SXSW FILM ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL
2010 AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS

Austin, Texas – March 22, 2010 – The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival announced additional Audience Award-winners today from the Spotlight Premieres, Emerging Visions, Lone Star States, 24 Beats Per Second and Midnighters categories.

For the 2010 SXSW Film Festival, 134 feature-length films, including 64 world premieres, were selected from a record 1,572 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,206 U.S. and 366 international feature-length films. 130 shorts were selected from 2,312 short film submissions. The 2010 SXSW Film Festival Awards were hosted by Ovation TV.

Additional 2010 SXSW Film Festival Audience Award Winners:

Feature Film Audience Awards

SPOTLIGHT PREMIERES
Winner: Richard Garriott – Man on a Mission
Director: Mike Woolf

EMERGING VISIONS
Winner: NY Export: Opus Jazz
Director: Henry Joost and Jody Lee Lipes

24 BEATS PER SECOND
Winner: When You’re Strange – a film about the Doors
Director: Tom DiCillo

LONE STAR STATES
Winner: Thunder Soul
Director: Mark Landsman

MIDNIGHTERS
Winner: Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
Director: Eli Craig

In my last post, I said I’d write a little about what it was like being on the Narrative Shorts jury at SXSW 2010. Shorts are really the building blocks of film festivals. First, the distribution options for short filmmakers are few and far between, especially in the United States – film festivals and the internet being two great places to get caught up. At film festivals, shorts filmmakers are often given the chance to debut their talents (short films are sometimes referred to as a “calling card”), and shorts programs are often among the most popular and anticipated at film festivals, if just because festivals are your best (and quite possibly only) chance of seeing them on the big screen. I was lucky to have on my jury team two affable and articulate lovers of movies – Todd Luoto, a shorts programmer with the Sundance Film Festival, and Amy Dotson, Deputy Director of the Independent Feature Project. We were charged with watching three feature-length programs of shorts over a two day period, each handpicked by the SXSW shorts programming team. It’s worth noting that the shorts programs that we attended at the festival were always full, no matter the time of day. People love their shorts here. Watching these three programs was truly a pleasure: there was really something to recommend each short that we watched, and we knew from the first frame of the first film we watched that it wasn’t going to be easy to select a winner. Some highlights from each program:

But the winner for this jury was captivating, uncompromising Cigarette Candy the fourth short from director Lauren Wolkstein, who’s bold directing decisions coupled with a drum-tight screenplay from Jeff Sousa produced a tense, ambitious drama about a young Marine home from war and attending a neighborhood party in his honor. While friends and family shower him with attention, the shell-shocked warrior can’t seem to focus on anything but the mysterious, seductive charms of the rebellious Candy. We loved this film, in particular the astonishing performance of Jonathan Orsini.

Other random highlights in no particular order…

The full press release follows:

SXSW FILM ANNOUNCES 2010 AWARD WINNERS

Austin, Texas – March 16, 2010 – The Jury and Audience Award-winners of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival were announced tonight at the Festival’s closing Awards Ceremony hosted by comedian Eugene Mirman in Austin, Texas.  Feature Films receiving Jury Awards were selected from the Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature categories.  Films in these categories, as well as the Spotlight Premieres, Emerging Visions, Midnighters, Lone Star States and 24 Beats Per Second categories were also eligible for the 2010 SXSW Film Festival Audience Awards.  Only Narrative and Documentary Feature Audience Awards were announced tonight. Spotlight Premieres, Emerging Visions, Lone Star States, 24 Beats Per Second and Midnighters Audience Awards will be announced separately on Monday, March 22.

SXSW also announced the Jury Award-winners in Shorts Filmmaking, and Film Design Awards, and Special Awards, including the SXSW Chicken & Egg Emergent Narrative Woman Director Award and the SXSW Wholphin Award.  Details can be found at www.sxsw.com/film, as well as highlights from the Awards Ceremony at www.youtube.com/sxsw starting Monday, March 22.

“I wasn’t sure how we could top or even present a program as strong as SXSW 2009, but it feels like we did,” said Film Conference and Festival Producer Janet Pierson, “There are some films that are rocking crowd pleasers, some that are refining the form or finding a voice, several that are inspiring, and fortunately, a wonderful few that are truly original visions.  We are thrilled to be able to celebrate those tonight.”

The 2010 SXSW Film Festival Juries consisted of:

Narrative Feature Competition: Peter Debruge, Karen Durbin, Joshua Leonard; Documentary Feature Competition: Nelson George, Karina Longworth, Thom Powers; Narrative Shorts: Amy Dotson, Christian Gaines, Todd Luoto; Documentary Shorts: Don R. Lewis, Ron Mann, Finlay Pretsell; Experimental Shorts: Spencer Parsons, Esther Robinson, Kelly Sears; Animated Shorts: Emily Hubley, Mark Elijah Rosenberg, Nathan Zellner; Music Videos: Margaret Brown, Philip Harder, James Kochalka; Texas Shorts: Christopher Holland, Chris Mass, Anne Walker-McBay; Texas High School Shorts: Marcy Garriott, Delicia Harvey, Bart Weiss; Title Design: Ian Albinson, Alexander Ulloa, Susan Bradley, Karin Fong, Ron Pippin, Remko Vlaanderen.

For the 2010 SXSW Film Festival, 134 feature-length films, including 64 world premieres, were selected from a record 1,572 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,206 U.S. and 366 international feature-length films. 130 shorts were selected from 2,312 short film submissions. In its inaugural year, the Title Design Competition included 18 finalists selected from 101 submissions.  The 2010 SXSW Film Festival Awards were hosted by Ovation TV.

Kristen Wiig arrives at the SXSW premiere of MacGruber

For the first time since the festival began on Friday, it seems like the Kick-Ass buzz has ebbed, and is being replaced with discussion of MacGruber, which premiered last night.

The primary cast (Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillipe, Val Kilmer) and creative team (Jorme Taccone, Akiva Schaffer and John Solomon) and producer (Seth Meyers) were all in attendance at the Paramount Theater for the screening, and Taccone briefly introduced the movie, letting the audience know that the film is not quite locked yet, so some sound levels might be off and some scenes not definitely in for the final release.

For the uninitiated, here’s the story: MacGruber is based upon a “Saturday Night Live” skit starring Will Forte as an action hero of sorts, a guy who repeatedly saves (or tries to save) the world using strange items found sitting around, and invariably mucks things up without realizing it. In the film, MacGruber, who has been in seclusion for six years following the murder of his wife, is urged by the military to come out of hiding and help them recover a Russian nuclear warhead stolen by MacGruber’s arch-enemy Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer) – the man who killed MacGruber’s wife. MacGruber reluctantly agrees and assembles a team of former military muscle to defeat Cunth and find the warhead — and then accidentally kills them. So, he forms another team consisting of Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig), a former teammate and mistress of disguises turned adult contemporary singer, and Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillipe), their official military liaison, to defeat his dastardly nemesis.

MacGruber is a film that seems perfectly designed for SXSW audiences: it’s created by a much-loved viral video team (Taccone and Schaffer are Lonely Island founders along with Andy Samberg), it looks big but is created on a small budget (relatively speaking, of course – Taccone revealed this morning that the film’s budget was $10 million), and combines comedy and action with the creative skills of a close-knit, constantly working ensemble.

That combination certainly did the trick here; the audience was incredibly vocal and involved through the entire film, cheering the first appearance of each main character, and I honestly don’t think I heard the theater devoid of laughter at any point in the screening. I’m not saying that everyone was laughing constantly; rather, the comedy and the casting were working together on a lot of different levels, providing something for everyone — and that’s what could make this film a box office contender. The couple sitting next to me couldn’t get enough of Kristen Wiig’s singing and disguises. The girls sitting in front of me were giggling breathlessly every time Ryan Phillipe appeared on screen. Personally, a few smaller visual gags were what got me: MacGruber passing a note, the care he takes with his car stereo, and yes, the gloriously goofy abandon Forte displays in the celery scene. (No, I won’t explain that last bit, and don’t do a search – wait until the movie comes out to see what I mean. Seriously. You deserve the chance to first cringe, and then laugh as hard as we did last night.)

I will admit, I came into the movie more than a bit concerned. SNL-based movies have been a hit-or-miss proposition for awhile, and though the cast involved are talented, committed and hard-working, we know that those qualities aren’t always enough to make a movie that can stand on its own. And, while the Lonely Island viral clips are some of the funniest bits of SNL in a long time, it’s hard to know whether short form success can be translated to feature length — it’s something that writers and directors struggle with every day. Taccone noted in an interview yesterday that he had the same concern, and that the initial draft weighed in at a hefty 179 pages before they could pare down and tie everything together. They continually worked on the script while filming, spending the time not on set filming writing and rewriting pieces of the story. While you can see the seams of patched-together segments a few times, they’re certainly not distracting enough to derail enjoyment of the film. It’s apparent that those seams are known and left there purposely, as an homage to all their favorite 1980s films.

There’s a lovely, nostalgia -inspiring Leslie Nielsen-esque quality to Will Forte’s performance here; while the filmmakers have repeatedly mentioned they were included by Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and Rambo, Forte’s on-screen performances quietly pay tribute to films like Airplane! and Naked Gun, sharing Nielsen’s ability to convey oblivious self-conviction in way that’s both funny and totally believable – there’s no side winks at the camera, just Forte completely losing himself in portraying this loveable jackass of a character.

In the end, MacGruber is a spot-on nod to the action films and action film spoofs of yesteryear, full of elements to keep the creators’ online and TV fans please. That said, it somehow transcends the formulaic feel of those films. The only premise or throughline I could see is a simple one: the team on this movie wrote and performed things that make them laugh.

With the SXSW film and interactive conferences officially in full swing, Austin is now completely overrun with badge holders dashing hither and yonder in search of enlightenment. And they’re actually pretty likely to find it in some form. Seating capacity permitting, that is. Fortunately, there are an abundance of choices, so SXSW-ers shut out of one oversold event just do a quick twitter check and find out about the scene down the hall at the Convention Center or across town at the Alamo Drafthouse Theatre, which is where I opted to spend this balmy early-early Spring Sunday.

Ask anyone from Austin about the Alamo Drafthouse – they’ll talk about it in hushed, reverence and for good reason – it’s movie going, all figured out. Steeply raked rows of comfortable seating feature narrow tables with neatly stowed menus, note cards and golf pencils. Peruse the offerings of heavenly Texan-style comfort food (think chips and queso, BLT’s, huevos rancheros, chocolate and peanut butter milkshakes) as well as an impressive selection of draft beer and wine by the glass, then wait staff dressed in black T-shirts glide discretely between the rows (and below screen level) to deliver your food. They have the formula down cold and let me tell you, it’s a pretty nice place to spend a Sunday.

First up in the morning was Narrative Shorts Program #3, a feature-length program of shorts from around the world. As I’m on the SXSW Narrative Shorts Jury this year (and you’re really only supposed to discuss the films with your fellow jurors), I’ll hold off on calling out any specific shorts, except to say that the three programs have seen have been quite exceptional and choosing a winner is going to be very tough. More on that process and some of the shorts we saw in later blog posts, when I can break my code of silence.

Film #2 of the day was the world premiere of the documentary Dirty Pictures from filmmaker Etienne Sauret. Sauret is best known for his meticulous and cathartic documentation of 9/11’s devastating toll on New Yorkers in a series of films, including Collateral Damages and WTC the First 24 Hours. In Dirty Pictures, Sauret reverentially profiles “the Godfather of Psychedelics” Dr. Alexander ‘Sasha’ Shulgin, whose rogue experimentation with the drug MDMA spawned the ecstasy movement of the mid-80’s, drawing parallels to the LSD youth culture of the ‘60’s. While he has often worked feverishly outside of the law, testing out his own concoctions along with this wife Ann, he has become an underground cult hero to many and a close friend and colleague to clinical psychologists, academicians and government researchers working in the field of psycho-pharmacology who consider him to have quite literally written the book on the subject. Dirty Pictures is a fascinating portrait of a brilliant chemist on a quest to unlock the complexities of the human mind, and the people whose lives have been forever affected by his work.

Playing some Sundance catch-up, film #3 of the day was Winter’s Bone, a brooding and bleakly moving portrait of determination and survival, set against the poverty of Southern Missouri’s Ozark country. Jennifer Lawrence plays 17-year old Ree Dolly, a young woman who must confront the secrets and lies of her extended backwoods family to find out the truth about her father, mixed up in meth cooking and dealing, who’s disappeared and skipped out on his bail bond. Winter’s Bone is a ravishingly shot and superbly scripted drama that reminded me why I love the movies. It’s no wonder that it won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting awards at Sundance in January.

In a nutshell: The film centers on Bazil (Dany Boon), whose solitary existence began young when his military father was killed by a landmine and his mother falls apart as a result. Flash forward a decade or two, and Bazil is still leading a basic, quiet life, working as a clerk in a video store and lip-synching along to the old movies that appear to be his only close acquaintances when a random drive-by shooting leaves him wounded, a bullet left lodged in his brain. The injury results in him becoming unemployed and homeless, and after a bit he is taken under the wing of a makeshift family of misfits, living together and creating whimsical inventions. When he discovers that the bullet that injured him was made by the same corporation that produced the landmine that killed his father, he sets out to exact his own unusual, labyrinthine form of revenge — and his housemates insist upon helping him.

What follows is a series of elaborate, amusing, and highly improbable shenanigans targeting the financial and personal lives of two arms dealers, utilizing the unique skill sets of Bazil and his housemates (mechanical engineering, the flexibility of a contortionist, a scientific measurement savant, and more.) Suspension of disbelief is key here, as it is in most of Jeunet’s films — the fact that this group of people, with just the right skill set to perform just the right tasks came together at just the right time to help Bazil is either very contrived or the ultimate twist of fate, depending on how you view these things.

What makes me inclined to suspend disbelief and lean toward the ‘fate’ option are two things: the artful manner in which Jeunet constructs this insanity (it’s the most ornate creative revenge screwball comedy you can imagine), and the fact that he creates a template for revenge that eschews violence and feels more akin to right than justice. His form of revenge, shared via YouTube at the film’s end, suggests that he really does want the viewers to absorb the rebellious nature of his story and use it in their own lives, using their own personal skill sets to set things right — nonviolently — in their own way. In a time of bank failures and bailouts, megacorporation takeovers and lost jobs, homes, families, Jeunet seeks to remind us that we can do something, if we put our creative minds to it. In his own inimitable way, he’s used cartoon-like characters (echoes of Wile E. Coyote vs. Road Runner, Spy vs. Spy, even Charlie Chaplin) to entertain and help the medicine go down, a sort of whimsical punk-rock big screen manifesto.

It’s not an emotional masterpiece (too many characters to become deeply involved with any one), but it is charmingly, wittily inspirational, things one just doesn’t encounter in theaters often enough lately.

The Directing the Dead panel, which included Ti West, Matt Reeves Conference rooms 18 A, B, C are combined into one today, with fans packing in to see Ti West, Robert Rodriguez, Matt Reeves, Ruben Fleischer, Neil Marshall. Scott Weinberg moderated, and offers topics for discussion such as battles with the MPAA, nudity, the prevalence of remakes, and the spirit of mentorship in the horror genre. We livetweeted the event here, but here are a few points that stood out:

Matthew Vaughn addressed the growing comments by concerned parents regarding the youth of Chloe Moretz and her inclusion with a film full of harsh language; first, he notes that haven’t seen the film yet, they should see if first. Also, he was intrigued that the concerns seemed to focus on the use of crude language, when her character is involved tremendous amounts of violence. He is always dedicated to creating a safe set, whether the actors are 8 or 50.
]]> http://new.blog.imdb.net/2010/03/14/sxsw-2010-day-2-notes/feed/ 0 http://new.blog.imdb.net/2010/03/13/sxsw-2010-a-first-look-at-predators/ http://new.blog.imdb.net/2010/03/13/sxsw-2010-a-first-look-at-predators/#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:21:23 +0000 Heather Campbell http://new.blog.imdb.net/?p=1080

The SXSW-edition of the Predators poster from Friday's first look event

Down the street from the Paramount and the premiere of Kick-Ass there was a different kind of buzz gradually building, as fans lined up for most of the day hoping to get into the Alamo Ritz to see Robert Rodriguez share a first look at his upcoming Predators. (Later, as began his presentation, Rodriguez admitted to driving past the theater several times that day to check on the line of fans, and he sincerely thanked them for their tenacity.)

Earlier in the day, most conversations I took part in and overheard centered on either Predators or Kick-Ass, and it had become clear that making the screenings for both films would be fairly difficult to do, especially given demand.  Luckily, I had gotten off the plane and headed directly to the Convention Center...

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The SXSW-edition of the Predators poster from Friday's first look event

Down the street from the Paramount and the premiere of Kick-Ass there was a different kind of buzz gradually building, as fans lined up for most of the day hoping to get into the Alamo Ritz to see Robert Rodriguez share a first look at his upcoming Predators. (Later, as began his presentation, Rodriguez admitted to driving past the theater several times that day to check on the line of fans, and he sincerely thanked them for their tenacity.)

Earlier in the day, most conversations I took part in and overheard centered on either Predators or Kick-Ass, and it had become clear that making the screenings for both films would be fairly difficult to do, especially given demand.  Luckily, I had gotten off the plane and headed directly to the Convention Center to wait in line for the few small batches of SXXPress passes that we released at intervals through the day, and managed to snag one, guaranteeing entrance as long as I got there 30 minutes before the screening . (A side note: I can’t stress strongly enough that getting up early and getting to the Convention Center to grab SXXPress passes is one of the best uses of your time here: you’ll know for certain that you get to see the movies you really want to, and spend less time standing in lines.)

Since I wasn’t able to get into Kick-Ass, I was able to get to the Ritz quite early, and checked out this line of fans waiting to see the revival of one of their favorite film characters.  Conversations ranged from wondering how much of the movie we’d see, to what the predators would look like, to locals comparing notes about bits of filming they’d seen happening around town (the film was shot mostly at Rodriguez’ Troublemaker studios and at various locales in Austin, with some pieces then filmed in Hawaii.)  The anticipation here was just as feverish, but had a different tone; excitement, tempered with a little bit of concern, as the Predator fans struck me as a protective, passionate lot who really want their favorite character returned to glory after a few questionable onscreen outings.

From the moment Robert Rodriguez took the stage, it was apparent that he was one of the biggest Predator fans of all, and he immediately reassured fans that he too wanted the Predator back in top form, and was just as passionate about making that happen as fans were about seeing it happen. He detailed the back story behind the film; how he had written the script back in 1994 and it had been set aside and pretty much forgotten, until Fox called him last year to say they’d read his script and wanted him to make the film.  Directing another project at the time, Rodriguez agreed that he wanted to get the film made, and suggested Nimród Antal to direct and he’d produce it, if they could film the project in Austin. The studio agreed, and they started filming the production at Troublemaker last July; Rodriguez’ excitement at walking out of his office and out to his studio lot where actors were suiting up was palpable when he said “I loved seeing predators in Austin” – the statement seemed to perfectly crystallize why he was so enthusiastic about the project; he could revive one of his favorite characters in one of his favorite places. He also mentioned that he had been a fan of Antal’s previous work, thought he’d be the best person to direct; he  knew for certain that they had the perfect director when, while filming a fight scene between predators and a piece of one of the predators’ blades broke off, Rodriguez saw Antal quietly pick up a broken piece of blade and sneak it into his pocket – just like any huge fan would do.

Then came the preview clip, which was around 2 minutes  long. The clip focuses on a group of soldiers (including Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo, Alice Braga) who wake to discover they’re not on Earth anymore. Plucked from their elite combat positions, the soldiers try to figure out what happened;  with some discussion, they realize that they’ve been specifically chosen and brought to the planet by as highly-skilled prey, to help the planet’s predators practice and hone their fighting skills. The tension of the clip was key; the fear inspired by the predators felt truly shrink-back-in-your-seat menacing, even in just the few minutes shown.

After the clip, Rodriguez and Antal took the stage, and talked about the process leading up to filming and the sense of urgency they both felt about bringing the energy and fear back to the predators, while keeping each one unique.  They also discussed the importance of casting strong actors in these roles of the soldiers, with Rodriguez quickly dismissing criticism of the casting Adrien Brody as a lead, stressing that you must hire actors capable of sustaining the tension and dread required, and that actors like Brody and Fishburne elevate the feel of the entire film. As they talked, character sketches from pre-production ran on a loop on the screen behind them, giving the audience a sense of what the newest predators may look like while not revealing their exact appearances – inspirations included dogs and a falconer.  They were then joined on stage by FX and makeup guru Greg Nicotero, the man who was part of the team that designed the original Predator and with whom both Antal and Rodriguez worked to design and create the newest predators. The three of them together reminded me of the most dedicated fanboys on earth, continously discussing and  thinking carefully through the design these new creatures, giving them fighting skills that complement their appearances, making them believable and frightful — their energy and attention to detail here was the biggest reassurance that the re-invigoration of the Predator series appears to be in the right hands.

Along with the focus on the new predators, the three also revealed a surprise to the audience: they said that the original predator would make in a appearance in Predators and brought along the animatronic head to the original predator for all of us to see. One interesting point revealed: Rodriguez did talk to James Cameron and asked him about the rumor that he had come up with the original predator’s mouth movement – Cameron confirmed that he did. They invited everyone to walk down to the stage and take a close-up look at him, and the folks next to me and I didn’t need to be asked twice:  let me just say that those infamous predator jaws, in action 5 inches from your face?  That’s the stuff that nightmares are made of, in very best way possible. Even up close, sitting on a stage not attached to the Predator body, that head felt more alive and real that it had any right to do.

The floor was opened to audience questions, and an impressive, thoughtful string of queries followed, making it apparent that the crowd was not there to blindly cheer anything.  They wanted to know as much as they could, a sort of concerned-but-hopeful group of citizens for the protection of the Predator, and it felt as though Antal, Rodriguez and Nicotero said as much as they could without revealing too much – they struck a nice balance between being informative and building suspense.

The filmmakers thanked the audience sincerely for their continued enthusiasm for this continuation of the Predator saga, and let us know that the trailer will debut in front of Repo-Man next week.  They also provided T-shirts, Robert Rodriguez signed posters and a 3-dot lazer pointer to each person in attendance – see the photo of ours above.

]]> http://new.blog.imdb.net/2010/03/13/sxsw-2010-a-first-look-at-predators/feed/ 6 http://new.blog.imdb.net/2010/03/13/sxsw-2010-kick-ass-opens-the-festival/ http://new.blog.imdb.net/2010/03/13/sxsw-2010-kick-ass-opens-the-festival/#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:10:12 +0000 Heather Campbell http://new.blog.imdb.net/?p=1071

Christopher Mintz-Plasse arrives at the Kick-Ass premiere

While everyone agreed that Friday’s schedule looked amazing on paper alone, the general buzz today makes it very clear that the entire evening exceeded expectations on many fronts.

The Kick-Ass premiere was a strong choice to open the festival that appeared to an interesting cross-section of movie fans. From fans of Matthew Vaughn‘s directorial work to comic book aficionados to the folks just excited to see McLovin live and in person (we sympathize with Christopher Mintz-Plasse – when he stepped out of the SUV and onto the red carpet, shouts of McLovin rang out from more than one quarter), the crowd was huge, excited, and clamoring to get inside and have a good time watching an entertaining film. Clark Duke, stopping in front of our bank of cameras, admitted that that standing there for...

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Christopher Mintz-Plasse arrives at the Kick-Ass premiere

While everyone agreed that Friday’s schedule looked amazing on paper alone, the general buzz today makes it very clear that the entire evening exceeded expectations on many fronts.

The Kick-Ass premiere was a strong choice to open the festival that appeared to an interesting cross-section of movie fans. From fans of Matthew Vaughn‘s directorial work to comic book aficionados to the folks just excited to see McLovin live and in person (we sympathize with Christopher Mintz-Plasse – when he stepped out of the SUV and onto the red carpet, shouts of McLovin rang out from more than one quarter), the crowd was huge, excited, and clamoring to get inside and have a good time watching an entertaining film. Clark Duke, stopping in front of our bank of cameras, admitted that that standing there for photos “never gets less strange, no matter how many times you do it.”   Creators Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. had the biggest smiles of all as they walked into the premiere – their excitement about seeing the film launched into the world seemed boundless.

At least 100 badgeholders were left outside along with the line of pass holders, the theater filled to capacity and maybe even a bit beyond — an amazing turnout for an opening night flick. I’d absolutely tell you all about the movie, but after shooting the red carpet, I was one of those folks just a little too far back in the line to get in and see it — a pretty common occurrence here at SXSW. It’s not a bad thing at all, it just a good reminder that when you’re at SXSW, sometimes even the most careful planning won’t be enough. You won’t catch every single film you want to see here – if you prepare yourself for that early on, you’ll be fine. I can say this: from talking to a lot of folks here, fans, filmmakers and press alike, I can tell you that it exceeded expectations, a quite impressive feat given how very anticipated the film was.

The town is covered with every sort of Kick-Ass promotional item you can imagine: posters, flyers, a million handouts and T-shirts, SUVs, pedicabs and even a horse-drawn carriage went past with Kick-Ass flyer attached to it at one point (we’re only sorry we weren’t quicker with the camera to capture that one.) The Kick-Ass SUVs delivered the stars of the film to the red carpet, and then were deployed around town for festival-goers to use; they’re invited to make a video in the backseat while in transport to the venue of their choice.

Basically, if there’s a promo war going on, Kick-Ass certainly winning, hands down.

]]> http://new.blog.imdb.net/2010/03/13/sxsw-2010-kick-ass-opens-the-festival/feed/ 1 http://new.blog.imdb.net/2010/03/12/sxsw-2010-getting-started/ http://new.blog.imdb.net/2010/03/12/sxsw-2010-getting-started/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:01:29 +0000 Heather Campbell http://new.blog.imdb.net/?p=1066

Good morning from Austin! The convention center is slowly starting to fill up on this first full day of the film portion of SXSW. The time-honored ritual of picking up one’s badge was fairly painless at around 9am, and the lines are still fairly short and moving quickly as I write this, so I’d highly recommend getting in line as soon as possible to avoid waiting for long periods – another time-honored ritual that we’d rather not observe.

Next, savvy festival goers are heading up to the 4th floor to get in line (see, we’re not kidding about the lines – consider it training for the rest of the week) for their daily SXXPress pass; you select a film or panel on today’s schedule, and have a chance to get a front-of-the-line pass for that film. Each event has a limited number of these passes, so again, get...

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Good morning from Austin! The convention center is slowly starting to fill up on this first full day of the film portion of SXSW. The time-honored ritual of picking up one’s badge was fairly painless at around 9am, and the lines are still fairly short and moving quickly as I write this, so I’d highly recommend getting in line as soon as possible to avoid waiting for long periods – another time-honored ritual that we’d rather not observe.

Next, savvy festival goers are heading up to the 4th floor to get in line (see, we’re not kidding about the lines – consider it training for the rest of the week) for their daily SXXPress pass; you select a film or panel on today’s schedule, and have a chance to get a front-of-the-line pass for that film. Each event has a limited number of these passes, so again, get here early, and have a second choice in mind in case your first choice is already full. Today’s big SXXPress draw is a very limited number of the passes for tonight’s Predators first look. They are being given out at intervals – the next batch of 15 will be available at 1:30pm on a first-come, first-served basis.

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