You Know You've Made It As an Indie Filmmaker When . . .

It's no overstatement to say that one of the most anticipated movies of this year's SXSW Film Conference is Joe Swanberg's latest work, Alexander the Last. One of SXSW's more prolific veteran directors, Swanberg has built his status at the festival up to the point where a new piece from him is an event – even more so with Alexander, the centerpiece of IFC's controversial new SXSW partnership. IFC Films has been the distributor for Swanberg's last few pictures and has done much of the legwork to build his popularity throughout the indie community.

But it wasn't until last Friday night when I was attending an authentic fried chicken restaurant in New York City's Korea Town that I realized just how far Swanberg's popularity had stretched into the outside world. While using the rest room, I happened to spot a piece of graffiti on the wall above the urinal. See photo.



Yes, Joe, the implication is negative. But, like they always say, "If they hate you then you must be doing something right."

During the Q&A at the premiere of "Goodbye Solo" at MoMA last week, director Ramin Bahrani amiably joked about putting bootlegged DVDs in all of his movies to project his dream of one day seeing his work on one of those makeshift stands. "That's how I would know that I made it as a director." Somehow, I think this might be better.

Thanks to Dusty Smith for the photo.