Made In China is a narrative about an East Texas "self styled novelty-inventor" and his struggle to make his name in the "Mecca of the novelty world," China. Showing @ 11 a.m. Alamo Ritz 1.
The Reel Shorts 3 screening contains some, seemingly, highly entertaining vignettes on film. Beginning @ 11:30 a.m. and showing at the Alamo Lamar 1 are The Golden Pose, a short about a street performer struggling "with artistic perfection ... and mimes." Thick As Thieves is the story of a would be victim becoming an accomplice, intriguing. "Unlimited explores the hidden back rooms and marginal neighborhoods of the city (New York) as Ben, a young Chinese immigrant, cobbles together an existence selling castoffs of others." Director and actor of Wing It, Daniel Rezende, holds editing credits on City of God, and his short film involves angels and drugs.
My Suicide. Of course the name is provocative and "Archie (protagonist) films every moment of his high school experience, hiding nothing from his audience: realities of life, death, violence, sex, drugs, and the intense media overload and hypocrisy that bombard all teenagers." Director David Lee Miller's resume is extensive to say the least, and this guy pioneered the famous Criterion Collection. My Suicide is also intriguing because the film is a collaboration with his son. Showing @ 1:45 p.m. Paramount.
Screening in the Animated Shorts series are quite a few films that have perked my interest. Beginning @ 2 p.m. and showing at the Alamo Lamar 1 are Birth, a story about what else, child-birth. "Haunted House is a bastardization of the classic comedy story, told from the perspective of scum-bag puppets and their terrible deaths." Hollerings: 3 Stories in Wood is a short with handcrafted dioramas and faceless wooden characters, and what really attracted me to this film is the use of "overpriced kitchen gadgets." Paradoxes and Oxymorons is intriguing because DJ Spooky is the narrator of this interpretation of a John Ashbery poem. Photograph of Jesus becomes "the stage where fact and fiction collide, belief runs amok and unruly images have a life of their own." The mixed media accompanying the story contained within Rosa Rosa looks and sounds highly original. Skip and Lester: Here's the Stapler if You Need It boasts a long title for a short film, but don't let that deter your attention from director Lance Myers' film. Meyer worked on Linklater's Scanner Darkly. Sweet Dreams is "stop motion animation, made almost entirely with real food." Real food is good. The Godfather Musical: Luca Brasi Sleeps with the Fishes is the gem within this lineup. It is the third installment of a trilogy, but it is what happened to Brasi post assassination, looks very pleasing. You're Outta Here is a submission from longtime contributor to animation George Griffin in collaboration with Lorraine Feather (goddaughter of Billie Holiday). This Animated Shorts showcase is not to be missed.
Letters to the President is "an exclusive access about president Ahmadinejad of Iran, and what life is like under his regime." Supposedly the film is loomed from thousands of actual letters Iranians wrote to the President, but regardless with America's newfound stance with Iran it seems important that we are informed of the inner trappings of a country we are attempting to intervene in the internal affairs of. Showing @ 2:30 p.m. Alamo Ritz 2.
"Bitch Academy/Vixen Academy is a tragicomic documentary of the early Russian capitalism, which determines in an atmosphere of fear and hope, the dreams and intimacies of its young generations." The film looks absolutely fascinating, not to mention beautiful. Showing @ 4 p.m. Hideout.
SXGlobal Shorts is offering some time worthy selections this year. Starting @ 4 p.m. and screening at the Hideout are Forty Men for the Yukon, an antiquated, and "patient" look at two men who have lived and worked on the fringe of society for decades. Home "offers a philosophical perspective in the idea that 'Homelessness' and the 'home' lie within us, rather than in our material wealth or through our physical possessions." King of Laughter is a documentary of the worlds longest laugher on a laughter journey in the world's saddest town. Lies is "three perfectly true stories about lying."
American Violet is based on a true story, out of Texas in 2000, about a wrongful drug bust and conviction, and the life altering legal battle that follows. Michael O'Keefe and Alfre Woodard are both Academy Award nominees acting along with Charles S. Dutton (Emmy Award winner) whom are just a fraction of the talent contained in this film. Showing @ 4:30 p.m. Paramount. This is the ONLY time this film is showing, as far as I can tell, so catch it now.
Making my top ten picks in the print and online edition of The Accent is the Experimental Shorts showcase, and following is a more thorough account of what to expect. Starting @ 4:30 p.m. and screening at Alamo Lamar 1 are BigBand, that claims to offer "urban chaos." "Cattle Call is a high-speed animated documentary about the art of livestock auctioneering." Me being a Texan, this just sounds fascinatingly entertaining! The world premiere of Chronicles of a Professional Eulogist is a "hand drawn" animated, "semi-fictional" eulogists expose´, of sorts. Doesn't make the film good, but it is a decade in the making. The Idiot Stinks is a minute and a half of "scratch on film" animation. Using negative space, looks cool. In Turning Trick "at first it looks like they are playing hide and seek (five girls) but it quickly develops into something quite different." Top ten out of over a thousand.
Garbage Dreams is a fascinating documentary about the "Zabbaleen" (Arabic for garbage people) and three young men whose existences, and family's careers, in this garbage ghetto outside of Cairo, Egypt is being marginalized by globalization. Even the trash people are losing their jobs? Showing @ 4:45 p.m. Austin Convention Center.
It was a tossup for which shorts showcase I would place in my picks between the Experimental one mentioned earlier and the Texas High School Shorts elaborated on here. Starting @ 6 p.m. and showing at the Carver Center are A Hospital Bathroom, "two strangers have a short and terrible conversation in a hospital bathroom." Fatal Fortune Cookie is a short about a fortune cookie "unlike any other." Making Perfect is a short about a student finding inspiration from his teacher, fitting. One More Chance is a story about a relationship, and maybe, yes, chances, or so you think. I think it is really good that SXSW offers an exclusive local showcase for young talent, support it.
Snowblind is a documentary chronicling 23 year old Rachael Scdoris' training leading up to her third Iditarod. By the way, Scdoris was born legally blind, for real. Showing @ 6 p.m. Hideout.
The second Texas High School Shorts showcase starting @ 6 p.m. and showing also at the Carver Center has a couple of notable selections: The Last Pageant is "competitive brutality" from a quintet of angles, and Unearthed looks like it is following in the vein of Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, but I like horror and the zombie dog premise the short offers appears entertaining.
Adventureland is a quaint looking, nostalgic comedy on the surface, but I hope director Greg Mottola (director of Superbad and various episodes of "Arrested Devolopment") will surprise us. Showing @ 7 p.m. Alamo Lamar 1.
Say My Name: "In a Hip Hop and R'n'B world dominated by men and noted for misogyny, the unstoppable female lyricists of Say my Name speak candidly about class, race, and gender in pursuing their passions as female MCs." Showing @ 7:15 p.m. Austin Convention Center.
The heavily acclaimed Sin Nombre is about "the filmmaker's (Cary Joji Fukunaga) firsthand experiences with Central American immigrants." From the trailer the film looks riveting! Showing @ 7:30 p.m. Paramount.
Burma VJ is a serious look, in documentary format, at suppressed, but still alive journalism in Myanmar (Burma). In a day and age where the free speech debate is so crucial, preserving it has now become a matter a life and death for some. Persons of all media mediums should really take a look at this film, and realize, we as an autonomous nation of free thinkers should preserve our tradition of free speech with our mortality if necessary. Showing @ 8:45 p.m. Alamo Lamar 2.
Anvil! The Story of Anvil is the story of a band "hailed as the 'demi-gods of Canadian metal,'" influencing the likes of Metallica, Slayer, and Anthranx, and the recording of their thirteenth album. Showing @ 10 p.m. Alamo Lamar 3.
Women In Trouble is "a serpentine day in the life of ten seemingly disparate Los Angeles women ... All of them with one thing in common ..." Director Sebastien Gutierrez screen wrote Gothika and Snakes on a Plane. Showing @ 10 p.m. Paramount.
"The Horseman is a lean, tight film that boils down the revenge formula to its most essential, time-tested elements: an engaging story, interesting characters, and a powerful dose of skull-pounding violence." This is a Fantastic Fest selection, looks kick ass! Showing 11:59 p.m. Alamo Lamar 1.
Trailers from Hell w/Joe Dante shows us that "even a bad movie can have a great trailer." Showing @ 11:59 Alamo Ritz 1.
Watch wisely until you are weary, but don't worry, what you will is what will happen.
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