who can create awareness for your project.
-Don’t just get people’s emails – get their zip codes as well so that you can target screenings.
-Basic courtesy goes a long way. Keep in touch. Return emails in a timely way.

Afterwards, I stopped by “The Rise of the Blogebrity” panel. Lots of spirited debate about just what a “blogebrity” was, how web popularity is measured and creating online personas and brands.

DOES YOUR SOUL HAVE A COLD?
I really felt the hour of sleep we lost last night when I woke up this morning. The nice thing about SXSW is that they don't do early morning screenings. However, this means that mornings are a key time for shooting segments with available talent and directors. First up: Mike Mills, who's here with DOES YOUR SOUL HAVE A COLD? Mills and I chatted on the balcony of the convention center about shooting in Japanese with simultaneous translation, the pros and cons of anti-depressants and how to gain a subject's trust.

CLICK TO PLAY IKLIPZ VIDEO.

Interviewing Mike Mills on an overcast Austin morning

DOES YOUR SOUL HAVE A COLD?

It was chillier than expected this morning, so after grabbing a sweatshirt from my room, we headed off to Moonshine to shoot two Lunch With David segments for iklipz. Moonshine serves what I think of as the typical Texas breakfast buffet - bizarre combinations of meat and eggs such as steak wrapped in a fried egg, cheese on everything and grits in various forms. I’m sure it’s all tasty but I am a plain (aka lame) eater, so was psyched to see a basket o’biscuits. Give me my white flour and I’m a happy girl!

I spent the afternoon checking out some of the interactive panels, which I'll write about in more detail in a different post.

SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES
Met up with Thom Powers, doc programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival, to go see Joe Swanberg’s HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS. The two of us laughed our way through the lighthearted film about a recent college grad’s adventures in dating. Shot over a month in Chicago, the film was completely improvised and the cast consists mainly of other filmmakers. While not a perfect film, HANNAH has an energy that was infectious and got a lot of mileage from the subtle humor found in small moments. I thoroughly enjoyed myself while watching...it's the kind of film that makes you wish you'd been there during the shoot because it just seems like it must have been so much fun. Video goodies with director Swanberg and castmember Greta Gerwig coming soon…

HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS

Ran over to grab some surprisingly tasty Thai food between screenings since I hadn’t eaten all day and then headed back to the Paramount for the 9:45pm screening of WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY? Produced by Morgan Spurlock and directed by Rob VanAlkemade, the film follows the Revered Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping gospel choir on their tour across America. While I would have liked the film to go a bit deeper into the backstories of both Revered Billy and some of the members of his choir, there was no denying the effect it had on the sold out crowd at the theater. JESUS received an overwhelming standing ovation at its conclusion, and the entire theater clapped along as the choir piled onstage and gave a rousing rendition of their signature "hymn."

CLICK HERE FOR IKLIPZ VIDEO OF INTERVIEW WITH MORGAN AND REV. BILLY.

Talking with Morgan Spurlock about the "shop-acalypse" and the "change-allejuh"

BEDTIME THOUGHTS
What became abundantly clear to me today is that SXSW is several events in one, all with different flavors. The interactive is the “conference” part of the event. Full days of panels with projection screens of websites, semi-comfy chairs, lots of coffee. The panels start at 10am and take place throughout the day, ending in multiple company-sponsored happy hours at which conference goers can mingle and discuss the day’s discussions. The crowd is there to learn and network (and I’m sure to booze it up as well, but I was at screenings while that was happening).

The film is the “festival” part of the event. Screenings start at 11am and run all day and all night, with panels and parties scattered throughout. The crowd is there to be entertained, and maybe just discover the next big thing.

I’ve been told Music is just a big ol' fiest…sadly, I don't get to stay for that...

Okay, seriously behind in blogging about SXSW adventures, so I'll try to catch up quickly.

Caught a few extra zzz's in the a.m. so I wouldn't start the fest with a complete sleep deficit, and then headed off to the airport pick up David Au, my DP/editor/partner in crime. I immediately whisked him away to the Intercontinental Hotel, where we interviewed David Boreanaz from SUFFERING MAN'S CHARITY. Funny, charming and very tall, he takes his craft seriously.

David Boreanaz talks with me about Alan Cummings and how he chose his lingerie for the film.

Next stop: the cow skin couch at at the Driskill Hotel, where we shot segments with the ELVIS AND ANNABELLE folk. The lovely Blake Lively (SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS) lives up to her last name, and seems a perfect choice for the role of the troubled Texas beauty queen. She's balanced well by the dry Max Minghella (ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL), who finds his true self again when she enters his life... and turns it upside down. Director Will Geiger and his stars filled us in on the ins and outs of the production.

By that point we were starving, so David and I trolled 6th street and ended up at the Iron Cactus. He had chicken fried steak, I had a steak kabob with cheesy rice-n-corn, the sun was shining and all was well with the world. It was a perfect SXSW moment.

While David got settled into the hotel, I ran over to catch part of the interactive panel "Production Companies 2.0: Taking Online Video to the Next Level." Since I produce and host video segments for an independent film website, I'm trying to take advantage of both of the film and interactive parts of SXSW as much as possible. Suggestions from the speakers, who included Aaron Michael Baron (Rocketboom), Zadi Diaz (zadidiaz.com) and Doug Sarine (Ask A Ninja), included making your shows available in as many formats as possible, registering your own name as a domain name and making sure to protect your trademark as you grow your show(s). There was also lots of talk about how to make money from videoblogging, including sponsorship and going with an aggregator.

Next stop: The ELVIS AND ANNABELLE red carpet, where we caught up again with the now very nervous Lively & Minghella, and then on inside to watch the film.

I decided to make it a double feature and afterwards headed over to BIG RIG, Doug Pray's new documentary about truck drivers. He and his producer traveled 25,000 miles across the U.S. while making the film, and quite a few of the drivers they met while filming showed up to the premiere. The diverse group was funny, opinionated and uniformly angry about fuel prices.

I walked away from the screening making a vow never to cut off a truck again in my zippy little Corolla. Later in the week, I interviewed Pray and producer Brad Blondheim in Studio SX, the festival's on-site interview studio. They’ve posted a clip from the interview here.

WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY? was one of the most-talked about docs at SXSW and was received by an incredibly enthusiastic audience at its premiere at the Paramount. Produced by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), the film follows the larger-than-life Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping gospel choir on their unorthodox national tour of consumer responsibility during the Christmas season.

We sat down with both Morgan and Rev. Billy to chat about the making of the film, spreading the word through humor and the impending "shopacalypse." Oh, and there's some singin', too!

PLAY VIDEO.

We sat down with director Will Geiger, and actors Max Minghella (Art School Confidential) and Blake Lively (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) to talk about their new film ELVIS AND ANNABELLE, premiering here at the SXSW Film Festival. When we spoke, their premiere was just a few hours away, and neither Max nor Blake had seen the film yet. All three were eagerly (and nervously) anticipating how the audience would react to this project near and dear to their hearts.

Behind-the-scenes, film clips and the red carpet: PLAY VIDEO.

Blake, Max and Will share the "true" story of how the movie was made: PLAY VIDEO.

Made it to the airport just in time to fitfully sleep through my flight to Austin. Word of advice: if you're flying American, expect a lot of air conditioning and very few blankets.

The Austin airport is small and cute and easy to navigate. I always get a small thrill out of arriving in a new city. I suppose it's the residual, ancestral drive for exploration that resides somewhere deep in our genetic matter. As I drove from the airport into Austin, two things stuck out: the land is very, very flat and the sky is very, very blue. Suddenly, all the songs I've heard that reference the wide skies of Texas made a lot of sense.

After checking into the Hilton, I headed across the street to the convention center to pick up my badge and get situated. Despite the long line, everyone was incredibly friendly and in good spirits.

SUFFERING MAN'S CHARITY
Had barely enough time to make it over to the Paramount Theater to catch a screening of SUFFERING MAN'S CHARITY, directed by Alan Cummings. Mr. Cummings is known for making big, bold character choices and this black comedy provides ample opportunity. He plays Jonathan Vandermark, a music teacher with operatic aspirations, who takes in a writer named Sebastian, played by David Boreanaz (aka "Angel"). Alas, Sebastian is really a hustler, and when Vandermark finds out that he’s been played, he goes to extreme measures to get payback.

Cummings said that it was quite a challenge juggling his dual roles as actor and director. He joked, "It was hard to be splattered with blood and weeping and suddenly have to talk about camera angles." A theme for the piece was acting with abandon, and Cummings said that he asked everyone to approach their roles as if "jumping off a cliff."

Karen Black clearly took these instructions to heart in the role of, in her words, "a drunk nympho" that Sebastian brings home one night. Her special moment on a chair is a joy to watch.

Also a joy to watch - David Boreanaz clad in lingerie and Christmas lights. We interviewed Boreanaz on Saturday afternoon, where he filled us in on his unique wardrobe for SUFFERING, as well as his thoughts on independent film (video goodies coming soon).

OPENING NIGHT FILM: THE LOOKOUT
I exited the Paramount only to turn around and make my way right back inside for Oscar-nominated writer Scott Frank's directorial debut THE LOOKOUT. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Chris Pratt in this small town crime drama. A former high school athlete, Pratt suffers both physical and mental impairments from an accident he caused several years prior, and all he wants is to feel like he used to.

What sets the film apart is its focus on character and moral choices. Frank has done a good job in casting the film. Gordon-Levitt's sympathetic performance pulls the audience in, urging them to root for him to make the right choices. Supporting roles are strong, notably, Jeff Daniels’ as Pratt's blind, cantankerous caretaker and the effervescent Isla Fisher as Luvlee, the lady who lures Pratt into taking part in a bank heist.

OPENING NIGHT PARTY
Following the screening, I headed off to 401 Guadalupe for the Opening Party for the Film program. Sponsored by A&E IndieFilms, there were fajitas on the grill, port-o-potties, and an open bar - the perfect way to kick off a festival.

Spent some time talking with producer Corey Marr, director Matt Bissonnette and his wife Molly Parker, who stars in Bissonnette's WHO LOVES THE SUN (Special Screenings). As luck would have it, the pair is in town for the month while Parker is shooting the CBS pilot SWINGTOWN, so they were easily able to show up at the fest to support the film. iklipz interviewed the WHO LOVES THE SUN team at AFI FEST earlier this year – click here to watch red carpet & clips from the film.

My lack of sleep finally kicked in around 1:30, at which point I excused myself and made my way back for a night of glorious sleep...

Well, it seems to have officially become a tradition - I don't sleep the night before I leave for a festival.
This isn't smart.
I don't advise it.
Yet somehow, there's always so much to do...

I spent Thursday night packing - One small girl, 3 very large bags. We'll be shooting segments for iklipz.com at SXSW, so in addition to the usual overpacking I do, I also have a bag filled with production equipment. Napped briefly between 2am - 4:30am...gotta love those early morning (aka cheaper) flights!

I've never been to Austin before and kept hearing what an amazing city it is, so I've really been looking forward to this trip. Normally, Texas & Jersey Girls do not get along, but everyone has assured me that Austin is "not like the rest of Texas."

In addition to checking out Austin, I've also been looking forward to the chance to scope out this particular festival. I've never been able to go to SXSW before because the fest for which I worked, HBO's Comedy Festival, always conflicted calendar-wise. SXSW has a great reputation as a laid back FUN festival...I'm hoping that reputation is accurate!

And, of course, to have some good BBQ...