SXSW Unveils Film Lineup
Written by: Tony Lazlo, CC2K Staff Writer
Source: Variety
Autsin, Texas, holds the South By Southwest festival every year to recognize the newest and best in film, music and interactive media. SXSW has unveiled their lineup for this year's festival, which is set for March 7-15.
For the full lineup, visit Variety. Here's a sampling of the movies:
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
Bulletproof Salesman
Director: Michael Tucker & Petra Epperlein Fidelis Cloer is a self-confessed war profiteer who found The Perfect War when the US invaded Iraq. It wasn't about selling a dozen cars, or even a hundred, it was a thousand-car war where security would become the ultimate product. (World Premiere)
FrontRunners
Director: Caroline Suh
The campaign for student body president at Stuyvesant, perhaps the most prestigious public high school in the country, is almost as sophisticated as any presidential election. But unlike presidential candidates, they also have to do their homework, take their SATs and write their college applications. (World Premiere)
Full Battle Rattle
Directors: Jesse Moss & Tony Gerber
A feature documentary about life inside the US Army's Iraq Simulation in California's Mojave Desert. The film follows one Army Battalion's efforts to pacify the town of Medina Wasl, one of thirteen villages in the simulation, as it tips precariously on the brink of civil war. (North American Premiere)
The Matador
Directors: Stephen Higgins & Nina Gilden Seavey The epic tale of David Fandila's quest to become the world's top-ranked bullfighter. Heart-wrenching setbacks and thrilling successes dramatize his three-year journey across Spain and Latin America and into the pages of bullfighting history. (World Premiere)
Sex Positive
Director: Daryl Wein
A look at the life of Richard Berkowitz, a revolutionary gay S&M hustler turned AIDS activist in the 1980s, whose incomparable contribution to the invention of safe sex has long since been forgotten. (World Premiere)
Some Assembly Required
Director: Dori Berinstein
Over 2000 kids. 400 teams nationwide. Eight months of brainstorming, designing and building. One goal: to create the next great toy. (World Premiere)
They Killed Sister Dorothy
Director: Daniel Junge
On February 12th, 2005, a 73 year-old Catholic nun from Ohio, was shot six times at point blank range and left to die on a muddy Amazon road. Who was this woman, and why was she killed? What will become of her murderers, and who else was involved? What are the implications of her murder and these trials on the future? (World Premiere)
We Are Wizards
Director: Josh Koury
An entertaining and comprehensive portrait of the passionate culture of Harry Potter fans. (World Premiere)
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Explicit Ills
Director/writer: Mark Webber. Starring: Lou Taylor Pucci, Frankie Shaw, Tariq Trotter, Rosario Dawson, Noamie Harris, Paul Dano.
Young love, drugs and poverty collide in the city of Philadelphia creating a beautiful tale of hope and the power of coming together. (World Premiere)
The Lost Coast
Director/writer: Gabriel Fleming. Starring: Ian Scott McGregor, Lucas Alifano, Lindsay Benner, Chris Yule.
As a group of old high school friends wander through San Francisco on Halloween night, two of them are forced to confront their unspoken sexual history. (World Premiere)
My Effortless Brilliance
Director: Lynn Shelton. Writers: Lynn Shelton, Sean Nelson, Basil Harris. Starring: Sean Nelson, Basil Harris, Calvin Reeder, Jeanette Maus.
Successful and self-involved novelist Eric Lambert Jones has been unceremoniously dumped by his life long buddy, Dylan. In an attempt to piece together the fractured friendship, Eric takes a side trip from his latest book tour to drop in on Dylan, newly settled in the picturesque backwoods of Washington state. (World Premiere)
Older Than America
Director: Georgina Lightning. Writers: Georgina Lightning, Christine Kunewa. Starring: Adam Beach, Tantoo Cardinal, Bradley Cooper, Georgina Lightning, Wes Studi.
A woman's haunting visions reveal a Catholic priest's sinister plot to silence her mother from speaking the truth about atrocities that occurred at a Native Indian boarding school. (World Premiere)
Paper Covers Rock
Director/writer: Joe Maggio. Starring: Jeannine Kaspar, Sayra Player, Clint Jordan, Tom Brangle.
The story of Sam, a troubled young woman who loses custody of her six year-old daughter in the wake of an unsuccessful suicide attempt. (World Premiere)
Up With Me
Director: Greg Takoudes. Writers: Maeve McQuillan, Greg Takoudes. Starring: Francisco Vicioso, Erika Rivera, Brandon Thorpe, Justin Coltrain.
When Francisco, a teenager from Harlem, is admitted to an upstate boarding school on scholarship, he is torn between his life at home (his loyal girlfriend and his jealous best friend) and the new environment. (World Premiere)
Wellness
Director/writer: Jake Mahaffy. Starring: Jeff Clark, Paul Mahaffy.
The chaotic journey of one man trying to succeed in a business that doesn't exist. (North American Premiere)
Yeast
Director/writer: Mary Bronstein. Starring: Mary Bronstein, Amy Judd, Greta Gerwig, Sean Williams.
A maddeningly oblivious, tyrannical and emotionally stunted young woman tries her best to negotiate two toxic friendships. (World Premiere)
EMERGING VISIONS
A Necessary Death
Director: Daniel Stamm. Starring: GJ Echternkamp, Matt Tilley, Valerie Hurt, Michael Traynor.
"Documentary Filmmaker looking for suicidal individual to follow from first preparation to final act." Cut from 142 video tapes, this project sheds light on the tragedy following the infamous internet ad. (World Premiere)
The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela
Director/writer: Olaf de Fleur. Starring: Raquela Rios, Stefan Schaefer, Olivia Galudo.
Raquela is looking for a way out of her tireless job as a "ladyboy" prostitute, which brings her to Iceland with some unexpected outcomes. (North American Premiere)
Año Una
Director/writer: Jonas Cuaron. Starring: Eireann Harper, Diego Catano.
An impossible romance between Molly, a 21 year-old American, and Diego, a Mexican in the throes of puberty. (Regional Premiere)
'Bama Girl
Director: Rachel Goslins.
A charismatic black woman at the University of Alabama runs for Homecoming Queen, going up against a century of ingrained racial segregation, internal black politics, and a secret association of all-white fraternities. (World Premiere)
Bootleg Wisconsin
Director: Brandon Linden. Writers: Brandon Linden, Tim Donovan. Starring: Lepolion Henderson, Angela Harris, Alissa Bailey, Joyce Porter.
A married Chicago Public School Teacher spends part of her summer vacation visiting outlet malls across the Midwest. At her penultimate stop, in Pleasant Prairie Wisconsin, she meets a young man who works at the mall. A relationship develops that makes them both question their lives and their futures. (World Premiere)
Flying On One Engine
Director: Joshua Z Weinstein.
The documentary story of an Indian-American surgeon who, despite being critically ill himself and living in a one-room Brooklyn apartment, travels back to India every year to perform marathon surgery "camps" where he repairs the cleft lips of 700 children in a week. (World Premiere)
Half-Life
Director/writer: Jennifer Phang. Starring: Sanoe Lake, Alexander Agate, Julia Nickson, Ben Redgrave.
As troubling signs of global cataclysms accelerate, a brother and sister react to their father's desertion and the powerful presence of their mother's new boyfriend. (Regional Premiere)
Humboldt County
Director/writer: Danny Jacobs & Darren Grodsky. Starring: Fairuza Balk, Peter Bogdanovich, Frances Conroy, Madison Davenport.
When Peter Hadley, a promising yet disillusioned medical student, stumbles upon an eccentric community of marijuana farmers, his life will never be the same. (World Premiere)
I'll Come Running
Director: Spencer Parsons. Writers: Spencer Parsons, Line Langebek Knudsen. Starring: Melonie Diaz, Jon Lange, Christian Tafdrup.
A young American woman finds herself drawn to a last-minute trip to Denmark, so that she can learn more about the man she loves. (World Premiere)
IBID
Director/writer: Russell Friedenberg. Starring: Christian Campbell, Russell Friedenberg, Chris Kriesa, Heather Rae.
Recently escaped from Trinity Psychiatric Center, a pair of patients hit the road on a mission to inscribe an addendum to the Ten Commandments in order to save the world. (World Premiere)
In A Dream
Director: Jeremiah Zagar.
The chaotic story of Julia Zagar and her husband Isaiah Zagar, a renowned mosaic artist, who for the past 30 years has covered more than 40,000 square feet of Philadelphia top to bottom with tile, mirror, paint, and concrete.
(World Premiere)
The Marconi Bros.
Director/writers: Marco Ricci, Michael Canzoniero. Starring: Brendan Sexton III, Dan Fogler, Jon Polito, Zoe Lister Jones.
Anthony and Carmine Marconi have been dutifully serving out life sentences in the family carpet business. Their opportunity to escape occurs when they meet the undisputed king of the Long Island wedding video business. (World Premiere)
Medicine For Melancholy
Director/writer: Barry Jenkins. Starring: Wyatt Cenac, Tracey Heggins.
A love story of bikes and one-night stands told through two African-American twenty-somethings dealing with issues of class, identity, and the evolving conundrum of being a minority living in a rapidly gentrifying San Francisco. (World Premiere)
Natural Causes
Director: Alex Cannon, Michael Lerman. Writers: Alex Cannon, Michael Lerman, Paul Cannon. Starring: Jerzy Gwiazdowski, Leah Goldstein, Shonda Leigh Robbins, Peter Davenport Swan III.
In the wake of a brief, but intense relationship with Shaina, David struggles to find the same connection with Cara, his new flame and Shaina's former best friend. (World Premiere)
The New Year Parade
Director/writer: Tom Quinn. Starring: Greg Lyons, Jennifer Welsh, Andrew Conway, MaryAnn McDonald.
When Mike and Lisa separate, their children suffer quietly in the middle of the annual Mummer's Parade. (Regional Premiere)
One Minute to Nine
Director: Tommy Davis.
A haunting and touching documentary look at one family, thrown into the disturbing reality that follows a history of domestic abuse, as one member prepares to serve a jail sentence. (North American Premiere)
The Ostrich Testimonies
Director: Jonathan VanBallenberghe.
The dramatic story of the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch near Tucson, Arizona, where in 2002, two hot-air balloons triggered a stampede of 1,600 ostriches. (World Premiere)
The Pleasure of Being Robbed
Director: Josh Safdie. Writers: Josh Safdie & Eléonore Hendricks. Starring: Eléonore Hendricks, Josh Safdie, Wayne Chin, Francesca & Miranda LaPrelle.
A curious and lost Eléonore looks for something everywhere, even in the bags of strangers who find themselves sadly smiling only well after she's left their lives. They owe her their thanks. (World Premiere)
Present Company
Director/writer: Frank V. Ross. Starring: Anthony Baker, Tamara Fana Sasha Gioppo, Allison Latta.
Leading very separate lives, Christy and her boyfriend Buddy live together in her parent's basement with their baby Mikey. As they struggle with the realities of their lives, questions are formed about obligations, consequences, and all the identities we employ to get through the day. (World Premiere)
Woodpecker
Director: Alex Karpovsky. Writers: Alex Karpovsky, Jon E. Hyrns. Starring: Jon E. Hyrns, Wesley Yang, Ken Parham.
Fanatical birdwatchers have descended upon a small town in the Arkansas bayou in hopes of finding the celebrated Ivory Billed Woodpecker. Declared extinct in the 1940s, the bird has apparently been spotted by numerous experts over the past few months. The news is miraculous, yet concrete proof remains elusive. (World Premiere)
SPOTLIGHT PREMIERES
21
Director: Robert Luketic. Writers: Peter Steinfeld, Allan Loeb. Starring: Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne.
Based on the true story of a group of MIT students who, under the guidance of a cryptic professor, take Vegas casinos for millions through the mathematical art of counting cards. (Opening Night Film)
American Teen
Director: Nanette Burstein.
A documentary on seniors at a high school in a small Indiana town, and their various cliques. (Regional Premiere)
Assassination of a High School President
Director: Brett Simon. Writers: Tim Calpin, Kevin Jakubowski. Starring: Reece Thompson, Mischa Barton, Melonie Diaz, Bruce Willis.
A rookie journalist for the school paper unravels a mysterious plot involving the class president, drugs, and a ring of stolen test scores in this noir caper set at a quirky Catholic High School. (Regional Premiere)