GreenCine Daily: Anticipating SXSW, 3/8.

March 8, 2007

Anticipating SXSW, 3/8.

With SXSW opening tomorrow, Austin's already abuzz, and the focus of the second of three special issues of the Chronicle, out today, is on the Film Festival and Conference (through March 17), though you'll see lots of looking forward to the Music Festival as well. Editor Louis Black opens the package with a "personal prayer before SXSW begins, though not one as sweaty and hysterical as they were in the early years."

Josh Rosenblatt has a terrific preview of three rock docs: Silver Jew, Wetlands Preserved: The Story of an Activist Rock Club and Scott Walker: 30 Century Man.

Lingering a bit on special mentions of Baby Cakes: Diary #1, Hannah Takes the Stairs, Quiet City and Fay Grim, Spencer Parsons follows up on Richard Whittaker's piece in last week's issue: "We Have Met the Future, and It Is Us: Film on the Web, Part II: The movies." Sidebar: A chat with, well, me.

Interviews with filmmakers:

Updated.

Joe O'Connell talks with Alejandro Gomez Monteverde about Bella, which "took the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival for its beautifully shot, thoughtful meditation on loss, connection, family and food."
Marrit Ingman talks with Laura Dunn about The Unforeseen, "a lyrical documentary about Austin's changing landscape - political, ecological, and economic - from the battle over Barton Springs to the suburbanization of Hutto." Earlier: Craig Phillips.
Anne S Lewis talks with Andrew Garrison about Third Ward TX: "For me, at least, the film is about how people can shape the community in which they live, how they can have an effect on what they want, and, then, how do you put a value on that?" More from Meredith Barnhill in the Daily Texan.
Belinda Acosta talks with Marcy Garriott about Inside the Circle: "Texas crews and dancers rank among the world's best, a fact well-known to B-boy communities worldwide but not necessarily recognized here at home." More from Matthew S Frederick in the Daily Texan.
Marc Savlov talks with Werner Campbell and Bob Ray about Hell on Wheels, a doc "on the birth pangs and the walloping postpartum psychodrama behind the now-legendary Austin all-women Roller Derby league(s)."

Marjorie Baumgarten talks with Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine about Manufacturing Dissent, which "is not interested in stripping [Michael] Moore from his garments but rather retrieving them from the spin cycle where they can be washed in public." Related: For the Daily Texan, Alex Regnery talks with John Pierson.
Richard Whittaker talks with Michael Tucker about The Prisoner, Or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair: "We've seen footage of raids and people being detained [in Iraq], but there's something condescending about it. We're discussing 25 million people, and it's still about us. People don't realize how much we have dehumanized these people, but because it's not sensational, people aren't outraged about it."
James Renovitch talks with Taika Waititi about Eagle vs Shark: It's nice just hanging out with friends and making a film."

Nora Ankrum previews the Emerging Visions showcase, highlighting Kamp Katrina, King Corn, Fall From Grace, Arranged, Fish Kill Flea and Lost in Woonsocket.

Shawn Badgley profiles Sarah Lipstate, who's coming to Austin, "where her experimental short will show and her experimental band will showcase as part of South by Southwest's Film and Music Festivals, only months after Cinematexas awarded her its Diamond in the Rough Cut prize in October and her Chromascapes video installation debuted at First Night in January."

Dave Marsh offers a moving, personal take on Crazy Sexy Cancer.

Diana Welch has a backgrounder on Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern's The Devil Came on Horseback.

Steve Uhler: "Ann Richards loved Texas films and Texas filmmakers, and they loved her back - which is why this year's Austin Film Society Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards ceremony is being billed as 'A Salute to Ann Richards.'" Tomorrow night.

C Amber Pearce talks with Mobile Film School founder Lisa McWilliams, hosting an event "at the Speakeasy on Saturday, March 10, 6 - 8pm to celebrate the completion of its first workshop."

Also anticipating SXSW: Aaron Hillis (Fish Kill Flea) and Michael Tully (Silver Jew).

Related: Randee Dawn in the Hollywood Reporter on why some filmmakers choose to submit their work to SXSW rather than Sundance; the Austin American-Statesman's Chris Garcia picks five "must-see movies" and five "must-attend panels"; and Matt Dentler has the latest on the Grindhouse trailer competition.

Updates: In the Daily Texan, Meredith Barnhill has a backgrounder on Twisted: A Balloonamentary, Jocelyn Ehnstrom on Elvis and Anabelle and Playing Chicken, Amy Vercher on James Blunt: Return to Kosovo and Annie Billups on Ya Basta!; plus, nearly a dozen picks and four docs Anne Lewis is hoping to catch.