Recently in SXSW Category

NB: My apologies for the lack of posts, recently. My computer died and was in the shop for a while. Now, on with the Great Southern Road Trip!

If you haven't already figured it out, a big part of this trip and my life is food. I love to cook for people, introduce them to new things and I love to try new things myself. In fact, I was very close to trying baby eel at Chez Phillippe in the Peabody Hotel in Memphis until I read that they were overfished, often counterfeited and $30 in addition to the already steep prix fixe menu... Anyway, way back near the beginning of the trip were the SXSW Film, Interactive and Music Festivals and Conferences, from which I have a lot of pix and video to come soon. But first, meat!

That's right. On this, my 3rd visit to SXSW, I finally made it out to Lockhart, Texas and Smitty's Market. SXSW Film Conference & Production Manager Jarod Neece was kind enough to put together a little outing of filmmakers, press and SXSW staffers on the last Friday of the fest and chuck us into a van for the 40 minute drive to the cradle of Texas Bar-B-Q. You see, Lockhart has not one, not two, not three but 4 "world-class" BBQ joints, or so they claim. I've only been to Smitty's, and about Smitty's I can swear that if there were a god, she'd eat there. There ain't, so I guess that makes my analogy useless, but whatever. It's some fan-fucking-tastic BBQ. Now, Texas is known for beef BBQ. if pork's your thing, I would suggest you head to Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, etc. I'll be writing plenty about the pork in those places, but for now, concentrate on the beef. Don't get me wrong, they have the pork, but in Texas it seems like the swine is a secondary food source much of the time. I beg to differ, but when in Rome....

One of my favorite nights of the year on the festival circuit is the annual Texas Film Hall of Fame cocktails and dinner and auction. Don't ask me why I love it so much, I just do. Part of it is because it is a benefit for the Austin Film Society and I think they're a very worthy group. Also, the indieWIRE guys and I, along with other friends, like UT prof John and new SXSW Film Festival & Conference honcho Janet Pierson get to mingle, have some drinks, a dinner and watch a better than average awards ceremony and auction, which is cool, too. Last year Law & Order SVU's Mariska Hargitay was moved to tears when accepting for her mother, Jayne Mansfield.

This year's honorees include Wes Anderson's Rushmore, which is receiving the Tiffany & Co. Star of Texas Award, Larry Hagman, Powers Boothe, Catherine Hardwicke and Billy Bob Thornton. About Boothe a friend of mine once said: "They should create a TV channel for him and just call it Powers Boothe." I kind of agree.

Other expected guests for the evening include Dennis Quaid, Keith Carradine, John Cusack, Linda Gray, Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Brad Leland and Dana Wheeler-Nicholson who will host a new feature for the evening, Party in the Red Room with actor and writer Paul Saucido. This year's host is Thomas Haden Church.

From 2002-5, the event was hosted by former Texas Governor, the late Ann Richards who passed away in late 2006. In 2007 the award was emceed by Richards' close friend and 2001 inductee, Liz Smith and in Richards' honor, the organizers handed out some special party favors:

Last March at the end of South by Southwest then-SXSW Film Festival producer Matt Dentler drove indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez and Brian Brooks and myself out to a famous Austin-area restaurant called Hudson's on the Bend. A reported favorite of Lance Armstrong, the Hill Country eatery is famous for rather detailed (and fantastic) food with a heavy accent on game. Be it venison, elk, antelope, pheasant or yes, rattlesnake, Hudson's serves it, as well as lobster, trout, beef, rabbit, etc., etc., etc. and I'll say up front, it was one of the richest, most diverse carnivorous and delicious meals of my life and if you have a free night before, during or after SXSW, it's worth the 30 minute drive from downtown. I saved my write up until I started previewing SXSW 09 in order to make sure it's fresh in your minds and to whet my appetite for my return visit!

One mark of a restaurant that takes food service and the art of fine dining seriously is the amuse-bouche (I prefer to use amuse-gueule, but that's for another post...) that small palate starter that is not as common as it should be. This time it was a delicate pastry puff containing wild boar and Queso Chihuahua (No. It's NOT.)

Appetizers run the gamut from sushi grade Ahi tuna tartare with a wasabi avomole, pickled ginger pico and crispy lotus chips to pistachio-crusted diamondback rattlesnake cakes (pictured below) over a spicy chipotle cream to Maine lobster, butternut squash and chipotle lobster risotto topped with granny smith apple and pepitas. Other appies include escargots, oysters, duck confit, crab cakes and prosciutto-wrapped sc allops, among others. Are you sensing a theme, here? If you are a vegetarian, don't bother. There are some nice salads (one pictured below) and desserts, but otherwise, your food has a very delicious face.

I love coordinated clothing....

Stambler, Goldwyn & Quinn at the party for Sascha Paladino's Throw Down Your Heart.

Cinevegas & Sundance's Trevor Groth & Denver Film Fest honcho Britta Erickson, later that same evening.

One of the highlights of SXSW was a screening of Steve James & Peter Gilbert's IFC Films release At the Death House Door, a doc about Texas Pastor Carroll Pickett who served as the chaplain at the "Walls" prison unit in Huntsville, TX where he presided over 95 executions. It's as compelling an argument against the death penalty as I've seen and Pastor Pickett's transformation from supporter of capital punishment to staunch opponent is well chronicled against the backdrop of the execution of Carlos De Luna, a convict Pickett believed was innocent. The film follows Steve Mills and Maury Possley, two Chicago Tribune reporters who uncover evidence strongly suggesting De Luna's innocence.

Pastor Pickett and Steve James following the screening:

Cinelan Filmmaker Advisory Board members Morgan Spurlock and Steve James outside the SXSW screening.

Well, I'm only 7 1/2 months late, but better late than never, right? Here then is the first of a series of photo posts from the 2008 SXSW Film & Music Festivals!

Spoooookey Hotel! The historic Driskill Hotel as seen from 6th St. (I hear it's haunted!)

Agnes says "Hello!"

On opening night, after the Texas Film Hall of Fame soiree, we headed back downtown for the SXSW Film Festival's opening night party at Buffalo Billiards. It's always a great night regardless of where it's help because like the opening of any other event where everyone's psyched to be there. Like the first night at summer camp, only with lots of booze.

See if you can spot the indieWIRE and SXSW staffers in this pic:

It's a great place to meet up with old friends as well as meet new ones, the ones you're going to be seeing at parties and screenings over the next 5 days. One of the films I really wanted to see but missed do to the influenza was Bi the Way, by Brittany Blockman and Josephine Decker, the latter of which I met at the party, along with her mom who was in town to support the film (and her daughter, natch). Maybe if I'm nice, they'll sent me a screener!

After Buffalo Billiards it was off to the PureVolume Ranch, one of the many non-official week-long parties that turn downtown Austin into an artistic, booze-addled pub crawl. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

More from opening night after the jump....

This sign gave me visions of Joe Buck wearing a kimono while working in a massage parlor to pay off his modeling school debts.

I think I need more sleep.

NOTE: This entry has been updated to clarify the beneficiary of the Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards and to complete a sentence I, uh, forgot to finish last night.

So I'm a little behind in my blogging... Well, I have an excuse or two. First of all, I have a new gig! That's right, the Rabbi has gone and gotten hisself some legitimate employment. Or at least some legitimate part time employment with a really cool start up. It's a company called Cinelan and we're a short film distribution and syndication company. Check out the website and you'll see what I mean. It's really cool!

The other reason is that I went and got myself sick with the influenza. That's right. The good money I paid for a flu shot this year did me diddly since I went and got sick, anyway. Not only that, but I got sick at the exact worst time. Smack dab in the middle of SXSW. Lovely. Thanks are due, however, to my angels of mercy Mike Tully and Agnes Varnum, who both came by with soup and medicines!

Add to that getting stuck overnight in Fort Worth on the way down due to snow in Dallas and this has been a rocky trip. (Stay tuned for pix of the rattlesnake cakes that SXSW Film Festival producer Matt Dentler and I ate, though!)

Not only that, I am trying to get my apartment in shape to be sold. HUGE job. So to paraphrase Crash Davis, I'm dealing with a lot of shit!

Due to the aforementioned snow, I missed what was apparently a pretty amazing party at Lance Armstrong's house. This, I was not happy about. It was a pre-party for the Texas Film Hall of Fame awards ceremony, which I was able to attend the following night and it was a dandy of a night. An annual benefit for the Austin Film Society (and not an official SXSW do), the cocktails, dinner, ceremony and auction are held each year at Austin Studios, a couple of miles north of the downtown Austin area. This year's honorees were ZZ Top, Morgan Fairchild, Mike Judge, Jayne Mansfield (accepted by her daughter, Mariska Hargitay) and Urban Cowboy (accepted by Deborah Winger) and the night was hosted by non other that former CBS anchor and new legend (and born/bred Texan) Dan Rather. He's way cool!

The evening went far more smoothly than most events of this size and it was actually pretty fun. Not only that, they served their pre-show cocktails in actual glassware, something some film companies should think about (I'm looking at you, Miramax!).

Here, John Person and Eugene Hernandez have a chat before the ceremony. That's variety.com managing editor Michael Jones' hand on the left.

Mariska Hargitay's speech in honor of her late mother was genuinely touching and towards the end she teared up pretty good. So did I.

More pix after the jump.

On Monday evening The Hollywood Reporter (THR) blew off an industry standard embargo and ran the South by Southwest Film Festival & Conference lineup story a day early. According to SXSW fest producer Matt Dentler, the release was embargoed until Tuesday afternoon. I don't want to get into a big snit about this, but it's kinda fucked up. Embargoes are, for lack of a better word, understandings among the trades. They work both ways and when one publication ignores them, they all get hurt.

Not only is ignoring embargoes dishonest but given the various friendships and relationships that abound in this industry (between film festival directors, trade publications, distribution companies, etc.) it's also risky. It's a slippery slope and with the advent of the Internet and instant news, "traditional" Hollywood trades Variety and THR no longer have the stranglehold on news and info they once had. Sure, they can still strong arm certain people or companies into giving them exclusives, but their influence is waning.

I don't mean to claim that Variety and THR are not still valid sources of intelligent news reporting, festival coverage and reviews, that would be absurd. They are still the dual 800 lb. gorillas in the room. That said, I do think that the days of the entire film industry, studios and indies alike, having to kowtow to the "big two" are over. Sure, we can all get along if we all agree to abide by standard rules but if a "free for all" attitude prevails, there's no longer any guarantee that Variety and THR still have the strangle hold over the news as they have in days past. For any one "trade" paper to break these mutually agreed upon rules is harmful to the whole.

That said, check out these stories on SXSW's exceptional lineup. I will be writing more about the films (and music) at this essential fest in the days and weeks to come.

And Then There's The Music...

After 5 days of Film and Interactive screenings, panels and assorted mischief, there's music. Last year my feet hurt so badly I could barely walk in the mornings. I was under the impression that it was simply a matter of me being too old to pogo (mosh, skank, slam) but it turned out to be Plantar Fasciitis, which has now gone, so this year, I'm in the pit! (Yeah....right.)

The latest big news to come out of the SXSW camp? R.E.M., baby! They will be playing in support of their upcoming album Accelerate which, as its name implies, is apparently chock full of rock-pop goodness. That alone should be a reason to do the Snoopy Happy Dance for R.E.M. fans who are less than thrilled with their recent "adult contemporary" sound, but wait! There's more:

Also confirmed this year:

So the knock down, drag out, most boozingest fun 10 days in all of festivaldom kicks off in a scant two months from now and I will be on hand to provide coverage of as much of the tomfoolery as possible, not to mention pix and reports and footage of the films, bands and other goings on in West Texas. Look out, BBQ, here I come! This year I plan on making it out to the Salt Lick. Me need brisket. Another restaurant on my list? Hudson's on the Bend. I mean, how can you argue with Wild Boar three ways: Masa crusted wild boar scaloppini, wild boar sausage and wild boar taquito with ancho Shiner Bock potatoes and chile d'arbol cilantro beurre blanc? Or how about Espresso-Chocolate-Chili smoked Elk Back Strap topped with Gulf Coast Crab and a Lime-Chipotle Beer Blanc? And for dessert? Rosemary Olive Oil Cake layered with lemon curd and butter cream icing on a prickly pear sauce. Oh, lord!

SXSW Film recently announced that Robert Luketic's eagerly anticipated film 21 will open the 2008 South by Southwest Festival and Conference. Advance word on the film is positive and I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

One of the other films announced has me doing a serious geek dance and that's Erik Nelson's Dreams With Sharp Teeth, a documentary about legendary science fiction author Harlan Ellison. SXSW Film Festival producer Matt Dentler has just informed me that Ellison will be in attendance. I've seen the trailer and all I can say is...Yikes! I am geeking out, big time. This guy is a serious legend. He wrote for the original Star Trek ("City on the Edge of Forever") and The Outer Limits (Demon With a Glass Hand"), although he apparently is less than pleased with the final result of the former.

Also screening is Michael Radford's upcoming heist thriller Flawless (Magnolia Pictures), starring Michael Caine and Demi Moore. I saw this film at the European Film Market in Berlin last year and while I wasn't blown away, you can (and probably have) do a lot worse for a heist film. The robbery sequences are brilliantly filmed and will have you perched on the edge of your seat and Caine's a joy to watch.

Rounding out the preview are two docs, including one that is causing a bit of a stir in the doc community and was written up in indieWIRE in November, Celia Maysles' Wild Blue Yonder, about her father, David Maysles. The other, At the Death House Door from Hoop Dreams director Steve James and Peter Gilbert (prod. Hoop Dreams) deals with the wrongful execution of Texas inmate Carlos DeLuna. The death penalty is one of my hot-button issues so this is one of my most anticipated films @ the fest.

Of course this is just a sampling and I know for a fact there's some more big news coming out of the SXSW Film camp before the fest, so stay tuned to SXSW Film, Matt Dentler's blog and of course, The Rabbi Report!

Remember, Matt Dentler is watching.

On the first night of the 2007 TIFF, a rather large group of indie film folks gathered at Toronto bistro Pastis for several hours of wine and quite delicious French food. A full pic of the gang can be found here, courtesy of indieWIRE's Brian Brooks, but I have a few of my own. Following up on Brian's post, the proprietor made sure that the wine was indeed flowing copiously, but seemed to be doing so sans bidding from the guests! Needless to say, the resulting bill resulted in cries of "Quelle horreur!"

NewFest topper Basil Tsiokos and SILVERDOCS director of programming Sky Sitney have a chat pre-dinner.

The Wombats are coming! The Wombats are coming!

My "discovery" band from this year's SXSW, The Wombats, are making a return to North America, with gigs in San Francisco (Popscene), Toronto (Modclub, 8/11-buy tix), Boston (Great Scott, 8/13-buy tix) and New York (Annex, 8/15-buy tix) and I couldn't be more fuckin' chuffed!! Some of you may have read my (very) brief mention of them earlier this summer. I also posted a bunch of pics of this band as they went through their paces in Austin during SXSW. I only wish I'd seen some of their "proper" gigs during the festival.

Their indie pop punk is infectious and their energy and stage presence are catchy as hell. You'll be pogo-ing and singing along in no time. Check out a few of their tunes on their MySpace page and there's other info on their official site. And not only that, but their drummer is a dead ringer for David Gordon Green....

If you live in any of the aforementioned cities, I would do my damnest to get to one of their shows. You can bet I'll be up front and center for the Annex show!