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
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.
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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...
]]>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.
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!
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.
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...
]]>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...
]]>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!
]]>1. If you have a virtual sell-out in the grandest theater in your hometown, all other screenings will pale in comparison. Even though we sold out the Alamo Downtown for our second screening and the reaction was very positive, with lots of laughing in the right places, it still felt somehow subdued. But, if the screenings had been flipped, with the Alamo one first, I would have found that one ecstatic & transcendant and the Paramount one even more ecstatic & transcendant.
2. My cell-phone ruins my life. This I learned from Swanberg & Co.'s excellent LOL. The device I'm writing this blog on right now also ruins my life and makes me less of a man. Yet I continue to write...
3. In the right hands, the Panasonic DVX100A can perform miracles. This I learned from Los Hermanos Nee with their hallucinogenic vision of New York City in The Last Romantic. They spent months on color-correction alone and the first shot you see of a phospherescent-green Times Square tells you that it was all worth it.
4. High school is a Hitchcockian nightmare. This I learned from Gretchen. Steve Collins has such a precise vision of Gretchen's deadpan, obsessive worldview and with the help of cinematographer PJ Raval & the entire art department, that vision is all over every single frame of the movie.
5. The Dark Elves can't be trusted. This truism comes courtesy of Darkon, a doc that seems to be just about a group of dorky Baltimoreans who like to dress up in padded armor and whale on each other with fake swords, but is actually a fascinating meditation on the nature of perceived reality and the search for meaning in a deadened, corporatized, suburbanized America. As the film goes on, the "real" world of Starbucks, Diet Pepsi and shitty white-walled apartments starts to seem like just as much of a fantasy world as Darkon. But seriously, stay away from the Elves.
And finally...
6. If Paul Schneider tries to hand you a flyer while you're eating breakfast, just shut up and take it. I was sitting at Las Manitas on Monday morning, scarfing down some Spicy Huevos a La Mexicana when Paul Schneider got up and started handing out flyers for Live Free or Die. These two guys across from me somehow disrespected the flyer (I wasn't paying attention at that point) and so Paul had a 10-minute, very public argument with them, along the lines of "If you didn't want the flyer, just say 'No thank you.' Then I'd respect you, then you'd have some fucking balls!" Needless to say, I took the flyer and said thank you.
And thank you to SXSW for teaching me these valuable lessons.
-Bryan Poyser
Co-Writer, Producer, "The Cassidy Kids"
www.burntorangeproductions.com
www.myspace.com/thecassidykids
The first review came out in the Austin Chronicle. I was terrified of what it might say. I never have any clue how people will react. I don't think I've ever gotten such an amazing review. And then when a friend emailed me at work and said he saw our hearts in every frame, I started to cry at my desk.
We're eternally grateful to SXSW, Matt, Jarod, the whole team for the opportunity to get our film out there. It's been an incredible week full of tears, good friends, Diet Cokes with Grenadine (which I know doesn't really make sense), amazing films, yummy peanuts and jalapeno stuffed olives from the Driskill bar, meetings for future projects, and a whole lotta pride for the Austin and Texas film community.
--Kat Candler
www.jumpingoffbridges.com
We've had a great time here and hope to return with our next film in a year (or two!). Maybe more on the Blog front later (the experience of watching the Beastie Boys film last night with their huge fan base certainly merits comment) but for now off to catch the last movie on our list: Summercamp! and handing over the hotel keys to the Japanese music crowd ...
]]>Went to the closing night party last night at a grocery warehouse that doubles as a nightclub. Sleater-Kinney played... never heard them before (I'm a music retard), but they were great. But I must be getting old because the thought that kept running through my head was, "how come it's so f*#king loud?! If they just turn everything down just a little bit, I'd be able to listen to the nuance within the melody, etc etc." Then someone pointed out that everyone who goes to these concerts is either deaf or has cotton in their ears, so the band HAS to play loudly. I'm the idiot who forgot his cotton.
Porta-Potties are communal. You wait in line with friends that have to pee like you. But nobody talks about that. It's the white elephant in the room who's taking a dump on the coffee table and yet nobody wants to bring it up. Or maybe everyone's talking about it and I just can't hear them because the band is so fucking loud.
-Jake
Director, The Cassidy Kids
- Chris Sivertson
THE LOST