SXSW 2005: The 'What Day Is It Again'? Recap
Filed under: SXSW, Festival Reports
I'm sitting in the press suite at SXSW, having just finished recording audio interviews with Andrew Bujalski, the writer/director and co-star of Mutual Appreciation, and Joe Swanberg, Kris Williams, Kate Winterich and Kevin Pittman of Kissing on the Mouth. We'll post those interviews, plus a conversation with Susan Buice and Arin Crumley from Four-Eyed Monsters, as downloadable podcasts sometime in the next couple of days.
People here have been talking a great deal about the thematic intersections of these three films - all deal with twenty-somethings, living in big cities and struggling to find ways to communicate with one another, and yet all are pretty much unlike anything else I've ever seen. They're definitely the most exciting films I've seen at the festival, and as I discussed today with the makers of Kissing on the Mouth, when looked at as a cluster, a trinity, they seem to herald the arrival of a new generation of young, independent American filmmakers. This all sounds terribly hyperbolic, but it's hard to overstate the joy I felt walking away from these screenings. It was like, "Finally, you guys. What took you so long?"More reviews to post in the next day or so - it strikes me that I better post longish write ups of Four-Eyed Monsters and Mutual Appreciation and just stop teasing about how good they are. But there are also more films to watch (I'm heading off to my first documentary screening in ten minutes), and more films to comment on that have already been seen. The climate here seems to be changing - the film and interactive portions of the festival are winding down, and the music festival is about to begin. It's also raining.
The Film Awards are tonight at 8pm. I'll be there, although I may leave early to catch the Sarah Silverman movie, Jesus is Magic. I'll be really disapointed if I have to leave without seeing it. One thing Andrew Bujalski and I talked about a few minutes ago is the almost impossible nature of the festivals - between screenings and panels and talking to filmmakers, between the official parties and the afterparties and the secret parties and the American Spirit sponsored happy hours, something has to give. When are you suppossed to think about everything you've seen and heard? I haven't seen as many films as I'd like - I've been averaging two screenings a day and that makes me feel like a slacker - and I've hardly been going to parties at all. It's really important to me to take time out and process what I've seen. But, to paraphrase Bujalski, "It's hard when someone else is buying the drinks."
People here have been talking a great deal about the thematic intersections of these three films - all deal with twenty-somethings, living in big cities and struggling to find ways to communicate with one another, and yet all are pretty much unlike anything else I've ever seen. They're definitely the most exciting films I've seen at the festival, and as I discussed today with the makers of Kissing on the Mouth, when looked at as a cluster, a trinity, they seem to herald the arrival of a new generation of young, independent American filmmakers. This all sounds terribly hyperbolic, but it's hard to overstate the joy I felt walking away from these screenings. It was like, "Finally, you guys. What took you so long?"More reviews to post in the next day or so - it strikes me that I better post longish write ups of Four-Eyed Monsters and Mutual Appreciation and just stop teasing about how good they are. But there are also more films to watch (I'm heading off to my first documentary screening in ten minutes), and more films to comment on that have already been seen. The climate here seems to be changing - the film and interactive portions of the festival are winding down, and the music festival is about to begin. It's also raining.
The Film Awards are tonight at 8pm. I'll be there, although I may leave early to catch the Sarah Silverman movie, Jesus is Magic. I'll be really disapointed if I have to leave without seeing it. One thing Andrew Bujalski and I talked about a few minutes ago is the almost impossible nature of the festivals - between screenings and panels and talking to filmmakers, between the official parties and the afterparties and the secret parties and the American Spirit sponsored happy hours, something has to give. When are you suppossed to think about everything you've seen and heard? I haven't seen as many films as I'd like - I've been averaging two screenings a day and that makes me feel like a slacker - and I've hardly been going to parties at all. It's really important to me to take time out and process what I've seen. But, to paraphrase Bujalski, "It's hard when someone else is buying the drinks."
