Thompson on Hollywood

Natural Selection: Details on Robbie Pickering, SXSW Narrative Feature Winner, Awards List

The big SXSW winner this year was Robbie Pickering's Natural Selection, which not only collected the Narrative Feature Competition grand jury prize, two breakthrough acting awards, special prizes for screenplay, cinematography and editing, but the Audience Award as well. Producer Paul Jensen said at the awards ceremony Tuesday night: “We all know how difficult this independent filmmaking is. Robbie never gave up, and he never wavered from his vision."

By Anne Thompson
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March 16, 2011 7:34 AM
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SXSW: Greta Gerwig and Olly Alexander Talk The Dish & The Spoon

SXSW is known for introducing Mumblecore to the indie film world, which defines a group of filmmakers and a minimal improvisational aesthetic derived from micro-budget necessity. SXSW-fave director Joe Swanberg discovered Greta Gerwig, who has moved from Hannah Takes the Stairs and the intense The House of the Devil (which severed her working relationship with Swanberg) to Greenberg and Hollywood's Arthur remake.

By Anne Thompson
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March 16, 2011 3:52 AM
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SXSW: Early Reviews of Bridesmaids, Starring Kristin Wiig, Jon Hamm, Maya Rudolph

Universal tried to bring Office director Paul Feig and writer-actress Kristin Wiig's dumb-female comedy Bridesmaids (May 13) to SXSW as a work-in-progress, but as soon as the director admitted that it was a final cut from the Paramount stage Sunday night, Variety critic Joe Leydon whipped out his timer, took notes and went straight home to file his review. It was savage. Apres Joe, le deluge. (Excerpts and more below).

By Anne Thompson
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March 15, 2011 10:05 AM
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SXSW Video: Duncan Jones and Jake Gyllenhaal Talk Source Code

Jake Gyllenhaal was attached to sci-fi script Source Code when he saw Duncan Jones' $5 million space drama Moon, starring Sam Rockwell in a multi-layered performance. He thought Jones was perfectly suited to direct Source Code, which played well as the SXSW Film Fest opener Friday night. Summit will release it April 1.

By Anne Thompson
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March 15, 2011 5:30 AM
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SXSW: IFC Midnight Acquires Horrific Kill List, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop Doc Sells

It ruined my lunch: a description of a head bashing on a table from Ben Wheatley's second feature, Kill List, which sold North American rights to IFC Midnight at SXSW, which is emerging as yet another indie market.

By Anne Thompson
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March 15, 2011 5:09 AM
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Errol Morris Talks Tabloid and Other Strange Topics

Errol Morris's Tabloid was one of my fave films at the Toronto Film Festival, from which Sundance Selects eventually acquired the truth-is-stranger than-fiction doc. It's screening at SXSW. Morris discovered the nugget of this story, about Joyce McKinney and her obsessive love with a man she tries to save from a cult, buried in the jump of a Boston Globe article. Only Morris would see the potential in it.

By Anne Thompson
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March 14, 2011 7:55 AM
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SXSW Day One: Early Buzz, Opener Source Code Plays Well

People keep telling me to see Ti West's horror flick The Innkeepers. So I'll check it out Saturday night. That's what film festivals do. They start buzz on a movie that few have seen or know anything about, and suddenly a career is born--or not.

By Anne Thompson
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March 12, 2011 10:49 AM
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Weekly Wrap: Awards Season Climax, Oscar Parties & Video, Box Office, Oscar Contenders at Work

- Oscar Talk: Final Edition, Oscar Wrap.

By Anne Thompson and Sophia Savage
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March 4, 2011 7:20 AM
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SXSW 2011: Billy Bob Thornton's Willie Nelson Doc King of Luck To Close Fest, New Titles

The SXSW Film Fest closer on March 19 is Billy Bob Thornton’s The King of Luck (pictured), a documentary about country actor/singer/activist Willie Nelson.

By Anne Thompson
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March 2, 2011 7:58 AM
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SXSW 2011: Conference Film Panels on Super, Source Code, Todd Phillips, More

SXSW will hold over 100 film conference sessions between March 11-19. SXSW chose the panels with the help of the SXSW PanelPicker™ interface, which allows the online SXSW community to exercise their voice in programming selections through submitting proposals and/or voting. Votes and feedback from the Advisory Board and SXSW staff then determine the festival’s final offerings.