The statues are all distributed, the corks are all popped, and now it is time to talk about the 82nd Academy Awards in the past tense. We’ll get to who won, but first off I’d like to talk about who lost: the viewing audience. This has to be one of the worst awards broadcasts in recent memory. Overlong and underwhelming, the only thing interesting in the show was actually finding out who won, which is weird because that often takes a backseat to the rest of the spectacle.

Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were charming, albeit neutered, hosts. They farmed the opening number out to Neil Patrick Harris, which was predictably fine, but it seemed like a complete redux of his bouts as Tony and Emmy host. On paper it sounds poignant, but in practice it felt stale. I long for the days when Billy Crystal would superimpose himself into the top nominated films. I can understand the new hosts wanting to move forward with an original spin, only this felt like a step backwards.

I’m not going to dissect the interpretive dance number, or “Oscars 2: Electric Boogaloo,” as I like to call it.

I always tune in for the interstitial montages. There were really only two this year besides the traditional “In Memoriam.” The first was a John Hughes tribute, which was accompanied by a flock of the kids he made icons gathered on stage. The montage itself was probably the best part of the evening, capturing the essence of Mr. Hughes’ momentous career. It didn’t, however, dig any deeper than that, which is a shame. Back when Errol Morris was making these things there was a sense of storytelling to the montages. Even further back, Chuck Workman used to raise these clip-ups to another artistic level completely. Ah, the good ol’ days. The other big montage was a celebration of horror films. This was not nearly as successful as the John Hughes piece. Whoever made it relied far to heavily on clips from The Shining to get them out of creative ruts. Nonetheless, it was a fairly decent primer on horror films, but I’m sure fanboys and fangirls out there will protest.

It turns out spending time showing us all ten Best Picture nominees wasn’t all that much of a time-suck. The real gouge-your-eyes out moment came later in the night, when the awards for Best Actor and Actress were given out. Each nominee was treated to a celebrity pal toasting their careers and performances. Considering actors, and really all nominees, are supposedly being graded on a specific performance and not the breadth of their careers, the mini-retrospective monologues came off more obnoxious than celebratory. And let’s face it, four of the nominees are going to lose, so let’s move things along and get to the meat.

As for that meat: it’s a strange world where Sandra Bullock wins an Oscar for a mediocre performance in an even more mediocre film. All I can imagine is that the rest of the actresses up for the honor split the vote so severely that the safest bet, the middle of the road one, got the most votes. Mo’Nique was completely deserving of the Best Supporting Actress honor. Her speech featured a nice shout out to Hattie McDaniel, and this time it made a lot more sense than when George Clooney invoked the actresses name in 2006. Jeff Bridges looked like the happiest kid in the room, and Christoph Waltz still scares me after Inglourious Basterds.

While some were a bit put off by Sandy Powell’s acceptance speech when she won for Best Costume Design for The Young Victoria, I thought it was one of the most refreshing moments of the evening. She praised the costume designers who make non-period pieces, essentially imploring the Academy to vote in their favor more often. This has long been a sticking point of mine: the more frill and lace a film has the better chance it has of winning costume design. Modern pieces require a careful hand as well, so she’s right; the Academy should rethink who they give this award to.

I had Quentin Tarantino pegged for Best Original Screenplay, mostly because I think Inglourious Basterds lives up to the award’s title so well. Mark Boal brought us The Hurt Locker so the award is certainly well-deserved, however I have a feeling it will be the kiss of death for him. I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for the next mind-blowing Boal penned script. Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire is certainly an innovative adaptation, plus its written lineage is right there it it’s ridiculously long title. Congrats to Geoffrey Fletcher, on that note.

I’m skipping a lot, I know. They’re threatening to play me off…

Finally, we now live in a world where a woman has won an Oscar for Best Director. Fourth time’s a charm. This truly was a momentous occasion. Ms. Bigelow did a phenomenal job with a very difficult film. Unlike a multi-(hundred)-million dollar spectacle like Avatar or a coming of middle-age piece like Up in the Air, The Hurt Locker is a loose cannon. It could have gone horribly wrong in another’s hands. There is very little story to the film, no relatable antagonists, and the driving theme of modern masculinity trickles out instead of bombarding the audience. The only thing that could wrangle such an unstable project is the steady hand of a powerful director. It is a cinematic achievement and deserving of all the honors it racked up last night. Congratulations to all.

So there you have it: perhaps the worst Oscars in over a decade. They went for glitzy but they landed on chintzy. It was long, it was boring, but dammit, I’ll be back next year to tune in for another show, hoping against hope that the broadcast will return to its former glory.

Related posts:

1. 82nd Academy Award Nominees Graphically Explained
2. Guide to the 2010 Oscar Nominees UPDATED
3. Talking About Talking About the Oscars

I’ve been mostly quiet on the subject of the Oscars this year. Instead of throw my hat into the race, I’d like to offer up what I’ve noticed of the ways my friends and colleagues have approached the subject. After all, it is basically the Super Bowl of film events. So insane has the madness surrounding the Oscars become, that there is an entire swath of calendar, getting longer and longer every year, known as “Awards Season”. In the end, I encounter a few interesting characters in real life and on the web every year surrounding the Oscar madness. Here’s a peek at who they are.

The Predictors

Nostradamus know-it-alls. Pontificators. Armchair zen-masters of all things AMPAS. Sure, in the past week the web was rife with tipsters helping you fill out an office pool, but the truth is that there is that you can rev up the prediction machine as early as you like. I have trouble believing that the whispers of Sandra Bullock’s nomination were driven by seasoned journalists and critics. More likely it was clever marketeers trying to nudge Academy voters. But let’s pretend news outlets and bloggers started the early talk on their own. The whisper became a shout, and would you look at that: Ms. Bullock is considered the front runner in a race with the likes of Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep. Although I never reviewed it, I did see The Blind Side and all I can say is that it’s a topsy turvy world where she gets in a nod in a category with only 5 slots.

The Beancounters

I played this game a few weeks back with my Oscar Infographic. Much like Major League Baseball’s sabremetricians (look it up), an army of analysts has popped up around the Oscars. On Friday, the New York Times featured an analysis of 75 years worth of data, predicting the winners based on what awards they have garnered throughout the awards season. This is basically the equivalent of political polling, determining how people will eventually cast their ballot based on prior evidence. The truth remains that members of the Academy will vote however they please. It’s tough to think so black and white about something as subjective as cinema, which is why I never go for this stuff. I think this year’s nominees turn most logic on its side anyway when the frontrunner for Best Picture, Avatar, has been seen by over 3000 times more people than the second runner up, The Hurt Locker.

The Newsmakers

This year is interesting because there is some actual news to report in advance of the Awards broadcast. When Nicolas Chartier was caught e-mailing Academy members asking for Hurt Locker votes, the so-called blogosphere turned the whole event into primetime news. The producer is now barred from attending the event for breaking Academy rules by directly soliciting votes. The plot is thickened by the fact that after The Hurt Locker was nominated for Best Picture, Mr. Chartier had to petition AMPAS to be considered an eligible recipient of a statue should the film win, since tradition has mandated only three producers can ever receive the statue for any top film. What a great story! Except that it has very little to do with movies. I wouldn’t blame you if you fell asleep during my little explanation because it really is such a footnote. Personally, my favorite non-movie related Oscar tale happened in 2000, when 52 statuettes were stolen from a loading dock in a suburb of Los Angeles, only to show up two weeks later in a trash can. Come on, that’s way more interesting than some guy rooting for his film via e-mail.

The Bandwagoners

You’ve picked a film, and you roll with it. I can jibe with that. After all, I always root for my baseball team even when the odds are severely against them. However, you’ve got to come out of the reverie for a little bit if you expect to have a decent discussion about the awards playing field. This tends to get pretty silly in the technical categories, where most people have no idea what criteria are actually being considered and perhaps just pull the lever for their favorite film. Do you know the difference between Sound Mixing and Sound Editing? If not, you’ll probably still fight to the death that Inglourious Basterds is going to take both if that’s your first love this season. Cheers to you, but maybe dig a bit deeper to figure out what you’re cheering for.

The Too-Cool-for-School Awards Nihilists

“There is no respect for artistry…” “The Oscars are just a marketing ploy to push DVD sales…” “If they respected the best films they’d nominate Jim Jarmusch for…” blah blah blah. I hear this all the time. The truth is that our entire industry, top to bottom and side to side, would not function as well as it does without the Oscars. Think about it: without the Oscars there would not be the bounty of awards shows for every facet of filmmaking, including the Independent Spirit Awards. And if you think those are just as dumb, then there will never be any convincing you of any jury-based rewards system for cinema. If you’re fine with that, then shut up and don’t tell me who should be nominated for Oscars because you don’t believe in awards, remember? Every single accolade in this business suffers from the same kind of silliness and politicking that the Oscars do, it just looks different. If you think a Palme D’Or or a Golden Lion or a BAFTA holds more weight than an Oscar, that’s fine. You should just recognize that getting those awards requires one to play the same kind of game.

Related posts:

1. 82nd Academy Award Nominees Graphically Explained
2. Breakdown: 82nd Academy Awards
3. Guide to the 2010 Oscar Nominees UPDATED

The bulk of our conversation is about Milk Products’ latest documentary endeavor, a feature film about a family owned and operated dairy farm in Ohio. You can view the short documentary on Vimeo right now, then head on over to their Kickstarter page to learn more about the feature they plan to make. As Todd tells me in our interview, the fact that over 10,000 people have already viewed a short piece he made is pretty satisfying, but he hopes they will get to make the full length story. Listen in as we talk about making films on the cheap, bringing some creativity to paying gigs, and why it is such a great time to be making media.

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Photo Credit: Mary-Claire Runchey on flickr

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How can I explain what the New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival is? It’s very name is so local and yet its scope is entirely global. I suppose I could start by explaining what is meant by “Sephardic.” Allow me to generalize. Here in New York City it is pretty common to boil Jews down to one of two stereotypes: the Orthodox and the nebbish. These are Ashkenazi Jews who, thanks to a sordid history of European emigration, took root here en masse around the turn of the 20th century. Ashkenazim are basically the shtetl Jews; the Fiddler on the Roof Jews.

That film is perhaps the ultimate Hollywood pontification on the Jew, an image of a people that is, for better or worse, an accepted truth. Sephardic Jewry, who hail from Spain, Northern Africa and the Fertile Crescent (among other places), have almost no image in American cinema. In fact, in America, little is known of this “other” kind of Jew outside the confines of the Jewish community. Sephardim observe different dietary laws (sometimes), speak a different dialect of Hebrew, observe different customs and have a rich history of art and literature that is speckled with influence from the various cultures in which they have existed. How fitting it is then, that there should be a New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival, to both celebrate and educate us on these Jews who perhaps don’t fit the mold of the mainstream. A festival for the other other.

But what about the films? I was only able to see three films from the fest. I would like to tell you about two and the third I will review before it’s snow=postponed screening. The first film I watched was a documentary called Salvador by Nissim Mossek. Stylistically, the film is very weak, which is to say there isn’t much style at all. It is a procedural accounting of a shipwreck that occurred 70 years ago. Salvador achieves its goal of relating the facts to you with interviews, photographs and found footage. Through all of it, a small group of “Salvador” survivors meet and journey, for the first time in over a half century, back to their homeland of Bulgaria.

The tale itself is full of intrigue and adventure. As the Nazis gained power in Bulgaria, it became increasingly difficult for Jews to leave the country. Enter Dr. Confino, an accidental one-man Zionist enterprise. After receiving little help from the Zionist movement, whose resources were stretched thin, he took matters into his own hands to purchase ships and organize clandestine voyages to Palestine, where the Jewish homeland was being built. After many successful journeys, things get a bit hazy depending on how you look at the facts. Confino replaced his best ship, which had trafficked many a Bulgarian Jew, for the “Salvador”, a vessel considered shoddy at best. Intended to take around 100 Zionist youths across the sea, the manifest more than tripled before it left for Palestine, creating a recipe for disaster, which occurred off the coast of Turkey.

About 5 kilometers south of the Turkish fishing town of Silivri, the boat capsized and the struggle for shore began. 238 of the 352 people on board drowned. So harrowing was the event that to this day, local fisherman refer to the waters where the ship went down as “the sea of the Jews.” What’s so amazing is that this is only where the adventure begins. Remember, these Jews who were fleeing from the Nazis now find themselves shipwrecked in Turkey. Many did make it to the Jewish homeland eventually, and the film clearly tells their tale. Early on, one of the survivors proclaims that no one cared about the story back then, and that this film is the first to take on the subject of the Salvador. It’s true; in 1940 a shipwreck in Turkey is but a footnote to the ground-shaking news that came out every day. The story of the Salvador is so riveting it sounds like it would make a great movie. Whether that movie should necessarily be a documentary or not, I’ll leave up to you to decide.

The second film was another documentary called Children of the Bible, by Nitza Gonen. This time we have a vivid portrait of rapper Jeremy Cool Habash, an Ethiopian émigré whose mission is to teach young Ethiopian Israelis about their heritage. The history of Ethiopian Jewry and their introduction to Israeli society could fill volumes, but this film tries to focus in on one man’s mission to teach through music. The short of it is that many Ethiopians feel displaced in Israeli society where some question their Jewish roots. Branded as outsiders, many youths turn to American “gangster” culture; to drugs and violence.

Enter Mr. Habash, who raps in Hebrew and Amharic. He believes that young Ethiopians should celebrate their heritage rather than try to fit into the culture that surrounds them. He teaches kids the meanings of their Amharic names and tells them many stories about what life was like for him in Ethiopia. The film has many moving moments, like watching the kids perform a rap they wrote about how they want to grow up, or seeing Jeremy return to Africa where he acts like a stubborn child to a family not his own. There is footage of a rally to give equal religious authority to the Ethiopian rabbis, called the Kesses. Children of the Bible serves as a really interesting introduction to Ethiopian Jewry for anyone interested.

So there you have it: films for the other other. Perhaps Children of the Bible could be considered a film for the other other other. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to see any other films, so I can’t speak for the rest of the festival. Some screenings have been recheduled due to snow, so check out their website to see what is still coming.

Related posts:

1. Watching Inglourious Basterds in a Room Full of Jews
2. Review: A Serious Man
3. Candlercast #7: Getting Rejected with Paul Osborne

Artistically, the film aims for Beverly Hills Cop but falls closer to Dragnet. The real problem is our bad guy, Poh Boy, a Mexican drug lord with a penchant for pricey sports memorobilia. His “tweak”, if you will, is that he speaks like Baby Huey and is named after a sandwich. Otherwise, he’s just a drug dealer like any other: heavily armed and cocksure. I’ll get to our ludicrous heroes in a moment, but I need to stress that this movie could have been saved with a better baddie. The jokes flow like beer at a bachelor party but nothing holds them together. There is no reason not to clip this movie up into a couple of YouTube replays.

Anyway, let’s head to Tracy Morgan, who plays Paul Hodges, the lovably goofy detective. His comic gift is difficult to define, but it is a force to be reckoned with nonetheless. He has mastered the art of the non-sequiter, the rant, and the rage. The running joke that surrounds all of his characters is that they are terminally out to lunch, until you realize that a vulnerable heart beats beneath the blunder-prone exterior. One moment that stands out in particular is a scene where the team takes a non-English speaking witness to a Mexican restaurant for some translation. As the girl recounts a tale of horror entirely in Spanish, Paul listens, slowly and guiltily shoving tortilla chips into his mouth. With each crunch, the belly laugh gets harder to resist.

Sitting across from Mr. Morgan in that scene is Bruce Willis as Jimmy Monroe, the Hardy to Paul’s Laurel. Mr. Willis is no stranger to comedy, but we get to see his masterful straight man on full display here. Whenever he is off alone tugging on his own plot threads, Mr. Willis is serviceable enough, trudging through the weak plot surrounding Jimmy. It is when you get him together with a screwball like Morgan that the fireworks fly. Again, I’ll refer to the scene in the Mexican restaurant. Without his eagle eyes starting down Paul’s social ineptitude, the joke simply doesn’t work. We close the laughter circuit with nothing more than a glare.

Another thing that makes that scene work is the editing, perhaps the unsung hero of comedy. There are a handful of laughs that come entirely from smartly placed cuts, and I am happy to report that the editor was none other than director Kevin Smith. Sure, I may slight his directing, but the fact remains that the man knows how to cut a laugh or two. Towards the end of the film, a creeping gunman’s surprised reaction exploded the theater with laughter. It is carefully placed laughs like this which elevate the film, at least a bit, into something worth laughing with (not at).

So perhaps it is unfair, a cop out (I’ve made it this far without saying it), to place all the blame on Mr. Smith for the film’s overall mediocrity. Certainly, Robb and Mark Cullen, who wrote the thing, should take the brunt of the criticism. It’s difficult to tell. This is a film that doesn’t know what it wants to be. Of course it’s a comedy, but the level of goofiness is never quite decided on throughout. Perhaps Mr. Smith didn’t take the silly factor far enough. More than likely, however, is that the story just flat out sucked. Writing funny and writing plot can be very difficult to do at the same time. Unfortunately for us, Mr. Smith is gifted at both while both Cullens may need to work on the latter.

A few other strands are worth mentioning. The score, by Harold Faltermeyer, is a lesson in aural hilarity. It strikes the perfect balance of homage and parody, something the rest of the film failed to do. Sean William Scott shines as a third musketeer wedged between Paul and Jimmy. Kevin Pollak makes for a decent police foil to Mr. Willis, however his sidekick, Adam Brody, does nothing to impress. As Hunsaker and Mangold, the duo adds little.

So there you have it. Cop Out is heavy on the laughs but low on cohesion. Mr. Smith really should have taken the reigns on the script and refined it to a point that it was ready for the big screen. Which is not to say it’s a film with no value whatsoever. There are at least three moments where milk will shoot out your nose, which is a fairly high amount of big laughs in a single feature. So check it out and laugh until it hurts, just don’t expect much of anything to happen in this film.

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This summer, Boxee plans to roll out a payments system. Imagine, if you will, paying only for the channels you actually watch instead of dishing out around $70 per month for hundreds of channels you don’t watch. Better still, given the openness of the web and Boxee, almost any content maker can get in on the fun. As has become painfully honest to networks and studios over the years, you know longer need to be a major corporation to create content that people want. With the advent of digital workflows, content creation is already democratized. Boxee is working to even the playing field for content distribution.

I’ve said too much already. Click and listen, and tell us your thoughts on Boxee, streaming video, and the media revolution in the comments.

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Of course, trips like these are quite an expensive endeavor for a blog, so I’m asking for your help in getting to Austin. Please click through to my Kickstarter Project, where I am trying to raise $500 to defray the costs of the trip. You will find a longer explanation over at kickstarter (and in the video above), but this money will essentially cover approximately half of the expenses for the trip. The candler blog is (and shall remain) a free publication, but as you may guess it’s not free to operate. Any help you can offer is extremely appreciated.

I don’t expect you to give me something for nothing. Besides the coverage on the candler blog you’ll be getting, there are also some pretty nice rewards for different levels of giving. Everyone who donates $5 or more will be included in a “Thank You” post listing his/her name and a link to the website/charity of his/her choosing. Up the donation to $10 and you will get your name and link put in the candler blog’s blogroll, which runs up the side of the home page, for 6 months. For $50 or more, you can get a 30-day 200×200 ad on the candler blog that will run during SXSW. I can tell you that traffic will be significantly higher than usual during the festival, so this is a great opportunity to reach an extremely diverse, motivated audience.

I skipped a price on purpose. For $25 or more, you get a 2 DVD collection of all 8 published Candlercasts at CD Quality (I’ll mail you the discs with the files on them). When the podcast goes on the site it is in a highly compressed audio format so it can stream easily and download straight to your iPod/iPhone with ease. These master recordings are crystal clear, and really sound nothing like what is on the web. Maybe that’s not enough for you? On the second disc, you will get the full, unedited, epic Bests of the Decade podcast that I recorded with Sunrise Tippeconnie. Originally published as 4 trimmed down podcasts, this lengthy discussion features clips that were never broadcast online. Please check out the full roster of Candlercasts on the site to see what you’ll be getting.

Nothing has been more exciting for me than watching the candler blog grow over the last year. At this time last year, I never would have dreamed I’d be able to waltz into a fest like SXSW with a press pass in tow. But here I am. None of it could have been possible without you, the readers. I thank you for your visits, your comments, and your support. 2010 is off to an exciting start, and I can’t wait to bring all kinds of great content this year.

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1. SXSW 2010 Short Films and Panels Announced

Clarice Precious Jones lives in Harlem with her abusive mother. The year is 1987 and she is pregnant with her second child by her father. At 16, Precious is still in junior high school, until her pro-active principal recommends her for an alternative schooling program called Each One Teach One. It is here, with the help of a self-assured teacher and a hood-bred cadre of girls, that her journey of self-discovery begins. What does she discover? The same thing we know about ten minutes into the film: that her mother is a big ol’ B-word.

Mo’Nique’s performance has been lauded since the film’s premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, but the comedian has gained ever more traction as awards season has ramped up. As Mary, the welfare leeching tormentor of the title character, she has given us a phenomenal peek at the other side of the line that separates good from evil. The worst villains are the ones whose motivations are easily understood. What is so damning about this portrait is that the further you get pulled into siding with Mary, the worse it makes you feel as a human.

Why go with a comedian, especially one as boisterous and unruly as Mo’nique, for this role? If I may indulge my darker side for a moment, I believe it is because the role is actually funny. Her endless rants, her unapologetic abuse of the welfare system, her physical dominance over her daughter all require a comedic agility that a classically trained dramatist may not have been able to pull off. She is not just a monster, she is a devolved woman. The world in which she lives has literally flipped her inside out. Up may as well be down for her; she is a comedic villain. Precious must find a way to navigate the same streets that undid her mother without going down the same path.

For all the deserved praise sent Mo’Nique’s way, the real person we have to thank is Lee Daniels for seeing the people he needed in each role and bringing their best out on screen. No one could have played Mary like Mo’Nique, but it takes a real talent to pull that out of her. The same rings true when it comes to Gabourey Sidibe as Precious. Similar to a hottie in a horror film, Ms. Sidibe gave herself over to Mr. Daniels, letting him literally throw just about everything at her. It isn’t until the end of the film, when the roots of a lesson have taken hold in her, that the actress is asked to do too much emoting. Instead, the world around Precious keeps colliding with her. The deadpan that she retains through all of it is phenomenal. The film would fall apart completely without it.

Technically, the film suffers from overuse of slow motion effects. As I have mentioned, the film dips into uncomfortable comedy at points. The truth is that you can’t have a comedy that is this heavy, so it seems someone, I’d like to think a studio head, has brought the slow motion effects in to temper the more raucous moments of the film. For example, when Mary tosses a piece of chicken at Precious early in the film, the point is made that this is an abusive home. However, we flip on the slow-mo and a dramatic refrain to point out that this is important, that this is scary. Without it we might be found laughing.

I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but Precious contains a masterfully executed sequence. Invoking Hitchcock’s Vertigo, Precious ascends the stairs to her apartment holding her newborn son. We know that her mother is a ticking time bomb and that a girl of her stature will have a tough time going up so many flights. Not missing an opportunity, Mr. Daniels with editor Joe Klotz drag out the sequence, ensuring racing hearts the whole way through. By the time she finally opens the door to the apartment, your blood will be at a boil just waiting for Mary to go off. It is phenomenal.

The real trouble with Precious is that the payoff isn’t necessarily worth the emotional roller coaster the film puts you through. Sure, by the end you will probably feel uplifted as our hero walks away with her head held high (spoiler?), but is it all worth it? Has Precious avoided a bleak future? While you may be inspired, you will probably come crashing back down to reality and wonder, for some time, whether or not you actually like the film. Overall, I can’t quite tell if this is a great film or not. It certainly has a lot going for it, but it feels more like a first film (it is Mr. Daniels’ second as director) than a masterpiece. Hopefully, we will see many exciting things from Lee Daniels in the future.

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Often, I find myself complaining about films that have a fat middle, meaning the conflict isn’t interesting enough to fill ninety-plus minutes so the makers dilly dally until it’s time for a resolution. In Crazy Heart’s case, the first act drones on for about 70 minutes before a tangible conflict makes itself apparent. Now, I’m going to split hairs for a second. When Bad meets Jean Craddock, he falls in love instantly, but being the lifelong drinker and wayward musician that he is, the romantic conflict is obvious. The trouble is that that plot line becomes ancillary by the end of the film, at which point we realize the real issue was Bad’s drinking. After a disastrous day at the mall, Bad gets the wakeup call he needs and zip! He goes to rehab, writes a hit song, and generally makes amends with his life. The roman and the addiction affect each other, but the problem with this kind of plot is that nothing much happens save for Bad swirling around the bottom of a toilet bowl life. Linearly, it just doesn’t hold up.

Now about that performance. Bad Blake is an American paradox. His drinking, cheating, and down-and-outness are precisely the kind of despicable traits we would never wish on anyone’s child, yet the result of those hardships are enduring melodies that have affected generations of country music fans (fictionally, of course). So here we have to choose if we want him to be a man or an artist. Mr. Bridges is able to be both at the same time. Even at the lowest of points, Bridges keeps a glint of hope, of humanity behind the dwindling shell of a man. The film climaxes in a shopping mall, with Blake losing Jean’s son, Buddy, when he stops for a drink. Conversationally, to say “Bad lost Buddy when he stopped for a drink”, one can’t help but think this is a man who should be strung up, discarded of; a complete deadbeat. However, watching the scene take place, with the incredible heart that Bridges exudes in every frame, it is not so black and white. It all goes down in a matter of seconds and his concern for Buddy is absolute. Much credit goes to Mr. Cooper’s directing here as well. There is a brilliance to the way in which we can get on the good side of an inveterate drunk.

Ms. Gyllenhaal, as Jean, is a nice complement to Blake’s oddness. She is so wholesome, one can’t help but wonder about her motivations in this doomed relationship. Perhaps dating Blake is a way to scratch a particular itch she has before getting on with her life. Robert Duvall is absolutely charming in each of his scenes, which are few and far between, as Bad’s bartender and mentor. Ironically, the man who may well have enabled his drinking over the years is who he turns to when he decides to rehabilitate himself. Father figures lurk in odd places, I suppose. The oddest of casting: Colin Farrell as the protégé-cum-superstar Tommy Sweet. He certainly has the whole bad boy of country look down, but in recent years I’ve come to expect his native brogue whenever he’s onscreen it was tough to see him be so down home. Sure, it’s not fair of me, but what can I say?

Finally, the music. Producer T-Bone Burnett’s prolific career in the sounds of Americana infuse the film with a musical maturity that really gives it legs. Blake’s songs, which are performed throughout by Mr. Bridges, represent a lifetime’s worth of country composing. None of them are of our time; instead they span time, musical tastes and even socioeconomic feelings. It sounds like a body of work, which is exactly what it is meant to be. As a real kicker, “the song” of the film, “The Weary Kind”, sounds almost exactly like the life-weary tunes that Neil Diamond, Warren Zevon, and Johnny Cash have recorder in recent years (and for the latter two, as swan songs). It is a phenomenal song, and another way to read the film is as the building blocks of a single song. Perhaps within the short runtime of a song exists the entire universe of one’s experience.

In general, Crazy Heart is not the kind of film that would be able to get on my good side. It smacks of being a preachy alcoholism referendum. However, the combination of a solid soundtrack and an amazing lead performance makes it something worth checking out, and certainly worth appreciating.

Related posts:

1. Guide to the 2010 Oscar Nominees UPDATED
2. Review: A Serious Man
3. Review: The Hurt Locker

The panel featuring Tarantino, “Directing the Dead: Genre Directors Spill Their Guts” sounds particularly interesting. Actor Jeffrey Tambor will be teaching his trade in a talk that I hope will feel like something the Scared Straight talk on Arrested development. Gizmodo writer Joel Johnson will offer up some advice on music licensing for viral videos and friend of the candler blog Paul Harrill (whose award winning short Gina, an Actress, Age 29 recently landed on theauteurs.com) will be speaking about “Cinematography for Improvised Films”. For those in attendance, there certainly is a wide assortment of programming planned. I haven’t even mentioned the shorts, but check out the full list after the break (it’s a long one, be prepared). We still don’t know how much of the conference the candler blog will be following, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated with the news.

SXSW FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES PANELS & SHORTS
MICHEL GONDRY, QUENTIN TARANTINO AND DAVID GORDON GREEN
AMONG KEY PANELISTS AT 2010 EVENT

Austin, Texas – February 10, 2010 – The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival is thrilled to announce over 80 Film Conference panels and 130 short films for the 2010 event, which will take place Friday, March 12 – Saturday, March 20, 2010 in Austin, Texas. The SXSW Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Kick-Ass, directed by Matthew Vaughn and starring Aaron Johnson, Cholë Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Nicolas Cage. The schedule, complete with both screening and panel dates and times, will be available on Monday, February 15^th at  http://www.sxsw.com/film.  Visit often for more information and updates.

The SXSW Film Conference starts on Friday, March 12 and runs through Tuesday, March 16, 2010.  New major panelists added to the SXSW Film Conference include Michel Gondry (filmmaker, The Thorn in the Heart, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Quentin Tarantino (filmmaker, Inglorious Basterds), David Gordon Green (filmmaker, Eastbound & Down, Pineapple Express), Peter Becker (President, Criterion Collection), David Wohl (Radical Publishing) and Susan Bradley (Pixar).  Other upgrades to the 2010 Conference include more workshop sessions, more mentor sessions, and over 20 Crossover Panels (open to both Film and Interactive registrants).

“We are dedicated to presenting a strong conference that offers unique vaule for our registrants from both the Film and Interactive worlds,” says Film Conference and Producer Janet Pierson, “This year is no different – not only do our panels cover a wide range of crucial and timely topics, but we’ve assembled a dynamic group up of high-level talent to share their experiences and insight. ”

Also announced was the complete Short films lineup, which will debut at this year’s Festival from March 12 – 20, 2010.  Over the course of nine days, 130 short films will screen at the festival, selected from 2,312 short film submissions.  A comprehensive list of the short films lineup is detailed below.

“After months of watching incredible shorts, we’re excited to finally unveil our complete lineup,” said Shorts Co-Programmers Claudette Godfrey and Stephanie Noone, “Every film in our program has a unique voice, embodies the energy of SXSW, and leaves a lasting impression that we are thrilled to share with an audience.”

A sampling of key panels follows below, as well as the complete panel breakdown, by date and title.  For full panel descriptions and participants, visit www.sxsw.com/film/talks/panels.

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, Charlie Kaufman and Bjork, Gondry has made his mark on the film landscape with iconic work like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep. Come and enjoy what promises to be a fascinating discussion as Gondry discusses his latest, highly personal and emotionally raw documentary A Thorn in the Heart with TCM’s Elvis Mitchell.

Directing the Dead: Genre Directors Spill Their Guts

How does modern horror take gore beyond the purely grisly to the level of grand guignol art and imagination?  How does bone-cracking violence and flesh-rending horror contribute to the hallowed pantheon of art and cinema?  Join five of the most striking genre filmmakers in modern movies as they lock horns over the all-important issues of blood, guts and gratuitous gore.  Featuring Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland), Matt Reeves (Let Me In) Eli Roth (Hostel), Quentin Tarantino (Inglorious Basterds), Ti West (House of the Devil), moderated by Scott Weinberg (Cinematical)

Filmmakers in TV: A Case Study

Carving a niche in the world of film is tough enough, and achieving the same feat on the small screen is no easier. Successfully mastering both is in yet another league, but somehow the creators of HBO’s Eastbound & Down are pulling it off with style.  Find out how Danny McBride (Your Highness), and filmmakers David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) and Jody Hill (Observe and Report) made it look easy in this illuminating, entertaining glimpse at the art of combining technical skill, sharp comedy writing and moving from the packed auditorium to the living room couch.

Creating a Graphic Novel Hollywood Will Buy

Graphic novels are red hot in Hollywood now. With its combination of words and visuals in one attractive package, a comic book can be a great sales tool when pitching your project to studios. Ean Mering (Pomegranate) talks to David Wohl (Radical Publishing), Martin Shapiro (Night Owl Productions), Matt Hawkins (Top Cow) and Ted Adams (IDW Publishing) will explain how to create a graphic novel that will attract the attention of movie producers.

Previously announced participants for the 2010 SXSW Film Conference include Jeffery Tambor’s Acting Workshop, a Kick-Ass Conversation panel with director Matthew Vaughn, actors Aaron Johnson, Cholë Grace Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and comic writers Mark Millar and John S. Romita, Academy Award-winning Argentine composer, solo artist and producer Gustavo Santaolalla in Conversation with BMI’s Doreen Ringer Ross, and Cult comics legend Gilbert Shelton in Conversation with Harry Knowles

COMPLETE PANEL LINEUP:

(Moderators listed in parentheses)

Friday, March 12

Black Blogging Rockstars (J. Smith, mrjsmith)
Cooking for Geeks: Science, Hacks, & Good Food (Jeff Potter, Cooking for Geeks)
How Sci-Fi Shaped the Internet (Adria Richards, butyouareagirl.com)
How to Rawk SXSW Film (Agnes Varnum, Austin Film Society)

Saturday, March 13

A Conversation with Kick-Ass
Beyond Advertising: Can Online Video Finally Pay? (Robert Millis, Will Coghlan, Dynamo Player)
Blow Something Up!: Live Action Special Effects (Steve Wolf, Special FX International)
Directing the Dead: Genre Directors Spill Their Guts (Scott Weinberg, Cinematical/FEARnet)
Distribution Deals: Caveat Seller (Deena Kalai, Deena Kalai PLLC)
DocLab @ SXSW (Caspar Sonnen, IDFA)
The Kids Are Alright
Filmmakers in TV: A Case Study
From Screening Room to Living Room (Heather Courtney, Quincy Hill Films)
How to Create a Viral Video (Jason Wishnow, TED)
Mentors: Programmers
Mentors: Distribution
Mentors: Producers
Mentors: Publicity
Nobody Wants to Watch Your Film: Realities of Online Film Distribution (Efe Cakarel, The Auteurs)
Power Shift: Who Stands Between Creator and Audience (Liesl Copland, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment)
Remix Goes Mainstream: Making Mashups Pay (Patricia Aufderheide, Center for Social Media American University)
Ripping Reality – Creativity and the New Documentary (Sean Farnel, Hot Docs)
The Insider’s Guide to Independent Film Packaging in a Troubled Economy (Gregory Slewett, Bloom Hergott et al)
The Power of Super 8 Film (Philip Vigeant, Pro8mm)

Sunday, March 14

A Conversation with Michel Gondry (Elvis Mitchell, TCM)
Cinematic Titles: A Case Study (David Tecson, Edgeworx)
Editing Fiction, Non-Fiction and Everything In-Between
Fans, Friends & Followers: Creating Your Own Cult (of the Non-Apocalyptic Variety) (Scott Kirsner, CinemaTech)
FIVE FATAL F*CKUPS: The biggest legal mistakes every indie producer makes (Stephen Monas, Business Affairs Inc)
How to Cast Your Indie or New Media Production using the latest in Online Tools (William Marshall, SAG)
Hyperbole In Film Criticism & Analysis (Erik Childress, WGN Radio Chicago/eFilmCritic.com)
Jeffrey Tambor’s Acting Workshop
Mentors: Filmmakers
Mentors: Filmmakers
Mentors: Legal/Clearance
Mentors: Press & Bloggers
Offering Your Content in 100 Languages (June Cohen, TED Conferences)
Reel To Reality:  How Good Film Does Good (David J Neff, Lights.Camera.Help.)
Sound Decisions: A Reality Check on Using Music in Film (Doreen Ringer-Ross, BMI)
The Main Event: Finding an Audience for Your Film (Laure Parsons, X + X films)
What’s Open Video and Why Does It Matter? (Elizabeth Stark, Open Video Alliance / Yale University)
Writing a Successful Screenplay: Considering the Source

Monday, March 15

3D Stereoscopic Production Tools, Production and Post
A Conversation with Gilbert Shelton (Harry Jay Knowles, Ain’t It Cool News)
Anatomy of a Release; From Conception Through Exhibition (Todd Sklar, Range Life Entertainment)
Cash Flow Workflow: Funding Docs From Start to Finish (Cara Mertes, Sundance Institute Documentary Program)
Cinematography for Improvised Films: Lighting the Unknown (Paul Harrill, Self-Reliant Film)
Creating a Graphic Novel Hollywood Will Buy (Ean Mering, Pomegranate)
Direct a Great Film by Storyboarding with Stick Figures (Mark Bristol, Id Software)
Don’t Get Sued! A Guide For Content Creators (Robert Strent, Grubman, Indursky & Shire, PC)
Finding the Money: NEH and ITVS (Michael Shirley, National Endowment for the Humanities)
First Impressions: The Art of Main Title Design (Karin Fong, Imaginary Forces)
Floating Heads are Dead – Why Traditional Posters Suck (Tiffany Pritchard, AllCity Media)
Getting to Know the Guilds
How to Avoid “Fixing it in the Mix” (James LeBrecht, Berkeley Sound Artists)
Making Content Relevant To Me, Here And Now (Liz Gannes, GigaOM)
Mentor: Programmers
Mentors: Distribution
Mentors: Managers/Agents
Mentors: Producers
Sound Unbound (DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid)
Sustainable Filmmaking Workshop (Larry Engel, American University)
Visual FX for Indies: Big Impact, Small Budgets (R Zane Rutledge, zanefilms+fx)

Tuesday, March 16

3DIY
A Conversation with Gustavo Santaolalla (Doreen Ringer-Ross, BMI)
A Conversation with MacGruber
Artists, Labels Embrace Virtual Worlds (Lee Clancy, IMVU, Inc.)
Festival Strategies for Independent Film (Jane Schoettle, Toronto International Film Festival)
Filmmaker War Stories
Financing Media Productions in the New World of Distribution (CLE) (Daniel Satorius, Lommen Abdo Law Firm)
How to Maximize the Value in your Media Assets (Steve Engel
Making Sure The World Doesn’t Suck: How Independent Content Can Save The Media (Evan Shapiro, IFC TV/Sundance Channel)
Mentors: Writers
Music Licensing for Emerging Media: Apps, Widgets, Viral Videos (Joel Johnson, Gizmodo)
Remixing for the Masses (Paul Lamere, The Echo Nest)
Short Film Secrets: Festivals, Distribution, & Getting More Work (Christopher Holland, Short Film Secrets)
The Two Taqwacores
Does Your HD ‘Baby’ Have its “Pants on the Ground?” (Mike DesRoches, SONY)
Texas Filmmaker Production Fund Workshop (Bryan Poyser, Austin Film Society)

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
Director: Felix Thompson
A fifteen-year-old Latino boy at a high school in the Bronx makes a mistake that will define the rest of his life.

The Big Fiddle
Director: Willi Patton
A conceptual drama exploring the nature of music in cinema, and the possibilities of having a live score shape the ways in which the characters interact with each other.

Bikini Lighters
Directors: Andrew Goldman and Andrew Blackwell
After shoplifting lighters, three young friends venture into the woods behind their neighborhood to create an explosion.

Black Ops Arabesque
Director: Jared Drake
A Secret Service Agent has a secret of his own- it involves ballet shoes.

Brave Donkey
Director: Gaysorn Thavat
When Brian pays a visit to his old home he unexpectedly finds himself in the middle of a violent dispute in which he saves a woman’s life. Tragically, his courageous decision proves to be his ultimate undoing.

The Call to the Post
Director: Brian Higdon
David, an aging musician, returns to a horseracing track to rediscover the job that defined his identity.

Cigarette Candy
Director: Lauren Wolkstein
Forced to play the role of “the hero” at his homecoming party, a traumatized teenage Marine forms an unlikely bond with a rebellious young girl.

Coney Island Baby
Director: André Aimaq
Betty found a thick wad of cash hidden in a porn DVD stashed in her new oven. And that wasn’t even the strangest thing that happened to her that day.

Equestrian Sexual Response
Director: Zeke Hawkins
Alice is introduced to sexuality through the world of racehorse breeding.

Girls Named Pinky
Director: Alex Lubliner
Morris Munsey is an average man searching in vain for a human connection.  On a quiet night in a small town bar, he finds her…

Going Back
Director: Adam Keleman
A glimpse into the life of Lorna, a failed model, who returns to her home town after a sudden death in the family, confronting the past she left behind.

The Hardest Part
Director: Oliver Refson
An aging actor finally secures the audition of a lifetime. But just how badly does he want the role?

Have You Seen My Hair?
Directors: John M. Wilson and Chris Maggio
The story of a young girl whose salon appointment catapults her into a nightmarish romp through the depths of her imagination.

Jean-Paul Luc Sabastien Rene
Director: Milena Pastreich
Two fifty-year-old women tan on their living room floor when an unexpected message from their past flies through their window.

Kelp
Directors: Benjamin Dohrmann and Seth Cuddeback
A somber comedy about a married man who becomes infatuated with kelp.

The Mess Hall of an Online Warrior
Director: Dan P K Smyth
A short film about computer game addiction and the effects it has on family life.

Out of Nowhere
Director: Will Lamborn
On the run from a killer, a man tries to escape the desert.

Pancake Breakfast
Director: Adam Locke-Norton
A sarcastic guy realizes that his jokes about his girlfriend cheating may in fact be more truthful than he thought.

Savage
Director: Lisa Jackson
A residential school musical.

Snapshots
Directors: Kate Barker and Andres Rosende
New York City – Seven Stories – One Day.

Storage
Director: Nadia Tabbara
Two Lebanese men with limited English search the streets of Brooklyn for a place of Storage.

Teleglobal Dreamin’
Director: Eric Flanagan
A Filipino call center agent takes her American corporate-trainer boss out on the town, setting off a chain of events with unexpected consequences.

Televisnu
Director: Prithi Gowda
Working at a call center somewhere in India, a young woman’s computer breaks down. In an attempt to fix it, she finds herself in a magical, mythical web of electronic wires where memories, secrets, and hidden desires reveal themselves.

NARRATIVE SHORTS SCREENING WITH FEATURES

Always A Bride
Director: Danny Strauss
Cate can’t control her jealousy when she finds out her best friend is getting divorced.

Annie Goes Boating
Director: Noel Paul
A picnic in a park, in 3D.

Diplomacy
Director: Jon Goldman
Relations between the United States and Iran take an unexpected turn when two senior diplomats and their interpreters meet for a closed-door session.

Loop Planes
Director: Robin Wilby
13-year-old Nick lives with his dad at an amusement park. But today, with the arrival of his mother and a pink-haired girl, Nick is in for the ride of his life.

Lunch Watching TV
Director: Alfonso Nogueroles
A normal day: the eggs, the fries, the beer, the bread, the crisis, the politics, the football… A historical date. Just another day.

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

Unfiltered slices of life, from across the documentary spectrum.

6
Director: Jeff Bednarz
A portrait of modern day small town America told through the story of two 6 Man Football teams vying for the Texas State Championship.

Big Birding Day
Director: David Wilson
A glimpse into the world of competitive bird watching, as three friends attempt to see as many species as possible in 24 hours.

Mr. Hypnotism
Director: Bradley Beesley
Self proclaimed “Doctor” Dante had a colorful career as a grifter.  Mr. Hypnotism chronicles Dante’s stint as Hollywood’s Hypnotist to the Stars and his descent to become one of the most notorious conmen of the 20th Century.

Quadrangle
Director: Amy Grappell
An unconventional documentary about two ‘conventional’ couples that swapped partners and lived in a group marriage in the early 70s, hoping to pioneer an alternative to divorce and the way people would live in the future.

Seltzer Works
Director: Jessica Edwards
The last seltzer filler in Brooklyn fends off the supermarket seltzer take-over and honors this simple drink’s place in history

White Lines and The Fever:  The Death of DJ Junebug
Director: Travis Senger
The Bronx, 1983. The hottest club in the city.  One of Hip-Hop’s greatest DJ’s ever and his tragic death.

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS SCREENING WITH FEATURES

5 variations on a long string
Director: Peter Esmonde
A short music documentary about the creative life of composer/performer Ellen Fullman, who has spent over 25 years developing, perfecting, and performing on an extraordinary 60-foot-long instrument.

Keep Dancing
Director: Greg Vander Veer
The story of two 90-year old dancers who still meet, twice a week, in a private studio in Manhattan to choreograph and rehearse.

Solitary/Release
Director: Holden Abigail Osborne
Part family portrait, part audacious vision of a future that never was, Solitary/Release is an intimate documentary-fiction hybrid exploring the life of a recovering drug addict on the verge of great change.

ANIMATED SHORTS

An assortment of stories told using a mix of traditional animation, computer-generated effects, stop-motion, and everything in-between. The winner of our Grand Jury Award in this category is eligible for a 2011 Academy Award nomination for Best Animated short.

The Art of Drowning
Director: Diego Maclean
Based on a poem by Billy Collins, The Art of Drowning ponders what awaits us at the end of the line.

Bygone Behemoth
Director: Harry Chaskin
A washed-up movie monster relives his halcyon days.

The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Burger
Director: Bill Plympton
A tragic story of a bovine seduced by advertising down the path of butchers and carnivores.

Down To The Bone
Director: Peter Ahern
A boy. A babysitter. An explosive sneeze. Google it.

The Falcon
Director: Scot Hampton
Composed entirely of parts from disassembled antique/analog cameras, The Falcon follows Howell the Owl (f/256) and Professor Weston (ISO 50) as they journey throughout the Focal Kingdom searching for dinner.

Junko’s Shamisen
Director: Sol Friedman
A young Japanese orphan and her mystical friend exact poetic justice on a malevolent samurai lord.

La Nostalgia del Sr. Alambre
Director: Jonathan Ostos Yaber
A young man’s talent, miles of twisted wire, and a spotlight mix together to produce a show as never seen before.

Off-Line
Director: Tom Gasek
Off-Line is a short animated film that tells about what can happen inside a microwave oven when it is abused. It features a rather curious orange capacitor named “IZ.”

The Orange
Director: Nick Fox-Gieg
Suddenly, a humble citrus fruit is granted absolute power over the universe.

One Square Mile of Earth
Director: Jeff Drew
A series of bar room conversations featuring Bill the Bunny, Gary the Frog, Lucy the Goat, Thad the Bear, Leon the Hippopotamus and Pedro the Squirrel. Fun times await!

Poppy
Director: James Cunningham
A New Zealand soldier finds redemption in the hell of WWI.

The Polish Language
Director: Alice Lyons and Orla Mc Hardy
Using hand-drawn, stop-motion, time-lapse and computer animation techniques, The Polish Language is at once a playful and solemn journey into the sensuality, beauty and subversive power of language.

EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS

A diverse collection of films ranging from the visually stimulating to the intellectually challenging.

The Bellows March
Director: Eric Dyer
Crowds of concertinas live out a cycle of destroy-create-destroy. Dyer’s 3-D printed and hand-painted ‘cinetropes’ come to vibrant life when seen through the shutter of a video camera.

Eulogy
Director: Ben Claremont
A whole life’s story is told in just a few seconds. Eulogy is a film about life, death… and pigeons.

Feeder
Director: Joseph Ernst
A short film that will make you feel sick.

I close my eyes and walk away
Director: Michele Castagnetti
Memories turn into dreams as dreams turn into memories.

I Miss
Director: Annie Dorsen
In this mesmerizing short, a girl is prompted by her mother in the recitation of an intensely romantic poem.

Kids Might Fly
Director: Alex Taylor
A young homeless girl is taken into care. Set in an urban wilderness, this film is an offbeat and touching experimental drama about East London kids.

LoopLoop
Director: Patrick Bergeron
In a train going to Hanoi in Vietnam, the houses boarding the railroad are passing by. Using animation and time shifts this video runs forwards and backwards looking for forgotten details, mimicking the way memories are replayed in the mind.

Meatwaffle
Director: Leah Shore
An old man recalls his strange and bizarre memories

Mamori
Director: Karl Lemieux
Mamori takes its title from a place in the Amazon forest, and captures the textures of tropical vegetation and its various transformations according to the phenomena of light.

Night Mayor
Director: Guy Maddin
From acclaimed fabulist Guy Maddin comes a new quasi-documentary completely unburdened by fact.

ReRun
Director: Asif Mian
An urban odyssey of visual and audio following a young basketball player and his sneakers.

Vertigo
Director: Oscar Berrio
Poetry and video integrated to transmit a stunning aesthetical experience.

MIDNIGHT SHORTS

Bite-sized bits for all of your sex, gore, and hilarity needs.

5 Second Films
Director: Brian Firenzi
A warped-speed, breathlessly bizarre collection of comedic shorts, all exactly 5 seconds long. From the people that brought you Sophie’s Choice.

The Alleyway
Director: Cosmo Jarvis
An experimental film about an alleyway and an old man’s relationship to it.

The Babysitter
Director: Kristen Gray-Rockmaker
When a troubled married couple arrive home from a night out, they encounter a horrifying scene.

Can We Talk?
Director: Jim Owen
Vince gets way more than he bargains for when he dumps his girlfriend . . . again.

Cocoa Loco
Director: Shaka King
A short film about cocoa butter scented lotion, karmic retribution, and the strangers you call family.

Delmer Builds A Machine
Director: Landon Zakheim
An account of the most Important event in recorded history.

Dwight David Honeycutt for Conway School Board
Director: Roland Honeycutt Jr.
Re-edit of my uncle’s old political video footage in order to better convey the man.

Eagles Are Turning People Into Horses
Director: Brian McElhaney
Lyle, too scared to break up with his girlfriend honestly, enacts a scheme to convince her they MUST break up because he is on the frontlines of a vicious battle between man, beast and fowl.

Expiration
Director: Mark Nickelsburg
A lonely man courts danger by drinking a glass of milk just seconds before the expiration date.

Fix My Dick
Director: PJ Raval
A music video for the artist CHRISTEENE featuring DJ Jaunty.

Not Interested
Director: D.W. Young
A spaced out knife salesman makes the house call of a lifetime.

TUB
Director: Bobby Miller
Paul can’t commit. Paul jerks off in the shower. Paul just impregnated his bath tub.

TEXAS SHORTS

An offshoot of our regular narrative shorts program, composed of work shot in, about, or somehow relating to the Lone Star state.

Better Safe than Sorry
Director: Chris Demarais
Pigeon.  Squirrel.

The Big Bends
Director: Jason William Marlow
The Big Bends captures the story of a dying man in the desert as he is confronted by a troubled Mexican couple crossing the border.

Depth of Phil
Director: Jack Daniel Stanley
Amidst delusions of saving failed U.S. banks and car companies, an aging homeless man reconnects with a long-lost sweetheart via Facebook in this quirky Austin-set tragicomedy.

El Abuelo
Director: Dino Dinco
El Abuelo is a lyrical portrait of Joe Jimenez, Texan poet and educator, whose words connect the power of a well-ironed crease with attracting the eye of another homeboy.

The GrownUps
Director: Jason Wehling
In The GrownUps, two couples try to regroup after a dinner argument gets out-of-hand.

Honorarium
Director: Steve Mims
The arrival of a controversial figure to speak at a university conference tests the boundaries of social decorum and social duties.

Mnemosyne Rising
Director: Miguel Alvarez
A deep-space transmitter pilot begins to experience unusual flashbacks on his ship when he learns he’s being sent back to Earth.

Now or Never
Director: Aaron Burns
Henry has been in love with his best friend Alexa for years. Today he has decided to tell her not only how he feels, but exactly how deeply he feels it.

Petting Sharks
Director: Craig Elrod
The sea of love is short on sharks.

Rule No. 2
Director: Avram Dodson
Breaking Rule No. 2 leads to relationship trouble, which is bad.  But relationship trouble leads to makeup sex, which is good!

Table 7
Director: Marko Slavnic
A couple has an intimate conversation in a restaurant, unaware that their every word is being closely monitored.

Trash Day
Director: Sam Lerma
When you love your trash man, tell him with your garbage.

SX GLOBAL SHORTS

A showcase for cutting-edge documentary shorts from around the world.

The Mystery of Flying Kicks (Australia)
Director: Matthew Bate
Murder, sex, drugs, art, politics…? A film exploring the global mystery of why shoes appear on telephone lines.

Peter in Radioland (Scotland)
Director: Johanna Wagner
A carefully observed study of the director’s father Peter, who stubbornly remains in an analogue world.

Pollphail (Scotland)
Director: Matthew Lloyd
A deserted village in limbo on the west coast of Scotland where two men share an obsession with an imagined future.

Schlimazeltov! (UK)
Director: Christopher Thomas Allen
Maybe some people are just born unlucky? An exploration of luck – does it exist and if so how can you get more of it?

Summer of a Newspaper Kid (Estonia)
Director: Katri Rannastu
9-year old Marten has decided to sell newspapers during his summer holiday. The job, boring and routine at first glance, pushes the kid into the everyday reality of the grownup world, where he meets competition and cheating.

Sunrise Dacapo (12cm/Stehend) (Germany)
Director: Nina Poppe
Nature from the assembly line. An observation on the growing of geraniums in mass production and the coherence of noise and silence. The beauty of nature, apparently perfectly reproduced in artificial surroundings.

Volta (Canada)
Director: Ryan Mullins
Former projectionist Emmanual Agboyame and others tell the story of the Volta cinema and look back on the sense of community it brought out in everyone.

SX GLOBAL SHORTS SCREENING WITH FEATURES

Arsy-Versy (Slovakia)
Director: Miro Remo
A Film about mom and her son Lubos, who conquered the world upside down

Control (Norway)
Director: Hanne Myren
Control is about the emotions we prefer to keep to ourselves.

Ivan and Ivan (Russia)
Director: Philipp Abryutin
Ivan lives with his grandparents on the tundra, fishing and herding reindeer. He and his grandfather, Ivan senior, have strong bonds both to the land and to each other, but soon, young Ivan must leave.

MUSIC VIDEOS

A range of classic, innovative, and stylish work showcasing the scope of music video culture.

Apes & Androids, “Golden Prize”

Director: That Go

BRONTOSORUS, “Amy”

Director: Pete Scalzitti

Chris Garneau, “Fireflies”

Director: Daniel Stessen

Cinnamon Chasers, “Luv Deluxe”

Director: Saman Keshavarz

The Diagonals, “Clones”

Director: Nick Smith

Fatback Circus, “Brain Damage”

Director: Rodney Brunet

Fires of Rome, “Set in Stone” (M83 Remix)

Director: Matthew Lessner

Grizzly Bear, “Forest”

Director: Allison Schulnik

Height, “Mike Stone”

Director: Justin Barnes

Heypenny, “Copcar”

Director: Joey Ciccoline

Hunter Cross and the Strays, “Twisty Ties”

Director: Paul Ahern

Kevin Devine, “I Could Be With Anyone”

Director: Sherng-Lee Huang

Man Branch, “The Gym Is All She Has”

Director: Matt Leach

N.A.S.A. “Spacious Thoughts”

Director: Mark Lomond

P.O.S. “Drumroll”

Director: Todd Cobery

Passion Pit, “To Kingdom Come”

Director: Mixtape Club

Socalled, “(Rock the) Belz”

Director: Kaveh Nabatian

These United States, “Everything Touches Everything”

Director: Maxwell Sorensen

Truckers of Husk, “Person for the Person”

Directors: Casey Raymond and Ewan Jones Morris

WHY?, “These Hands / January Twentysomething”

Director: Ben Barnes

Writer, “Four Letters”

Director: Brad Kester

FUTURESTATES

What is the America of the future? In this series of fictional shorts presented by ITVS, different filmmakers examine current events by extrapolating them into the future. By embracing elements of speculative and science fiction, each film creates a fantastic new world to make comment on our own.

Mister Green
Director: Greg Pak
A parable about change in which a jaded government undersecretary becomes the unwitting test subject for an experimental program to curb global warming.

Plastic Bag
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Struggling with its immortality, a lost plastic bag ventures through the environmentally barren remains of America as it narrates its search for its master, the young woman who owned and used it in an era long since past.

The Rise
Director: Garret Williams
In the radically altered housing market of the future, an older couple must forego their dreams of retirement and home ownership and in the process, adapt to the ever-evolving definition of the American dream.

Silver Sling
Director: Tze Chun
In the polarized economy of the near future, corporations offer subsidies to their high-ranking female employees to pay for surrogate pregnancies and chemically accelerated births. Here a struggling career surrogate must decide whether or not to carry the child of two potential clients, thus giving up her last chance to have a child of her own.

Tent City
Director: Aldo Velasco
In a world where housing is granted only to the powerful few, a father who makes his living evicting the powerless must choose between his responsibilities as a provider for his family and his moral principles.

Tia & Marco
Director: Annie Howell

When a pregnant border patrol agent discovers an illegal immigrant child hiding in her home, she is forced to question her loyalty to closed borders.

ALAN GOVENAR SPECIAL PRESENTATION

Texas Folklife will present special screenings of the films of a Texas treasure–folklorist, writer, photographer and filmmaker Alan Govenar.

Cigarette Blues (1985)
Co-directed with Les Blank, the film features Sonny Rhodes and the Texas Twisters performing at Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland, California.

The Devil’s Swing (2005)
The film takes its name from a story people tell in the isolated region of the Texas-Mexico border and reveals the seemingly unrelated worlds of sacred rituals, corridos, drug lords, Pancho Villa and the tragic killing of a nineteen year old boy.

The Hard Ride (1996)
A journey into the little known world of the black ranch rodeo culture of Southeast Texas.

Little Willie Eason and His Talking Gospel Guitar (2005)
Taking place on the street and in the House of God Church south of Miami, the film highlights the man who introduced the pedal steel guitar as an instrument for the expression of faith.

The Microtones of Simon Shaheen (2010)
The film introduces a virtuoso of the Arabic oud and violin, and his Palestinian community in Brooklyn.

The Poetry of Exactitude (2008)
The film delves into the imagination of Lucien Mouchet and the 1/120th scale carousels and fairground scenes that he has been making in Paris, France since 1946.

Stoney Knows How (1981)
Govenar’s first film, is an inside look at the circus and carnival sideshow from the point of view of Old School tattoo master, Leonard St. Clair, disabled by arthritis at the age of four, who joined the circus as a sword swallower as a teenager and tattooed young and old alike for more than fifty years.

South by Southwest Film Conference & Festival

The SXSW Film Conference and Festival is a uniquely creative environment featuring the dynamic convergence of talent, smart audiences and industry heavyweights. A hotbed of discovery and interactivity, the event offers lucrative networking opportunities and immersion into the art and business of the rapidly evolving world of independent film.

Over the first five days, the Film Conference buzzes as world-class speakers, creative minds, and notable mentors tackle the latest filmmaking trends amidst the unmatched social atmosphere of the SXSW experience. Simultaneously, the internationally acclaimed, nine-day Festival celebrates raw innovation and emerging talent, with a truly diverse program ranging from provocative documentaries to subversive Hollywood comedies.  For more information, visit www.sxsw.com/film.

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