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Lays out with calm, terrifying clarity how Us public universities are being turned into profit-making ventures at the expense of students and education. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

What is the purpose of higher education? It is to create good, well-rounded citizens or compliant corporate cogs? The public universities of the United States were founded on the former principle, but powerful forces today are trying to reshape them for the latter purpose… and they’re winning. In Starving the Beast, documentarian Steve Mims lays out with calm, terrifying clarity how the usual conservative villains — Grover Norquist and the Koch brothers play starring roles — are leading a concerted effort to transform taxpayer-funded institutes of learning and research into profit-making ventures in which students are consumers and universities are service providers. Out are tenure, academic freedom,...

To call the world we live in “fractured,” “divided,” or “splintered” would be to grossly underestimate the cultural split continuing to grow within this country. With more and more issues dividing people across various party lines, one would hope that few things could unite people more than the further growth of a young person’s education. However, as free market capitalism expands into areas rarely reached previously, modern American higher education has evolved into one of this nation’s most polarizing issues.

As seen in a new documentary from director Steve Mims, entitled Starving The Beast (which draws its name from the very philosophy that it attempts to skewer), the state of modern American public higher education is one of shifting ideologies that have evolved students from simply men and women looking for further education to consumers in a capitalist venture.

Opening with a rousing speech from James Carville, one...

Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, as well as other cool events and things to check out.

This Past Weekend:

As expected, Labor Day weekend wasn’t good for the two new wide releases at all, although the romantic drama The Light Between Oceans (DreamWorks), starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, ended up doing far better of the two. Also as expected, Fede Alvarez’s Don’t Breathe (Screen Gems) won the weekend with a four-day total of $19.7 million, a little less than I predicted. The Light Between Oceans ended up with slightly over $6 million, roughly the same as my original prediction but 20th Century Fox’s thriller Morgan, starring Kate Mara, bomb-bomb-bombed with a ridiculously bad four-day opening of just $2.5 million in its first four days. The Mexican comedy No Manches Frida (Lionsgate/Pantelion) ended up faring better in just 362 theaters,...

You’ve probably heard of the public policy debate regarding if we should privatize Social Security. Less well-known is the new front of liberal vs. conservative political battles: whether to monetize public education. In the documentary Starving the Beast, which premiered earlier this year at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, filmmaker Steve Mims examines this pressing question. The end result is somewhat sprawling and uneven, though the film offers a couple of interesting learning points along way.

Any parent with young kids has undoubtedly already fretted about the rising costs of college. Mature teenagers, too, may have worried about whether they will leave school with mountains of oppressive debt. Public schooling is a critical bulwark to allay some of these concerns and, as the film begins, it is under a concerted attack by certain interest groups. Like with other areas of public life in the United States,...

Just like that, it’s fall already. The first round of films fresh out of Tiff and Venice and Telluride are making their ways to theaters and living rooms nationwide. And now, we enter the last third of the year, with plenty of titles to be excited about. Below, you’ll see every planned theatrical release for the month of September, separated out into films with wide runs and limited ones. (Synopses are provided by festivals and distributors.)

Each week, we’ll give you an update with more specific information on where these films are playing. In the meantime, be sure to check our calendar page, where we’ll update releases for the rest of the year. Happy watching!

Week of September 2 Wide

Morgan

Director: Luke Scott

Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Boyd Holbrook, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kate Mara, Michelle Yeoh, Paul Giamatti, Rose Leslie, Toby Jones

Synopsis: A corporate troubleshooter is sent to a remote,...

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

– IFC Films has acquired U.S. rights to Justin Kelly’s “King Cobra.” The film, written and directed by Kelly, stars James Franco, Christian Slater, Garrett Clayton, Keegan Allen, Alicia Silverstone and Molly Ringwald. It had its world premiere in the Midnight section of the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.

The film “centers on Sean Lockhart – seventeen and boyishly handsome – who dreams of fame and success even though he’s broke and without direction. When he meets the seemingly conservative Stephen, founder of Cobra Video, he starts to perform in gay porn under the moniker ‘Brent Corrigan,’ creating a slew of wildly successful videos during which he blossoms from a naïve young man into a confident sex symbol. When rival porn producers Joe,...

Here's the complete list of winners (highlighted) and nominees:

Best Film:

Anomalisa

Carol

Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road

Spotlight

Trumbo

Best Director:

Todd Haynes, Carol

Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Adam McKay, The Big Short

Winner: George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight

Best Actor:

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Winner: Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Michael B. Jordan, Creed

Jacob Tremblay, Room

Best Actress:

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Winner: Brie Larson, Room

Rooney Mara, Carol

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Supporting Actor:

Benicio Del Toro, Sicario

Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation

Oscar Isaac, Ex Machina

Michael Shannon, 99 Homes

Winner: Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Supporting Actress:

Elizabeth Banks, Love & Mercy

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight

Kristen Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria

Winner: Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina

Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Best Original Screenplay:

Winner: Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley,...

Todd Haynes' "Carol" led the pack of the Austin Film Critics Association (Afca) 2015 awards nominations. The film received seven nomination including for Best Picture, Best Director (Todd Haynes) and Best Actress (Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara).

Winners, as well as the Top 10 films of 2015 will be announced on Dec. 29.

Here's the complete list of nominees of the Austin Film Critics Assocation 2015 awards nominations:

Best Film:

Anomalisa

Carol

Mad Max: Fury Road

Spotlight

Trumbo

Best Director:

Todd Haynes, Carol

Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Adam McKay, The Big Short

George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight

Best Actor:

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Michael B. Jordan, Creed

Jacob Tremblay, Room

Best Actress:

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Brie Larson, Room

Rooney Mara, Carol

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Supporting Actor:

Benicio Del Toro, Sicario

Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation

Oscar Isaac,...

Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news.

Austin filmmaker Robert Rodriguez's El Rey Network will have its corporate headquarters and production in Austin, becoming the first general entertainment network to have a formal production home in Texas, Deadline Hollywood reports.The Orchard, a pioneering independent music, film and video distribution company and top-ranked multichannel network, has acquired worldwide rights to acclaimed sports feature No No: A Dockumentary (Caitlin's review), directed by Jeffrey Radice (Caitlin's interview). The documentary premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, then screened at SXSW. The feature, which will be available through The Orchard's documentary imprint Opus Docs, takes an in-depth look at the life surrounding baseball legend Dock Ellis.The completely University of Texas at Austin-staffed feature Arlo and Julie (Elizabeth's review) was profiled in the university's yearlong series, "The Creative Campus." The comedy, about a neurotic couple (former Austinites Ashley Spillers and Alex Dobrenko...

Arlo (Alex Dobrenko, Hell No) and Julie (Ashley Spillers, Loves Her Gun) are your typical young twentysomething Austinites. Arlo works at a software company but writes historical articles about General Grant on the side. Julie is a waitress at a restaurant that looks like Eastside Cafe. They live, love and get by in a fourplex on W. 29th. One day, Julie receives a couple of puzzle pieces in the mail.

Such is the premise for director Steve Mims' adorable mystery-comedy Arlo and Julie. Filmed around Austin -- and on a soundstage at Ut's Rtf department -- this movie is a quirky look at obsession. As Julie and Arlo become more and more engrossed in this puzzle of puzzles, their lives and goals are ignored. The script, which Mims also wrote, is filled with laughs and bits of Civil War trivia. 

Old jazzy numbers punctuate scenes of Julie and Arlo...

Sundance just ended, and we are already preparing for the next big film festival, South By Southwest. Not too long ago, the festival announced a few of the films premiering this year, but now they’ve announced the main slate. The midnight selections and some inevitable late-breaking additions are still to be announced, but this should be more than enough to get you excited. Along with many World Premieres, and Sundance favorites like Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and Gareth Evans’ The Raid 2, the line up also includes an anniversary screening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and an extended Q&A screening of The Grand Budapest Hotel with Wes Anderson. SXSW 2014 runs March 7 through 15 in Austin, Texas. Check out the line up after the jump.

****

Narrative Feature Competition

Eight world premieres, eight unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,324 films submitted to SXSW 2014. Films screening in Narrative...

Today the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival announced a diverse features lineup for this year’s Festival, the 21st edition and running March 7 – 15, 2014 in Austin, Texas. The 2014 program expands on SXSW tradition of embracing a range of genres and span of budgets, featuring a wealth of vision from experienced and developing filmmakers alike.

For more information visit http://sxsw.com/film.

Listed in the announcement are 115 of the features that will screen over the course of nine days at SXSW 2014. The lineup below includes 68 films from first-time filmmakers, and consists of 76 World Premieres, 10 North American Premieres and 7 U.S. Premieres. These films were selected from a record 2,215 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,540 U.S. and 675 international feature-length films. With a record number of 6,482 submissions total, the overall increase was 14% over 2013. The Midnighters feature section and the Short Film program will be announced on February 5, with the complete...

After announcing earlier this month that Jon Favreau’s Chef and the Veronica Mars movie will be making their world debuts at SXSW this year, the festival has revealed its full line-up, including further very promising world premieres, alongside appearances from some of the year’s most high-profile films.

The Midnight programme will be announced early next month, along with the Shorts line-up, and the complete Conference slate a little later as well.

Led by Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, Nicholas Stoller’s anticipated R-rated comedy, Neighbors, will be making its world debut at the festival, notably marked out as a ‘work-in-progress’ ahead of its theatrical release in May.

David Gordon Green’s acclaimed Joe will make its Us premiere, having bowed at Venice and then Toronto last year. Early reviews have Nicolas Cage giving one of the finest performances of his career, with Tye Sheridan (Mud) excellent alongside him.

Not sure if there is a Short Term 12 equivalent in this year’s Narrative Feature Comp, but on paper SXSW programmers are serving up a mean (and the usual lean group of 8 out of a whopping 1,324 film entries) for the upcoming competitiuon of eight which includes notable entries (that we’ve been tracking for a good time now) such as Zachary Wigon’s The Heart Machine, John Magary’s The Mend, Leah Meyerhoff’s I Believe in Unicorns and Lawrence Michael Levine’s Wild Canaries. Undoubtedly one of the most anticipated docs of the year, on the non-fiction side we find Margaret Brown’s The Great Invisible. Below you’ll find a breakdown of the other sections (notable world preems in We’ll Never Have Paris and Faults (see Mary Elizabeth Winstead above), some Sundance items with Texan connections and other nuggets.

Narrative Feature Competition

Eight world premieres, eight...

Ready, Set, Fund is a column about crowdfunding and related fundraising endeavors for Austin and Texas independent film projects.

At first glance it might seem rather odd to feature English music icon Phil Collins in this month's column, but Collins has quite a personal connection to Texas history. Due to his interest in the Battle of the Alamo of 1836, his personal collection of artifacts related to the Alamo numbers in the hundreds, and he's narrated at a sound and light show about the Alamo. While on a publicity tour across Texas to promote his new book, The Alamo and Beyond: A Collector's Journey, Collins was interviewed by Texas Filmmakers Production Fund recipient filmmaker Ben Powell about his obscure collection as well as his retirement from music.

Phil Collins and the Wild Frontier, which is currently funding on Kickstarter through Sunday, January 20, focuses on Collins' attempt "to redefine his public persona.

Editors' note: Every filmmaker wants his or her work to be seen on the big screen, but it's not always possible for titles without big-budget marketing or studio support. In recent years, crowd-sourcing has become a critical factor in the theatrical distribution process for certain types of independent films. Crowd-sourcing platforms have offered audiences a way to demonstrate to theater owners their appetite for movies outside the multiplex matrix - basically, the opportunity to put their money where their mouths (movie tastes?) are. The result? More theatrical options for film fans who don't happen to live in the major markets. Joe Bailey, Jr. (with his directing partner Steve Mims) has had ongoing success in using the platform Tugg to screen his documentary Incendiary: The Willingham Case in theaters around the country. In the first of a series about the various platforms, we asked Bailey for a first-hand account of his experience.

Here's the latest in Austin and Texas film news.

Austin was well represented in the awards at the Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival in Silver Springs, Maryland this week. The Sterling Award for best U.S. feature doc went to Only the Young, a film about teenagers in an economically troubled California suburb, co-directed by Jason Tippet and Austin native Elizabeth Mims. (Her dad, Steve Mims, clued us in on the award.) The film Ann Richards' Texas won the WGA Documentary Screenplay Award -- we don't have to tell you how that one ties into Austin, although filmmakers Jack Lofton and Keith Patterson are from Houston. And last night, the Silverdocs Audience Awards were announced, one of which went to Andrew Garrison's documentary Trash Dance, about a unique Austin event involving the Department of Solid Waste Services (SXSW interview, Mike's review).Calling all activist filmmakers: The submission deadline for the Fourth Annual Lights.

In September 2009, I noticed an unusual special event in an Austin Film Society weekly bulletin about a unique performance piece. The Trash Project was meant to "educate audience members about waste reduction while acknowledging the hard work Austin’s sanitation workers." Choreographer Allison Orr of Forklift Danceworks had organized "the biggest dance of [her] life." It was almost a footnote that director Andrew Garrison (Third Ward TX) would be documenting the event, especially when it included 15(!) vehicles.

Now the film Trash Dance is set to make its world premiere at SXSW on Saturday. Andrew Garrison directed, shot, and produced the documentary, with editing by Angela Pires and sound design by Graham Reynolds. Steve Mims (Incendiary: The Willingham Case), Deb Lewis (Troop 1500, Crawford) and Nancy Schiesari (Tattooed Under Fire) provided additional photography. Here's what Garrison and Allison Orr had to say about their project.

Slackerwood: Describe Trash Dance for us in a couple of sentences.

The Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards is gearing up with a special screening of Infamous on Monday night at Alamo Drafthouse Lamar. It's directed by Douglas McGrath, one of this year's Hall of Fame honorees. If you haven't seen this movie because you saw the "other" Capote movie, check it out. Toby Jones is fantastic as Truman Capote, and Sandra Bullock isn't bad herself.

Did you miss Slacker 2011? Texas Independent Film Network is screening the film (Don's review) at Violet Crown on Tuesday. In addition, the provocative documentary Incendiary: The Willingham Case (Jenn's review) is having a DVD release party and special screening with filmmakers Joe Bailey Jr. and Steve Mims, on Wednesday at Violet Crown -- buy a ticket to the screening and get a discount on the DVD as well as a movie poster. A reception for the movie starts at 6 pm and the movie screens at 7 pm.

Title: Incendiary: The Willingham Case Directors: Steve Mims and Joe Bailey A murder mystery, forensic investigation and political drama rolled into one, “Incendiary: The Willingham Case” shines a spotlight on the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, a Texas man convicted in the arson deaths of his three young children. Enjoying particular currency given the alleged manipulation of a post-mortem state forensics commission stacked by current Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, this documentary, flatly told but engaging throughout, will appeal to both newsmagazine junkies and those impassioned by the death penalty debate. In 1991, an early morning house fire in Corsicana, Texas felled a two-year-old girl and twin infants. Their father, the only other...

In December of 1991 a fire swept through a small home in Corsicana, Texas. Cameron Todd Willingham escaped with minor injuries, but his three small children, none older than a toddler, all perished in the blaze. Willingham was a known bastard who slapped his wife around more than once, and two weeks after the fire he was arrested and charged with the murder of his children. Thirteen years later he was executed for the crime. The years between those two events saw substantial changes in the forensic field, particularly in regard to fire investigation, but every effort to revisit the case by those who believed the evidence now showed Willingham to be innocent were ignored, refused, and stopped in their tracks. Documentaries about arguably innocent men and women are nothing new, and while they all have value beyond the images on the screen their arguments are usually based on recanted testimony, evidence...

Directors: Joe Bailey Jr., Steve Mims For those that don't know, Cameron Todd Willingham was executed by the State of Texas on February 17, 2004 for the arson deaths of his three daughters, two-year old Amber and one-year old twins Karmon and Kameron in Corsicana, TX on December 23, 1991. It wouldn't be surprising if the name and the case aren't familiar. Considering that the State of Texas had executed two men earlier that same month and has executed 155 since, it can be hard to keep the names and stories straight. But hopefully Incendiary: The Willingham Case, a gripping new documentary covering the case and its aftermath, will help place Willingham's name and story more prominently in the public eye. Considering that it's very possible that an innocent man was executed, this is a story that deserves to be heard. It's a tragic story. Willingham's wife, Stacy, left their three young girls home with...

Fantastic Fest isn't the only movie-related event going on in town this week (although it often feels different when attending the fest). Austin has some interesting special movie events that tie into other film festivals.  As this goes live, the Cine Las Americas free screening of El Infierno is about to start. And while Incendiary: The Willingham Case has a theatrical release in town today, there is a special reception at tonight's screenings with local filmmakers Steve Mims and Joe Bailey, Jr at Violet Crown Cinema. Seats are limited, so don't wait any longer to buy your tickets, as you will want to talk about the film after you see it.

If you were lucky enough to see Thundersoul at SXSW 2010, you probably want to watch it again on Thursday at Alamo Drafthouse Village as part of the Austin Film Society "Best of the Fest" series. If you haven't, you'll want to see it,...

Rating: 3/5

Directors: Joe Bailey Jr., Steve Mims

A notorious case in the anti-death penalty movement, the life and death of Cameron Todd Willingham comes to the big screen in Steve Mims and Joe Bailey, Jr.’s Incendiary: The Willingham Case. The film takes a tight focus on the science verging on folklore that convicted Willingham of the arson murders of his three young daughters in Corsicana, Texas in 1991. Though the anti-death penalty movement has long used Willingham’s case as a prime example of an innocent man executed, the real meat of the story is the junk science of arson investigation that led to the belief that the fire that killed the Willingham girls was arson.

Read more on SXSW 2011 Review: Incendiary: The Willingham Case…...

Last night (even though SXSW runs into the weekend) the Jury and Audience Award-winners were announced during the award's ceremony which was hosted by comedian Owen Egerton. We've got the full list of all the winners from the festival, but filmmaker Robbie Pickering won big with his Natural Selection taking home both the Audience and Grand Jury Awards.

Documentary Feature Competition

Grand Jury Winner: Dragonslayer

Director: Tristan Patterson

Best Editing: Where Soldiers Come From

Editors: Kyle Henry & Heather Courtney

Best Cinematography: Dragonslayer

Director of Photography: Eric Koretz

Best Score/Music: The City Dark

Music by: The Fishermen Three, Ben Fries

Narrative Feature Competition

Grand Jury Winner: Natural Selection

Director: Robbie Pickering

Breakthrough Performances:

Evan Ross – 96 Minutes

Rachael Harris – Natural Selection

Matt O’Leary – Natural Selection

Best Screenplay: Natural Selection

Writer: Robbie Pickering

Best Editing: Natural Selection

Editor: Michelle Tesoro

Best Cinematography: A Year in Mooring

Director of Photography: Elliot Davis...

Austin, Texas, filmmaker Robbie Pickering’s “Natural Selection” was named Best Narrative Feature by both jurors and the audience and took home a total of seven honors at the annual South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival awards ceremony Tuesday night at the Vimeo Theater in the Austin Convention Center. (Pickering writes for Moving Pictures about the making of “Natural Selection” here.)

Meanwhile, director Tristan Patterson’s “Dragonslayer” was chosen as the Best Documentary Feature, while Vikram Gandhi’s “Kumaré” was the audience’s pick in the Documentary Feature category.

“Natural Selection” is the story of Linda White (Rachael Harris), a barren Christian housewife, whose world is turned upside-down when she discovers that her dying husband, Abe (John Diehl), has a 23-year old illegitimate son named Raymond (Matt O’Leary) living in Florida. On the edge of guilt and loneliness, Linda grants Abe’s final wish and sets off on...

Austin, Texas, filmmaker Robbie Pickering’s “Natural Selection” was named Best Narrative Feature by both jurors and the audience and took home a total of seven honors at the annual South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival awards ceremony Tuesday night at the Vimeo Theater in the Austin Convention Center. (Pickering writes for Moving Pictures about the making of “Natural Selection” here.)

Meanwhile, director Tristan Patterson’s “Dragonslayer” was chosen as the Best Documentary Feature, while Vikram Gandhi’s “Kumaré” was the audience’s pick in the Documentary Feature category.

“Natural Selection” is the story of Linda White (Rachael Harris), a barren Christian housewife, whose world is turned upside-down when she discovers that her dying husband, Abe (John Diehl), has a 23-year old illegitimate son named Raymond (Matt O’Leary) living in Florida. On the edge of guilt and loneliness, Linda grants Abe’s final wish and sets off on...

Last night, the SXSW Film Festival presented most of its awards, except for a few audience awards. It's a pleasure to see Austin-connected films all over the list. Natural Selection, shot in nearby Smithville, practically swept the Narrative Feature categories, including the Audience Award; while former/sometimes Austinites Kyle Henry and Heather Courtney won the Best Editing award in the Documentary Feature category for Where Soldiers Come From. (I agree that the editing in that film is absolutely amazing.) The Narrative Shorts jury award went to Pioneer from Dallas filmmaker David Lowery, a short that premiered at Sundance this year.

In the Texas-specific awards categories, Steve Mims and Joe Bailey's documentary Incendiary: The Willingham Case (pictured above) won the Louis Black Lone Star Award. The Texas Shorts jury award winner was 8, directed by Julie Gould and Daniel Laabs, which Don Clinchy says was "the most poignant and bittersweet film...

Still from Natural Selection which took home the Grand Jury Award, Audience Award and other awards in the Narrative Feature category

The Jury and Audience Award-winners of the 2011 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival were announced tonight at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony, hosted by comedian Owen Egerton in Austin, Texas. Feature Films receiving Jury Awards were selected from the Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature categories. New for 2011, films in competition were also eligible for Jury Awards for Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Score/Music, Best Screenplay (narratives) and Breakthrough Performance (narratives). Films in these categories, as well as Spotlight Premieres, Emerging Visions, Midnighters, Lone Star States and 24 Beats Per Second, were also eligible for 2011 SXSW Film Festival Audience Awards. Only Narrative and Documentary Feature, Spotlight Premieres and Emerging Visions Audience Awards were announced tonight. Lone Star States, 24 Beats Per Second and Midnighters Audience Awards will be announced separately on Saturday,...

The big winner at SXSW Film 2011 was Rachel Harris comedy Natural Selection, which took prizes for screenplay, editing, score and the grand jury prize in the narrative film competition, announced last night. While the Interactive events have come to a close in Austin, music is just starting and film will continue with several encore screenings, The Film Stage will continue its South By Southwest coverage including interviews and reviews. Signaling the festival’s shift to music, two rock documentaries bowed last night – Foo Fighters: Back and Forth and Hit So Hard, at events which included a Foo Fighters secret show at legendary Stubbs following the screening. (As soon as they took the stage, Dave Grohl announced “We’re movie stars now”).

“It’s been completely exciting to witness the overwhelming appreciation and acclaim for the 2011 SXSW Film lineup,” said Film Conference and Festival Producer Janet Pierson. “The unique combination creative talents from music,...

"Natural Selection," an unusual road trip comedy about a woman who fulfills her dying husband's wish to find his long estranged son, was the clear winner at this year's SXSW Film Awards, where it picked up both the Grand Jury Prize for best narrative feature and audience award, in addition to four other awards for breakthrough performances (Rachael Harris and Matt O' Leary), best editing and best score. The narrative features jury was led by Roger Ebert, New York magazine's Logan Hill and Sundance Institute's Michelle Satter. Evan Ross, awarded for breakthrough performance for his turn in the thriller "96 Minutes," and "A Year in Mooring" cinematographer Elliot Davis were the only ones honored to keep "Natural Selection" from a clean sweep.

In the documentary category, Tristan Patterson's coming-of-age documentary "Dragonslayer" took home the top prize and a nod for best cinematography (Eric Koretz) while the more controversial "Kumaré," about...

The South by Southwest Film Festival announced its feature film line-up Wednesday, piling heaps of cinematic goodness on an already stellar program that includes Jodie Foster’s The Beaver, Duncan Jones’ Source Code, Ti West’s The Innkeepers, Conan O’Brien’s tour documentary, and the latest Simon Pegg-Nick Frost comedy, Paul, with Seth Rogen.

Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) returns to the festival with her latest film, Red Riding Hood starring Amanda Seyfried, after the writer-director spoke on a screenwriting panel in 2009.

Plus a few favorites from the Sundance Film Festival last month, like Tom McCarthy’s Win Win, Morgan Spurlock’s The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, and Max Winkler’s Ceremony.

I’m extremely excited, even if I’m already having flashbacks to intense sleep deprivation. Like the last two years, I’ll be on the ground covering as much of the festival as I can within the packed 9 days of screenings,...

‘Tapping into the cultural zeitgeist,’ at SXSW 2011

Austin, Texas – The SXSW 2011 Feature Film Lineup was unveiled Wednesday afternoon. The festival lineup will consist of 130 features, in nine full days of programming, promising to deliver a film-going experience unlike previous years.

With a reputation for taking chances on relatively unknown filmmakers, the SXSW panel of judges carefully picked 130 films from 1,792 feature-length film submissions, (1,323 U.S. and 469 international). The program consists of 60 World Premieres, 12 North American Premieres and 16 U.S. Premieres.

The main competition categories return with eight Narrative Features, and eight Documentary Features, both competing for their respective Grand Jury Prize. New for films in competition this year, are awards for screenplay, editing, cinematography, music, and acting.

(The Midnighters and SXFantastic feature sections, along with the short film program, will be announced next week.)

Here are a few of the Features to be screened, among many others.

Narratives:

The Beaver (World Premiere)

Dir.

Readers of Sound On Sight can be sure that we will indeed be covering the SXSW Film Festival once again. As previously reported, Duncan Jones’ latest film Source Code is opening the festival and there will also be premieres for the documentary Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, Greg Mottola’s Paul, and Jodie Foster’s The Beaver. Now the full line-up has been announced it is incredible.

Hit the jump to check out the line-up, and be sure to visit our site during the event.

The 2011 SXSW Film Festival runs from March 11 – 19th in Austin, Texas.

SXSW Film Announces 2011 Features Lineup

Austin, Texas – February 2, 2011 – The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival is thrilled to announce the features lineup for this year’s Festival, March 11 – 19, 2011 in Austin, Texas. The 2011 lineup continues the SXSW tradition of tapping into the cultural zeitgeist, highlighting emerging talent and breakthrough performances and supporting first-time filmmakers.

The South By Southwest Film Conference and Festival announced this year's features lineup. The festival takes place March 11-19 in Austin, Texas.

There are a total of 130 features screening this year including 60 world premieres, 12 North American premieres and 16 U.S. premieres! This year the a total of 1,792 feature-length films were submitted, which is the most ever.

There are going to be some amazing films shown this yea. Opening night kicks off with Duncan Jones' Source Code (Moon). The fest rolls on with Jodie Foster‘s The Beaver, Greg Mottola‘s Paul, Sundance Grand Prize doc winner How to Die in Oregon, Errol Morris‘ Tabloid, Victoria Mahoney‘s Yelling to the Sky, Azazel Jacob‘s Terri. There will also be a special screening of Catherine Hardwicke‘s Red Riding Hood.

The Midnight and SXFantastic sections will be announced with the shorts program next week.

See the complete lineup below via...

The South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) just announced their entire 2011 feature film lineup, and there’s isn’t a lot of note, with regards to this blog’s focus.

Titles you should be aware of – all of which we’ve previously profiled on Shadow And Act – include, Victoria Mahoney’s feature film debut, Yelling To The Sky (which will actually make its world debut at the Berlin Film Festival later this month); plus Blacktino, the first feature film from writer/director Aaron Burns, a self-described “blacktino nerd from Austin, Texas,” who got his start at Robert Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios doing visual effects; Benda Bilili, a documentary about a band of homeless, disabled Congolese; and last, but not least, Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey, a documentary about the black man that happens to be the man behind the puppet (which also played at Sundance).

There might be...

SXSW Film Festival has just announced its 2011 lineup. We'll post a complete (we hope) list of all the Austin and Texas connections very soon, but in the meantime, you can read the full announcement here. The short films, midnight movies and SXFantastic films will be revealed next week, and the full panel/conference lineup on Feb. 15. SXSW Film Festival takes place from March 11-19 this year.

Immediately obvious Austin films: Heather Courtney's Where Soldiers Come From, in the documentary competition; Aaron Burns' blacktino, produced by Elizabeth Avellan and with a cast including Danny Trejo and Jeff Fahey; Turk Pipkin's latest film Building Hope; Steve Mims' documentary Incendiary: The Willingham Case; and hey! Emily Hagins' My Sucky Teen Romance. Quite pleased to see Clay Liford's feature Wuss included too, since Jenn Brown just interviewed him; look for us to publish that very soon.

More quick...

The South by Southwest Film Festival has announced their features lineup for the 2011’s Festival, which will take place March 11th to the 19th in Austin Texas. Read the full press release after the jump. SXSW Film Announces 2011 Features Lineup Austin, Texas – February 2, 2011 – The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival is thrilled to announce the features lineup for this year’s Festival, March 11 – 19, 2011 in Austin, Texas. The 2011 lineup continues the SXSW tradition of tapping into the cultural zeitgeist, highlighting emerging talent and breakthrough performances and supporting first-time filmmakers. The Midnighters and SXFantastic feature sections, along with the short film program, will be announced next week. “This is the most exciting moment for us. After a fantastic festival of discovery in 2010, we can finally unveil the line up for this year’s event,” says Film Conference and Festival Producer Janet Pierson. “SXSW prides itself on taking chances, sifting for...

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival is thrilled to announce the features lineup for this year's Festival, March 11 - 19, 2011 in Austin, Texas. The 2011 lineup continues the SXSW tradition of tapping into the cultural zeitgeist, highlighting emerging talent and breakthrough performances and supporting first-time filmmakers. The Midnighters and SXFantastic feature sections, along with the short film program, will be announced next week.

"This is the most exciting moment for us. After a fantastic festival of discovery in 2010, we can finally unveil the line up for this year's event," says Film Conference and Festival Producer Janet Pierson. "SXSW prides itself on taking chances, sifting for films that are the seedlings of the next generation of must-see artists. This year's line up is full of emerging voices and filmmakers who transcended the resources they had on hand, often with an alchemist's touch."

Over the course of nine days, 130 features will...

Here's a roundup of all the Austin film news you might have missed during the recent holidays:

The Texas Tribune has a sneak peek of about 8 minutes of footage from Incendiary, the upcoming documentary about Cameron Todd Willingham from local filmmakers Steve Mims and Joe Bailey Jr. Along with the footage, Evan Smith interviews Mims and Bailey about the film.In the Dallas Morning News, Joe O'Connell's column focuses on the state of the Texas film incentives law and how it might affect film and TV productions next year.Speaking of film incentives, the Austin American-Statesman reports that state comptroller Susan Coombs released a report about Texas incentive and tax-break programs, which included the film-incentives law, with notes on the program's weaknesses and suggestions for improvement.And while we're thinking about productions that did not receive film incentives from Texas -- Cinematical has posted a deleted scene online from Machete.

This is a great week for Austin movie-related news. Here's the latest:

Congratulations to local filmmaker and Austin Film Society staffer Bryan Poyser, whose film Lovers of Hate (my review) has received a Spirit Award nomination. The movie is up for the John Cassavetes Award, for indie films with a budget of less than $500K. I am also pleased to see Houston documentary Thunder Soul (Jenn's review) up for Best Documentary. Many of the independent films nominated for awards played either SXSW or Austin Film Festival this year -- check out the above link for a full list. Ut instructor (among other things) John Pierson has an article in The New York Times this week about the latest film from Austin filmmaker Steve Mims, which is now called Incendiary: The Willingham Case. (Under the title Dead to Rights: The Willingham Case, it won a Texas Filmmakers Production Fund grant this year.

Diversity seems to be the key this year at the SXSW festival, which takes place in Austin, TX from March 12-20, as they’ve now announced the full lineup of Panels and short films that will be at this years event. As with the feature films schedule, this list of panels and shorts should provide an almost endless supply of diverse and interesting programming for attendees.

Following sre some highlights of panels we think are worth checking out. For a full list and descriptions, head over to the SXSW official site. Also, be sure to check back here at The Flickast as we’ll be at SXSW this year to bring you all the details on these great events and much more.

A Conversation with Michel Gondry

The stratospheric rise of Academy Award-winning visionary Michel Gondry is one of the great success stories of modern film. Working with fellow travelers like Spike Jonze,...

The SXSW Film Festival has just announced its conference lineup, as well as its short films for 2010. I can't pick out all the Austin connections for you yet -- I'm working on that now, and we should have a list posted soon.

You can read the full list of panels and shorts on the SXSW Film website. Here are some of the highlights:

"A Conversation with Michel Gondry," moderated by Elvis Mitchell"Directing the Dead: Genre Directors Spill Their Guts," moderated by my Cinematical colleague Scott Weinberg, with an amazing lineup of panelists: Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth, Ti West and Ruben Fleischer Jeffrey Tambor's Acting Workshop, one of the highlights of previous conferencesQuadrangle, the short documentary from local filmmaker Amy Grappell about a couple-swapping experiment, which won an award at Sundance this yearShort films from Bradley Beesley, Bill Plympton, Steve Mims and Guy Maddin; and a music video from...

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival (March 12 - March 16, 2010) has announced the short film program and the list of panel participants. Michel Gondry, David Gordon Green, Jody Hill, Danny McBride, Ruben Fleischer, Matt Reeves, Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, and Ti West are among the people scheduled to participate. The full list can be viewed at the provided link. As to the shorts program, the list is featured at the bottom of this post. The lineup is extensive, and full of unique films waiting to be discovered.

Comprehensive Short Films Lineup

Narrative Shorts

A selection of original, well-crafted films that take advantage of the short form and exemplify distinctive and genuine storytelling. The winner of our Grand Jury Award in this category is eligible for a 2011 Academy Award nomination for Best Narrative Short.

Anatinus

Director: David Wanger

A glimpse of the dawn of a strange new era.

Bedford Park Boulevard...