News

Austin, TX - Billy Bob Thorton’s, The King of Luck, documentary on Willie Nelson, will screen Saturday, March 19 for the Closing Night at the SXSW Film Festival.

The World Premiere film explores Willie Nelson “the man, the songwriter, the friend, the father, legendary performer and champion of the family farmer.”

Also announced today, a work-in-progress version of the Judd Apatow produced ‘Bridesmaids,’ will screen. The film is directed by Paul Feig, and stars Kristin Wig and Annie Mumolo.

Rainn Wilson’s short film, The Blitzen Trapper Massacre, will be having it’s World Premiere as well, Umshini Wam, a short film from Harmony Korine featuring South African act Die Antwoord, and Hit So Hard, P. David Ebersole’s documentary on Hole drummer Patty Schemel, among others will screen.

Read more announced titles below.

Press Release

SXSW Film Announces 2011 Closing Night & Additional Titles

Thornton’s The King of Luck, Work...

SXSW is pleased to report that this year’s Closing Night film will beThe King of Luck, Billy Bob Thornton’s affectionate portrait of music icon Willie Nelson.

Also announced, director Paul Feig brings a work-in-progress screening of Bridesmaids, the hilarious new film starring and co-written by Kristen Wiig, and produced by Judd Apatow; and a screening of the upcoming HBO special broadcast of The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway.

Other exciting additions include Harmony Korine‘s new short film featuring gonzo rap-ravers Die Antwoord, Umshini Wam (pictured), andNight Fishing, a short film shot entirely on an iPhone 4 by PARKing CHANce (Park Chan-wook and Park Chan-kyong).

Joining the 24 Beats Per Second section, P. David Ebersole delivers Hit So Hard, a revealing documentary on Hole drummer Patty Schemel. Take a look below for the rest of the additional titles, and browse the full schedule here.

Headliners

The King of Luck

Director:...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: The South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival announced that Billy Bob Thornton’s “The King of Luck,” a documentary about Willie Nelson, will be thus year’s Closing Night Film, screening on Saturday, March 19.

In addition, SXSW announced more features and shorts for the 2011 event, including a work-in-progress screening of Paul Feig’s “Bridesmaids,” starring (and co-written by) Kristen Wiig and produced by Judd Apatow; “Umshini Wam,” a short film from Harmony Korine featuring South African act Die Antwoord; and “Hit So Hard,” P. David Ebersole’s documentary on Hole drummer Patty Schemel, among others.

HollywoodNews.com will be reporting from this year’s SXSW, which runs March 11-19, in Austin, Texas. For details on the complete film and conference lineup, visit www.sxsw.com/film.

Additional Films in the 2011 SXSW Film Festival include:

Headliners

“The King of Luck”

Director: Billy Bob Thornton...

Attention Austin-ites: some last minute additions were just announced for the South by Southwest 2011 Film Festival lineup. They include the Closing Night Film, "The King of Luck," a documentary about musician Willie Nelson and, judging from the publicity photo, old timey Western streets, directed by actor (and musician) Billy Bob Thornton. SXSW also added a bunch of cool special events, including a work-in-progress screening of the upcoming comedy "Bridesmaids," which has an insane creative pedigree. It's directed by "Freaks and Geeks" creator Paul Feig, produced by Judd Apatow, co-written and starring Kristen Wiig, with a cast that also includes Maya Rudolph and Rose Byrne. No word on who will be in attendance on that yet, but it should be a fun event (two years ago, Sam Raimi brought his "Drag Me to Hell" while it was still a work-in-progress for a raucous screening that's become the stuff of Internet legend...