Narrative Feature Competition:

This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere.

Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are:

Booster
Director & Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin
When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted.
Cast: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail
(World Premiere)

Eden
Director: Megan Griffiths | Screenwriter: Richard B. Phillips & Megan Griffiths | Story by: Richard B. Phillips & Chong Kim
A young Korean-American girl, abducted and forced into prostitution by domestic human traffickers, joins forces with her captors in a desperate plea to survive.
Cast: Jamie Chung, Matt O’Leary, Beau Bridges, Jeanine Monterroza, Scott Mechlowicz
(World Premiere)

Gayby
Director & Screenwriter: Jonathan Lisecki
Jenn and Matt, best friends since college who are now in their thirties, decide to have a child together, the old-fashioned way – even though Matt is gay and Jenn is straight.
Cast: Jenn Harris, Matthew Wilkas, Mike Doyle, Anna Margaret Hollyman, Jack Ferver
(World Premiere)

Gimme the Loot
Director & Screenwriter: Adam Leon
When Malcolm and Sofia’s latest graffiti masterpiece is buffed by a rival gang, these two determined Bronx teens must hustle, steal, and scheme to get spectacular revenge and become the biggest writers in the City.
Cast: Tashiana Washington, Ty Hickson, Meeko, Zoe Lescaze, Sam Soghor
(World Premiere)

Los Chidos (Germany / Mexico / USA)
Director & Screenwriter: Omar Rodriguez Lopez
The Gonzales family tries hard to hold on to their beautiful Latino traditions of misogyny and homophobia when a tall, white, industrialist stranger appears, challenging their place in the exploitative food chain.
Cast: Kim Stodel, María De Jesús Canales Ramírez, Manuel Ramos, Cecillia Gutiérrez
(World Premiere)

Pilgrim Song
Director: Martha Stephens | Screenwriters: Martha Stephens & Karrie Crouse
A pink-slipped music teacher ponders his stalled relationship and place in the world during an arduous trek across Kentucky’s Sheltowee Trace Trail.
Cast: Timothy Morton, Bryan Marshall, Karrie Crouse, Harrison Cole, Michael Abbott Jr.
(World Premiere)

Starlet
Directors: Sean Baker | Screenwriters: Sean Baker & Chris Bergoch
The film explores the unlikely friendship between 21-year-old Jane (Dree Hemingway), and 85 year-old Sadie (Besedka Johnson), two women whose worlds collide in California’s San Fernando Valley.
Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Stella Maeve, James Ransone, Karren Karagulian
(World Premiere)

The Taiwan Oyster
Directors: Mark Jarrett | Screenwriters: Mark Jarrett, Jordan Heimer, Mitchell Jarrett
Two Ex-Pat Kindergarten teachers in Taiwan embark on a quixotic odyssey to bury a fellow countryman.
Cast: Billy Harvey, Jeff Palmiotti, Leonora Lim
(World Premiere)

Documentary Feature Competition:

This year’s 8 films were selected from 845 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere.

Films screening in Documentary Feature Competition are:

Bay of All Saints
Director: Annie Eastman
As the last of the notorious water slums is demolished in Bahia, Brazil, will three single mothers face homelessness or rally for a better life?
(World Premiere)

Beware of Mr. Baker
Director: Jay Bulger
Ginger Baker is the original rock ‘n roll madman junkie drummer superstar who everyone thought was dead but somehow survived 50+ years of heroin abuse, disastrous experiments and 5 marriages on 4 continents.
(World Premiere)

The Central Park Effect
Director: Jeffrey Kimball
The film reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds who grace Manhattan’s celebrated patch of green, and the equally colorful, full-of-attitude New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration.
(World Premiere)

Jeff
Director: Chris James Thompson
A documentary about the people around Jeffrey Dahmer during the 1991 summer of his arrest for the murder of 17 people in Milwaukee.
(World Premiere)

Seeking Asian Female
Director: Debbie Lum
When an American man with “yellow fever” meets a Chinese woman half his age online, documenting their attempt to build a marriage from scratch reveals hilarious and troubling complications for the couple and the filmmaker.
(World Premiere)

The Sheikh and I
Director: Caveh Zahedi
Commissioned by a Middle Eastern Biennial to make a film on the theme of “art as a subversive act,” independent filmmaker Caveh Zahedi (I am a Sex Addict) is threatened with a fatwa.
(World Premiere)

The Source
Director: Jodi Wille & Maria Demopoulos
The Source Family was a radical experiment in ’70s utopian living. Their popular restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women made them the darlings of Hollywood; but their outsider ideals led to their dramatic undoing.
(World Premiere)

Welcome To The Machine
Directors: Avi Zev Weider
Upon fathering triplets, filmmaker Avi Zev Weider explores the nature of technology, seeking answers about what it means to be human.
(World Premiere)

Headliners:

Big names, big talent: Headliners bring star power to SXSW, featuring red carpet premieres and gala film events with some major and rising names in cinema.

Films screening in Headliners are:

21 Jump Street
Director: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller | Screenplay by: Michael Bacall | Story by: Michael Bacall & Jonah Hill
Police officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) get sent back to high school as undercover cops in the action-comedy 21 Jump Street.
Cast:Cast: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, with Ice Cube
(World Premiere)

BIG EASY EXPRESS
Director: Emmett Malloy
Emmett Malloy’s latest film invites us aboard a train ride unlike any other with Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show.
(World Premiere)

The Cabin in the Woods
Director: Drew Goddard | Screenwriter: Joss Whedon & Drew Goddard
Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods. Bad things happen. If you think you know this story, think again. From fan favorites Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard comes The Cabin in the Woods, a mind-blowing horror film that turns the genre inside out.
Cast: Kristen Connolly, Fran Kranz, Anna Hutchison, Chris Hemsworth, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, and Bradley Whitford
(World Premiere)

Decoding Deepak
Director: Gotham Chopra
Filmmaker Gotham Chopra spends a year on the road decoding his father and spiritual icon Deepak Chopra.
(World Premiere)

Girls
Director & Screenwriter: Lena Dunham
Created by and starring Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture), the HBO show is a comic look at the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of girls in their early 20s.
Cast: Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver
(World Premiere)

The Hunter (Australia)
Director: Daniel Nettheim | Screenplay by: Alice Addison | Novel by: Julia Leigh | Original Adaptation by: Wain Fimeri
A mercenary is dispatched from Europe to the Tasmanian wilderness by a mysterious biotech company to search for the last surviving Tasmanian tiger.
Cast: Willem Dafoe, Frances O’Connor, Sam Neill
(U.S. Premiere)

Killer Joe
Director: William Friedkin | Screenwriter: Tracy Letts
A garish, Southwestern tale – a violent black comedy about a desperate Texas debtor (Hirsch) who plots to kill his mother with help of his family (Haden Church, Gershon). They hire a crazy Dallas cop who moonlights as a contract killer (McConaughey) to do the job, but Killer Joe asks for their teenage daughter (Temple) as a retainer. The film is based on Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts’ (August: Osage County) award winning play.
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Gina Gershon, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church
(U.S. Premiere)

MARLEY (UK / USA)
Directors: Kevin Macdonald
The definitive life story of Bob Marley – musician, revolutionary, legend – from his early days to his rise to international superstardom. Made with the support of the Marley family, the film features rare footage, incredible performances and revelatory interviews with the people that knew him best. Directed by Academy-Award-Winner Kevin Macdonald.
(North American Premiere)

Narrative Spotlight:

High profile narrative features receiving their World, North American or U.S. Premieres at SXSW.

Films screening in Narrative Spotlight are:

The Babymakers
Director: Jay Chandrasekhar | Screenwriters: Peter Gaulke & Gerry Swallow
Unable to impregnate his wife, Tommy and friends rob a sperm bank – to get Tommy’s long-ago donated sperm back. The crazy plan goes hilariously awry and shows how far a couple will go to create a new life.
Cast: Paul Schneider, Olivia Munn, Kevin Heffernan, Wood Harris, Nat Faxon
(World Premiere)

Crazy Eyes
Director: Adam Sherman | Screenwriters: Adam Sherman, Dave Reeves & Rachel Hardisty
Just another story about love.
Cast: Lukas Haas, Madeline Zima, Jake Busey, Tania Raymonde, Regine Nehy
(World Premiere)

Do-Deca-Pentathalon
Director & Screenwriter: Jay Duplass & Mark Duplass
Two brothers compete in their own private 25-event Olympics.
Cast: Mark Kelly, Steve Zissis, Elton LeBlanc
(World Premiere)

Fat Kid Rules The World
Director: Matthew Lillard | Screenwriters: Michael M.B. Galvin, Peter Speakman
Troy, a depressed overweight teenager, gets sucked into the punk rock world by Marcus, a charming street musician. But when Troy discovers Marcus’ drug addiction, he suddenly must figure out the true boundaries of friendship.
Cast: Jacob Wysocki, Matt O’Leary, Billy Campbell, Lilli Simmons, Dylan Arnold
(World Premiere)

Frankie go boom
Director & Screenwriter: Jordan Roberts
a flick by bruce about his little brother frank who’s a crybaby fuck who shouldn’t do lame-ass embarrassing shit if he dozn’t want people 2 see it
Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Chris O’Dowd, Lizzy Caplan, Ron Perlman, Chris Noth
(World Premiere)

Hunky Dory (UK)
Director: Marc Evans | Screenwriters: Laurence Coriat
From the producer of Billy Elliot comes this funny, coming of age film featuring songs from artists such as David Bowie, Lou Reed, The Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Dusty Springfield and Electric Light Orchestra.
Cast: Minnie Driver, Aneurin Barnard, Danielle Branch, Robert Pugh, Haydn Gwynne
(North American Premiere)

In Our Nature
Director & Screenwriter: Brian Savelson
Taking place over a single weekend, an estranged father and son accidentally end up in the same country house with their two girlfriends.
Cast: Zach Gilford, Jena Malone, John Slattery, Gabrielle Union
(World Premiere)

Keyhole (Canada)
Directors: Guy Maddin | Screenwriters: Guy Maddin & George Toles
I’m only a ghost… but a ghost isn’t nothing.
Cast: Isabella Rossellini, Jason Patric, Udo Kier, Kevin McDonald, Tattiawna Jones
(U.S. Premiere)

See Girl Run
Directors & Screenwriter: Nate Meyer
What happens when a 30-something woman allows life’s “what ifs” to overwhelm her appreciation for what life actually is. Disregarding her current obligations, she digs into her romantic past in hopes of invigorating her present.
Cast: Robin Tunney, Adam Scott, Jeremy Strong, William Sadler, Josh Hamilton
(World Premiere)

Small Apartments
Directors: Jonas Åkerlund | Screenwriters: Chris Millis
When Franklin Franklin accidentally kills his landlord, he must hide the body; but, the wisdom of his beloved brother and the quirks of his neighbors, force him on a journey where a fortune awaits him.
Cast: Matt Lucas, Billy Crystal, James Caan, Johnny Knoxville, Juno Temple
(World Premiere)

Somebody Up There Likes Me
Directors & Screenwriter: Bob Byington
Thirty-five years in the life of Max, his best friend Sal, and a woman they both adore. A deadpan fable about time sneaking up on and swerving right around us.
Cast: Keith Poulson, Nick Offerman, Jess Weixler, Stephanie Hunt, Kevin Corrigan
(North American Premiere)

Documentary Spotlight:

Shining a light on new documentary features receiving their World, North American or U.S. Premieres at SXSW.

Films screening in Documentary Spotlight are:

$ELLEBRITY
Director: Kevin Mazur
Renowned celebrity photographer, Kevin Mazur, gives us an all access pass to the life behind the velvet rope and in front of the camera. Candid, revealing and bold interviews with Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Lopez, Elton John and more, take us inside the blurred lines of privacy, pliable journalism, celebrity, fame and what it feels like to be consumed.
(World Premiere)

America’s Parking Lot
Director: Jonny Mars
Pull up a front row seat as two die-hard fans of ‘America’s Team’ spend their last season with the Dallas Cowboys at historic Texas Stadium, and scramble to preserve their place in America’s Parking Lot.
(World Premiere)

The Announcement
Director: Nelson George
On Thursday, November 7, 1991, Earvin “Magic” Johnson made the stunning announcement that he was HIV-positive and would be retiring from basketball immediately. The Announcement gets to the core of Magic’s incredible personal journey.
(World Premiere)

Beauty Is Embarrassing
Director: Neil Berkeley
A funny, irreverent and inspirational look into the life and times of one of America’s most important artists, Wayne White.
(World Premiere)

Brooklyn Castle
Director: Katie Dellamaggiore
Amidst financial crises and unprecedented public school budget cuts, Brooklyn Castle takes an intimate look at the challenges and triumphs facing members of a junior high school’s champion chess team.
(World Premiere)

Code of the West
Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen
Frames a high stakes showdown in the halls of the Montana State Legislature. The future of medical marijuana is at stake.
(World Premiere)

Degenerate Art: The Art and Culture of Glass Pipes
Director: M. Slinger
A true document of the art and culture of glass pipe-making. It is the first film to ever bring to light this invisible sub-culture in a comprehensive and well-informed format.
(World Premiere)

Girl Model
Directors: A. Sabin, David Redmon
Young Russian girls join a modeling agency to seek work in Japan, but get caught up in an unregulated system that reveals an unseemly side of the fashion industry.
(U.S. Premiere)

Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters
Directors: Ben Shapiro
Acclaimed photographer Gregory Crewdson’s 10-year quest to create a series of haunting, surreal, and stunningly elaborate portraits of small-town American life — filmed with unprecedented access as he makes perfect renderings of a disturbing, imperfect world.
(World Premiere)

Just Like Being There
Directors: Scout Shannon
Through the eyes of Daniel Danger, Jay Ryan, and the gig poster community, Just Like Being There focuses on poster artists, the music they commemorate, MONDO film posters, fans, bloggers, galleries, collectors and everything in between.
(World Premiere)

Scarlet Road (Australia)
Directors: Catherine Scott
The film follows the extraordinary work of Australian sex worker, Rachel Wotton. Impassioned about freedom of sexual expression and the rights of sex workers, she specializes in a long over-looked clientele – people with disability.
(North American Premiere)

Trash Dance
Directors: Andrew Garrison
A choreographer finds beauty and grace in garbage trucks, and against the odds, rallies reluctant city trash collectors to perform an extraordinary dance spectacle. On an abandoned airport runway, two dozen sanitation workers — and their trucks — inspire an audience of thousands.
(World Premiere)

Waiting For Lightning
Directors: Jacob Rosenberg
From the producers of Step into Liquid, comes the story of visionary skateboarder Danny Way, who jumped China’s Great Wall and created a new movement in sport.
(World Premiere)

Wikileaks: Secrets & Lies (UK)
Directors: Patrick Forbes
The in-depth story of Wikileaks told by all the key players. Sulphurous, personal and moving, it documents history in the making at the lawless frontier of new technology and mainstream media.
(North American Premiere)

WONDER WOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines
Directors: Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
This documentary examines the fascinating evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman and introduces audiences to a dynamic group of real life superheroes who continue to fight the good fight both on and off the screen.
(World Premiere)

Emerging Visions:

Audacious, risk-taking artists in the new cinema landscape that demonstrate raw innovation and creativity in documentary and narrative filmmaking.

Films screening in Emerging Visions are:

Black Pond (UK)
Director: Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe | Writer: Will Sharpe
An ordinary family is accused of murder when a stranger dies at their dinner table. Stars BAFTA-winner Chris Langham and British Comedy Award Winner Simon Amstell.
Cast: Chris Langham, Simon Amstell, Amanda Hadingue, Colin Hurley, Will Sharpe
(North American Premiere)

Dollhouse (Ireland)
Director & Writer: Kirsten Sheridan
Five street teens break into a house in a rich Dublin suburb for a night of partying. But games are twisted into something more emotional and ultimately out of control through a series of surprising revelations,
Cast: Seana Kerslake, Johnny Ward, Kate Stanley Brennan, Shane Curry, Ciaran McCabe
(North American Premiere)

Eating Alabama
Director: Andrew Beck Grace
A quest to eat locally becomes a meditation on community, the South and sustainability. Eating Alabama is a story about why food matters.
(World Premiere)

Electrick Children
Director & Writer: Rebecca Thomas
Rachel, a 15-year-old fundamentalist Mormon, believes she’s had an immaculate conception by listening to rock and roll. She flees to Las Vegas to escape an arranged marriage, seeking answers to her mysterious pregnancy.
Cast: Julia Garner, Rory Culkin, Liam Aiken, Billy Zane
(North American Premiere)

Extracted
Director & Writer: Nir Paniry
A scientist is trapped in the memories of a criminal and must solve a crime in order to get back home to his family.
Cast: Sasha Roiz, Dominic Bogart, Jenny Mollen, Nick Jameson, Brad Culver
(World Premiere)

Francine (Canada / USA)
Director & Writer: Brian M. Cassidy, Melanie Shatzky
Academy-Award-winner, Melissa Leo, plays Francine, a woman struggling to find her place in a downtrodden lakeside town after leaving behind a life in prison.
Cast: Melissa Leo, Keith Leonard, Victoria Charkut
(North American Premiere)

Funeral Kings
Director & Writer: Kevin Mcmanus, Matthew Mcmanus
For three 14-year-old boys at St. Mark’s Middle School, it’s always a good day for a funeral.
Cast: Dylan Hartigan, Alex Maizus, Jordan Puzzo, Charles Odei, Kevin Corrigan
(World Premiere)

Hard Labor
Director & Writer: Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra
Helena prepares to open her own business: a neighborhood grocery store. She hires a maid. But when her husband Octavio is suddenly fired from his job, Helena is left to support the family alone.
Cast: Helena Albergaria, Marat Descartes, Naloana Lima, Marina Flores
(US Premiere)

La Camioneta – The Journey of One American School Bus
Director: Mark Kendall
On a 3,000-mile adventure across the borders between the Americas, La Camioneta follows the journey of one out-of-service American school bus as it is repaired, repainted and resurrected into a Guatemalan camioneta.
(World Premiere)

The Last Fall
Director & Writer: Matthew A. Cherry
An NFL journeyman struggles to deal with life’s complexities after his professional career is over at age 25.
Cast: Lance Gross, Nicole Beharie, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Harry Lennix, Keith David
(World Premiere)

Leave Me Like You Found Me
Director & Writer: Adele Romanski
Big trees, broken hearts. The story of a lovesick couple’s breakup & makeup while camping in the wilds of California.
Cast: Megan Boone, David Nordstrom
(World Premiere)

PAVILION
Director & Writer: Tim Sutton
Max, a quietly troubled 15-year-old, leaves his lakeside town to live with his father on the sun-blasted fringe of suburban Arizona. What begins in a calm and lush environment ends in a drastic, frayed confusion.
Cast: Max Schaffner, Zach Cali, Cody Hamric, Addie Barlett, Aaron Buyea
(World Premiere)

Sun Don’t Shine
Director & Writer: Amy Seimetz
Two lovers, on the back roads of Florida, do very bad things.
Cast: Kate Lyn Sheil, Kentucker Audley, AJ Bowen, Kit Gwinn, Mark Reeb
(World Premiere)

Sunset Stories
Director: Silas Howard, Ernesto Foronda | Writer: Valerie Stadler
Two lovers, on the back roads of Florida, do very bad things.
Cast: Monique Curnen, Sung Kang, Joshua Leonard, Mousa Kraish, Michelle Krusiec
(World Premiere)

Tchoupitoulas
Director: Bill Ross, Turner Ross
Three young brothers’ immersive journey into the sensory wonders of the New Orleans night.
(World Premiere)

Thale (Norway)
Director & Writer: Aleksander L. Nordaas
The film revolves around huldra, a mythical, tailed creature, found by two crime scene cleaners in a concealed cellar. Someone’s been keeping her down here for decades, for reasons soon to surface.
Cast: Silje Reinåmo, Jon Sigve Skard, Erlend Nervold, Morten Andresen
(North American Premiere)

Wildness
Director: Wu Tsang
A magical-realist portrait of the Silver Platter, a historic bar in Los Angeles that provides a safe space for Latin/LGBT immigrant and queer art communities to come together in love and conflict.

WOLF
Director & Writer: Ya’ke Smith
A family is shaken to the core when they discover their son has been molested. As they struggle to deal with the betrayal, their son heads towards a total mental collapse.
Cast: Irma P. Hall, Mikala Gibson, Jordan Cooper, Shelton Jolivette, Eugene Lee
(World Premiere)

24 Beats Per Second

Showcasing the sounds, culture and influence of music and musicians, with an emphasis on documentary.

Films screening in 24 Beats per Second are:

Amor Cronico (Cuba / USA)
Director: Jorge Perugorria
Weaving footage of singer Cucu Diamantes’ Cuban tour into a fictional love story. The result is an energetic display of her glamorous and infectious performance style and a fascinating portrait of Cuba today.
Cast: Cucu Diamantes, Adela Legra, Liosky Clavero, Andres Levin, Jorge Perugorria
(World Premiere)

Bad Brains: Band in DC
Directors: Mandy Stein, Benjamen Logan
How four young men from DC changed music forever.
(World Premiere)

Charles Bradley: Soul of America
Director: Poull Brien
The incredible late-in-life rise of 62-year-old aspiring soul singer Charles Bradley, whose debut album rocketed him from a hard life in the projects to Rolling Stone magazine’s top 50 albums of 2011.
(World Premiere)

Daylight Savings
Director: Dave Boyle | Writer: Dave Boyle, Michael Lerman, Joel Clark, Goh Nakamura
After a devastating breakup, musician Goh Nakamura hits the road with his irresponsible cousin to pursue a promising rebound with fellow musician Yea-Ming Chen. Cast: Goh Nakamura, Michael Aki, Yea-Ming Chen, Lynn Chen, Ayako Fujitani
(World Premiere)

Grandma Lo-fi: The Basement Tapes of Sigrídur Níelsdóttir (Iceland / Denmark)
Director: Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir
At the tender age of 70 she started making music – and then she couldn’t stop! A tribute to the Danish/Icelandic artist and late bloomer Sigrídur Níelsdóttir.

Paul Williams Still Alive
Director: Steven Kessler
A documentary filmmaker tracks down actor/singer/songwriter Paul Williams in an attempt to find out what happened to his idol.
(US Premiere)

Rock ‘N’ Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen (UK)
Director: Don Letts
Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Yoko Ono, Alice Cooper, Billie Joe Armstrong and others discuss the incredible life and work of the world’s foremost rock ‘n’ roll photographer, Bob Gruen.
(North American Premiere)

Sunset Strip
Director: Hans Fjellestad
The 100-year history of the loudest street on the planet, The Sunset Strip.
(World Premiere)

Under African Skies
Director: Joe Berlinger
Paul Simon returns to South Africa to explore the incredible journey of his historic Graceland album, including the political backlash he received for allegedly breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa designed to end the Apartheid regime.

Uprising: Hip Hop & The LA Riots
Director: Mark Ford
20 years after riots ripped through Los Angeles, Uprising documents how hip hop forecasted – and some say ignited – the worst civil unrest of the 20th century.
(World Premiere)

SX Global:

A diverse panorama of international filmmaking talent, including premieres, interactive documentaries and shorts.

Films screening in SX Global are:

BIJUKA (India)
Director: Ashtar Sayed | Writer: Dr. Mahendra Purohit
Inspired by a true event. Scarecrow tells the true story of a young woman who is attempting to escape from an abusive arranged marriage.
Cast: Arti Rautela, Amit Purohit
(North American Premiere)

Crulic – The Path to Beyond (Romania / Poland)
Director: Anca Damian
The animated documentary feature-length “Crulic – The Path to Beyond” tells the story of the life of Crulic, the 33-year-old Romanian who died in a Polish prison while on hunger strike.

Cubaton – El Medico Story (Estonia / Sweden)
Director: Daniel Fridell
El Medico – a Cuban house doctor who wants to become a cubaton star – is facing a serious choice between serving the state and becoming a popstar.
(North American Premiere)

Her Master’s Voice (UK)
Director: Daniel Fridell
Watching someone talk to themselves has never been so interesting.
(World Premiere)

ITALY LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT (Italy / Germany)
Directors: Gustav Hofer, Luca Ragazzi
Gustav and Luca, two Italians, have to decide: Should they stay in Italy, or leave it? .
(North American Premiere)

Mustafa’s Sweet Dreams (Greece / UK)
Director: Angelos Abazoglou
Gustav and Luca, two Italians, have to decide: Should they stay in Italy, or leave it? .
(North American Premiere)

Pompeya (Argentina)
Director: Tamae Garateguy | Writer: Tamae Garateguy, Diego A. Fleischer
When a film director hires two screenwriters to make a gansters movie, a fiction feast starts: femmes fatales, mobs fighting for the same neighborhood and a limitless hero who defies every movie concept.
Cast: José Luciano González, Joel Drut, Chang Sung Kim, Vladimir Yuravel, Miguel Forza de Paul
(US Premiere)

¡Vivan las Antipodas! (Germany / The Netherlands / Argentina / Chile))
Director: Victor Kossakovsky
Haven’t we all wondered at some point what was happening just at this moment beneath our very feet at the other side of the planet?

Festival Favorites:

Acclaimed standouts and selected previous premieres from festivals around the world.

Films screening in Festival Favorites are:

Beast (Denmark)
Director & Writer: Christoffer Boe
How long will you go, to hold on to the person you love?
Cast: Nicolas Bro, Marijana Jankovic, Nikolaj Lie Kaas

The Comedy
Director: Rick Alverson | Writer: Robert Donne, Colm O’Leary
Indifferent even to the prospects of inheriting his father’s estate, Swanson (Tim Heidecker), a desensitized, aging Brooklyn hipster, strays into a series of reckless situations that may offer the promise of redemption or the threat of retribution.
Cast: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, James Murphy, Kate Lyn-Sheil, Alexia Rassmusen

Dreams of a Life (UK / Ireland)
Director: Carol Morley
An imaginative quest to go beyond the newspaper reports and solve the mystery of who thirty-eight year old Joyce Vincent was and why she lay undiscovered for three years after her death in one of the busiest parts of London.
(North American Premiere)

God Bless America
Director & Writer: Bobcat Goldthwait
Loveless, jobless, possibly terminally ill, Frank has had enough of the downward spiral of America. With nothing left to lose, Frank takes his gun and offs the stupidest, cruelest, and most repellent members of society.
Cast: Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr
(North American Premiere)

The Imposter (UK)
Director: Bart Layton
In 1994 a 13-year-old disappears without trace in Texas. Three years later he resurfaces in Spain with accounts of a horrifying kidnap. His family is overjoyed – but all is not as it seems.

Indie Game: The Movie (Canada)
Director: Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky
With the twenty-first century comes a new breed of artist: the indie game designer. These innovators design and program their distinctly personal games in the hope that they may find connection and success.

KID-THING
Director & Writer: David Zellner
A fever-dream fable about Annie, a rebellious girl devoid of parental guidance or a moral compass. She roams the countryside looking for adventure, and finds it one day in the form of an abandoned well.
Cast: Sydney Aguirre, Susan Tyrrell, Nathan Zellner, David Zellner, David Wingo
Last call at the Oasis
Director: Jessica Yu
A powerful argument for why the global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century.

Lovely Molly
Director: Eduardo Sanchez | Writer: Eduardo Sanchez, Jamie Nash
Exploring the parallels between psychosis, addiction and demonic possession, Lovely Molly tells the story of what really happens before the exorcist arrives.
Cast: Gretchen Lodge, Johnny Lewis, Alexandra Holden
(US Premiere)

The Raid (Indonesia)
Director & Writer: Gareth Huw Evans
Rama and his special forces team fight their way through a rundown apartment block with a mission to remove its owner, a notorious drug lord.
Cast: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Doni Alamsyah, Yayan Ruhian, Pierre Gruno
(US Premiere)

WE ARE LEGION: The Story of the Hacktivists
Director: Brian Knappenberger
We Are Legion takes us inside the world of Anonymous, the radical “hacktivist” collective that has redefined civil disobedience for the digital age.

Special Event:

Live Soundtracks, cult re-issues and much more. Our Special Events section offers unusual, unexpected and unique film event one-offs.

Films screening in Special Events are:

An Evening With Sacred Bones Records
Director: Jacqueline Castel
Brooklyn-based record label Sacred Bones presents an evening of original and curated programming of music videos, short films, works in progress, and a rare screening of their first film production, Twelve Dark Noons.
(World Premiere)

Bernie (UK)
Director: Richard Linklater | Writer: Richard Linklater, Skip Hollandsworth
Based on real-life events, this dark comedy follows Bernie Tiede, his recently deceased friend Marjorie Nugent and District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson who is determined to get to the bottom of the crime.
Cast: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey, Brady Coleman, Richard Robichaux

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
Director: Drew Denicola
A feature-length documentary about the massive critical acclaim, dismal commercial failure, and enduring legacy of pop music’s greatest cult phenomenon, Big Star.
(Work in Progress)

Casa de mi Padre
Director: Matt Piedmont | Writer: Andrew Steele
Will Ferrell plays a Mexican rancher who must defend his father’s home against the country’s most infamous drug lord.
Cast: Will Ferrell, Gael García Vernal, Diego Luna, Genesis Rodriguez, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Nick Offerman

Girl Walk // All Day
Director & Writer: Jacob Krupnick
A feature-length dance music film that combines freestyle dance with the daily chaos of New York City, set to Girl Talk’s recent mashup album, All Day.
Cast: Anne Marsen, John Doyle, Daisuke Omiya

Re:Generation
Director: Amir Bar Lev
5 DJ’s Turn the Table on The History of Music.

Renga (UK)
Directors: Adam Russell, John Sear
A ground breaking feature-length show controlled entirely by the audience using laser pointers. It is the first viable example of a standalone interactive experience capable of running in commercial movie theatres.
(North American Premiere)

The Oyster Princess (1919) with original live score by Bee vs. Moth (Germany)
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Writer: Hanns Kraly & Ernst Lubitsch
The Oyster Princess is Ernst Lubitsch’s tart 1919 silent comedy that parodies the rich and the spoiled. Austin jazz/rock band Bee vs. Moth performs their original score live with the film for the first time. (World Premiere)

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Audience Award for Feature Documentary: Getting Up by Caskey Ebeling

Audience Award for Feature Narrative: Bindlestiffs by Andrew Edison

GRAND JURY AWARDS – NARRATIVE

This year’s Slamdance Narrative Jury Prizes were selected by an esteemed panel of industry members: filmmakers Karin Chien and Jason McHugh, and film distribution executive Orly Ravid.

Grand Jury Sparky Award for Feature Narrative: Welcome To Pine Hills by Keith Miller, “for its poetic and emotionally honest depiction of one man’s final journey in life, crafted from a true spirit of humanity and community.”

Special Jury Award for Bold Originality: Heavy Girls by Axel Ranisch, “for its joie de vivre, an incredibly life-affirming film that is presented with a unique vision and an amazing cast.”

GRAND JURY AWARDS – DOCUMENTARY

The Documentary Jury—comprised of journalist Mark Bell, filmmakers Aaron Marshall and Kelly Williams—announced the awards with their statements:

Grand Jury Sparky Award for Feature Documentary: No Ashes, No Phoenix by Jens Pfeifer, “for its adeptly piercing and cinematic look at a basketball team’s impassioned struggle not for glory, but to just avoid losing.”

Grand Jury Sparky Award for Short Documentary: The Professional by Skylar Neilsen, for “an honest and natural portrayal of work-as-life, and the slowly disappearing craft of an American working man.”

GRAND JURY AWARDS – SHORT FILMS

This year’s Short Film Jury Prizes were selected by an esteemed panel of industry members: Iranian-American filmmaker/curator Ehsan Ghoreishi, writer / filmmaker Oona Mekas, and filmmaker and stage veteran Jack Truman.

Grand Jury Sparky Award for Animation: Venus by Tor Fruergaard, “for its creative use of claymation characters to explore sexual adventure and its lighthearted, touching and memorable story.”

Grand Jury Sparky Award for Short Film: I Am John Wayne by Christina Choe, “for its unique storytelling, cinematography and performances, including the brilliant use of a real horse in an urban environment.”

Special Jury Prize for Experimental Short: Solipsist by Andrew Huang, “for its unique blend of live action footage of the human body, puppetry and computer animation that creates a colorful and insightful fantasy world.”

Honorable Mention for Best Ensemble: I’m Coming Over by Sam Handel, “for its extraordinary ensemble which creates a world that extends beyond the film’s 25 minute length.”

SPECIAL & SPONSORED AWARDS

Spirit of Slamdance Sparky Award: Heavy Girls (Dicke Mädchen) – Axel Ranisch, Heiko Pinkowski, Anne Baeker. Awarded by the Class of 2012 Slamdance Filmmakers to the film team that best embodies the creative, independent, and entrepreneurial spirit of the festival, as well as showing exceptional talent as artists.

The Kodak Vision Award for Best Cinematography: Faith, Love, and Whiskey by Kristina Nikolova, “for shooting every single frame of this picture in a way that is not only pleasing to the eye, but also strongly supportive to the story being told.”

Panasonic AF100 Award for ‘The Five Flavors of Filmmaking’ Competition: Josh Gibson, director of the short film Kudzu Vine. Five filmmaking teams created one-minute films during the 2012 Slamdance Film Festival. The winning team exemplifies excellence in visual storytelling and receives a Panasonic AF100 Camera Package.

The 2012 Slamdance Film Festival Awards are sponsored by Kodak, Panasonic, Good Health and Pierce Law Group.

The festival is slated to run for three days, from May 10, 2012 – May 13, 2012 and will be essentially open ended as far as entries are concerned with the exception of not accepting entries that have screened within 100 miles of the coastal town. Essentially this stipulation serves the purpose of still including the possibility of films screening at SXSW (which, again, is 200 miles away in Austin, TX) but opening the door for filmmakers not native to Corpus and/or filmmakers who haven’t screened films to their immediate audience (i.e. the audience right in their backyard).

The festival, again, has stated that it is fairly flexible when it comes to the theme and makeup of films, only putting a bar on the length to 30 minutes of less and the creation of the film needing to be after January 2011. Currently Crash The Coast is in active Call for Entries mode with a deadline of March 10, 2012 for early submissions ($50 covers the cost of submission). Late submissions can be sent in as late as March 29, 2012 but the price raises an additional $25. All submissions should be mailed via FedEx, UPS, or USPS to Heidi Hovda at 410 SPID, Suite 200, Corpus Christi, TX 78405. The submission fees can be paid by check or money order (made payable to Corpus Christi Film Society, or by credit card (American Express, Mastercard, or Visa). The festival also sponsors an early submission fee of $30.00 for films coming in before February 14, 2012.

For more information on this festival visit their festival webpage here, or email for more information at info@corpuschristifilmsociety.com.

She succeeds Rebecca Yeldham, who voluntarily left her position for personal reasons. Stephanie will be working closely with Festival Managing Director Gloria Campbell and Festival Artistic Director David Ansen, as well as Associate Director of Programming Doug Jones, Senior Programmer Maggie Mackay and Programming Coordinator Jenn Wilson.

“Stephanie has served on the Film Independent Board of Directors since 2007 and been involved in many aspects of the organization. She’s chaired the Spirit Awards Nominating Committee and been a huge supporter of Project Involve, as well as our year-round educational programs,” said Co-President Sean Mc Manus. “Stephanie has a clear vision for the Festival, a stellar track record as a producer and a deep commitment to the Festival’s filmmaker-centric focus.”

With a mind the likes of Allain taking the helm there are sure to be innovations added to the Los Angeles Film Festival that please everyone and play to the audience as well as the filmmakers (Allain having experienced multiple roles in the industry herself).

The LA Film Fest runs from June 14, 2012 – June 24,2012. Visit their website for information on the festival and wish Stephanie Allain luck on driving this festival in the right direction!

Renowned chef and winner of Top Chef All Stars, Richard Blais sits in on the panel “Snacky Tunes: Food, Music & Internet Radio.” Artist Gloria Gaynor discusses the legislation that allows authors to reclaim their copyrights after 35 years on “How Stella Got Her Masters Back: Reversion Rights.” Entrepreneur and Former Executive VP of The Island Def Jam Music Group and Warner Music Group, Kevin Liles, talks about the many aspects of artists’ brands on the panel “Taking the Throne: The Brand is the New King.” Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel S. Eriksen, collectively known as StarGate, sit down for an interview to discuss their successful careers working with artists such as Ne-Yo, Rihanna, and Beyonce. Founder and CEO of turntable.fm, Billy Chasen, joins the panel “Social Music Strategies: Viral & the Power of Free.” Andrew W.K. will examine the influences of the occult in rock music on the panel “Blood Music Sex Magick.”

South By features hundreds of musical acts, running the gambit of genres and the length of every street that the festival occupies. Here is a partial list of the artists to expect at this year’s South By festival:

The Ting Tings (Manchester UK – ENGLAND)
Counting Crows (Berkeley, CA)
Metric (Toronto CANADA)
Vetusta Morla (Madrid, SPAIN)
Thee Oh Sees (San Francisco, CA)
Doomtree (Minneapolis, MN)
Stars (Montreal, CANADA)
Steve Aoki (Los Angeles, CA)
The Men (New York, NY)
The Big Pink (London, UK – ENGLAND)
The Drums (New York, NY)
Niki & The Dove (Stockholm SWEDEN)
The Black Belles (Nashville, TN)
Built to Spill (Boise, ID)
Craft Spells (Seattle, WA)
Danny Brown (Detroit, MI)
Turquoise Jeep (Des Moines, IA)
Blitzen Trapper (Portland, OR)

Keep up with the SXSW film festival by visiting their festival webpage here, and check in on their festival schedule for complete lists of the bands featured at this year’s festival.

Paranormal Activity takes the cake for low risk, high reward films with a budget of $11,000 that yielded a following and payout of over $500 million. Surely, if anyone has the insight to make indies great despite financial challenges it is Oren Peli!

Oren Peli Interview from Slamdance on Vimeo.

When asked how he felt the relationship between Hollywood and independent film had changed or remained the same coming into this year’s Sundance, Cooper replied that he thought the divide is growing. He went further to suggest that “as Hollywood has its problems with financial things and needs to make films of a certain size, you are splitting, where maybe 10 years ago there was a blending a little bit.”

Once upon a time the indie filmmaker was a misunderstood artist, slowly turning into a type of taboo that fastened itself to any person “just making a film.” Nonetheless, we are gradually approaching a time in which filmmaking is becoming even more increasingly accessible as is evidenced by established filmmakers like Hooman Khalili creating films on devices like a smart phone (Olive – Pictured right) instead of high-end, exclusively film-y equipment. Some may consider this to be the pinnacle of indie film’s demise as the industry is clearly destined to be over saturated with bad films.

But not so, in the opinion of Cooper though not specifically toward this argument. More so, with the technology currently out there and clearly accessible he feels that the quality of films coming into Sundance has remained good and actually improved. “What I am seeing in general is that the independent film movement or community is maturing a little bit. The bar gets set higher each year” says Cooper in reference to the selected films for this year’s Sundance.

Finally, we reach the ultimate question of whether or not these festivals just service the same persons every year and do little to nothing to further the careers of others in the production. When you’re dealing in Hollywood I suppose its also true that there are certain roles that receive fame while other may go by the wayside without a volume of success: think maybe a one time dynamite screenplay versus a one time dynamite direction, though within the film world both are recognized the same generally leans toward the director.

Cooper comments that, too, the festival is doing advancing and doing more for the community of film. When asked how festivals expose roles other than break out directors he comments that the discoveries have “ramped up… It is not just an event for the filmmakers.”

Looking to Sundance and all the other great festivals out there we are beginning to see that independent film hasn’t gone the way of the wildebeest much like critics may have predicted after the market began to play less toward the theater experience. Instead, the indie film community is growing and thriving with an unwillingness to compromise itself.

The contest presents a great opportunity for creative minds everywhere as the genre can be of any frame be it TV-pilot, web series or short film.

The 10 winners of this competition will open the 69th Annual Venice Film Festival and compete for a chance to win the grand prize of $500,000 and the opportunity to create a new work with Scott Free and his talent team.

“Through this program, YouTube will give filmmakers the opportunity to reach a vast audience, screen their work during the Venice Film Festival and potentially be rewarded in a career-changing way,” Robert Kyncl, global head of content at YouTube, said in a statement according to Atlanta Business News.

This is not YouTube’s first trip to the rodeo, the Google owned company released the experimental documentary Life in a Day in 2011 which patched together submissions by YouTube users on one day of the year. The documentary was well received critically and showcased that YouTube is capable of venturing further into the independent and mainstream film industry.

“We’ve always wanted to do something like this, but there were limitations in the past that prevented us from doing it,” says Nate Weinstein, YouTube entertainment marketing manager according to AJC. “The time also seemed right given the work that the organization is doing within original channels.”

Ironically, with SOPA and PIPA looming it is nice to see a perfect example of how organizations like YouTube have made the ability to exercise free speech on the internet into great opportunities for others. While there are inherent issues with the internet as it is, let us not forget all the good it has done and the strong bonds people have formed using it.

The Huffington Post takes a great look at the daunting task of Sundance in this piece by Marshall Fine, as the grand festival is creeping up on us all. Continuing reading for this interesting perspective on how even industry heavy weights must calculate how to approach these festivals which boast the greatest films out there:

Sundance 2012 begins tomorrow (Thursday 1/19/12) but, really, I feel like I’ve already been there a couple of days. I mean, I go in having seen a half-dozen films already, either from other festivals (Toronto or New York) or from advance screenings.

(Among the better ones: California Solo, a touching drama by writer-director Marshall Lewy that gives that marvelous actor Robert Carlyle a great character part into which he can sink his teeth.)

But if you asked me what I was most interested in seeing, I would have to shrug ignorantly. I could page through my daily schedule, but that wouldn’t help because the titles have yet to make an impression on me.

I usually spend a few hours on the weekend before I leave for Sundance (or Toronto, for that matter) figuring out the schedule. I start by plowing through the dozens of emails I’ve received about films that are at the festival, then move on to the festival catalog and schedule themselves. I’ll read the names of the director and cast, then the synopsis and running time (90 minutes or less is perfect; anything over 120 minutes — like Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer this year — is subject to analysis, in terms of investment of time).

I’ll devote a page of the legal pad to each day, page after page on a pad. Old habits die hard; indeed, they only get more elaborate. I plot the screenings on my chart for the specific day, choosing between columns for press screenings, versus public ones to which I think I can find a ticket: title of film, theater name, running time — and, if it’s a public screening, the name and contact of the film’s publicist.

So now I’ve got a chart which, in all likelihood, has two or three titles at many timeslots: Some may have boldly drawn parentheses around them, indicating that’s my strong preference for that time on that day. Even then, I probably couldn’t tell you what most of the films were, based on being told the title.

But that’s the best part of any film festival: not knowing and then discovering. Seeing a movie without the slightest preconception of what you’re going to see is the purest form of film-going, the place where excitement is born.

It was no trick to discover The Descendants when I was at the Toronto Film Festival last September; it had been shown a few days earlier at the Telluride festival and was the buzz of the Internet. But God Bless America, a film directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, and Butter, which quickly developed buzz of its own, were films I saw without knowing anything about them. Both of them knocked me out in a way that The Descendants, my favorite film of last year, couldn’t — because they had the element of surprise.

Of course, there are Sundance films that already are being talked about, buzzed about, built into an event before anyone has really seen them. I couldn’t tell you what they were. But, once I get to Sundance Saturday night, I can offer my thoughts on the movies I’m discovering in the theaters of Park City, Utah. Stay tuned.

Here is the list of premieres and features:

7 WORLD PREMIERE FEATURES

Born & Raised (USA);

La Casa Del Ritmo, A Film About Los Amigos Invisibles (USA/Ecuador);

The Diary of Preston Plummer (USA);

Hombre y Tierra (USA);

Mariachi Gringo (Mexico/USA);

The Porcelain Horse (Mejor no hablar (de ciertas cosas)) (Ecuador);

Underground Hip-Hop in China (China/USA)

4 WORLD PREMIERE SHORTS

The Beach Chronicles AGX (USA);

Beyond Assignment (USA);

Cell Phone Zombies (Cel zombies) (Ecuador);

Shift (USA)

5 INTERNATIONAL PREMIERES

180 Seconds (180 segundos)(Colombia);

Baracoa: Where Cuba Began (Baracoa: 500 Años Despues) (Spain);

Ben Lee: Catch My Disease (Australia);

Speechless (Sin palabras) (Colombia);

Zoo (Zoológico) (Chile)

10 NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERES

Annalisa (Il Paese Delle Spose Infelici) (Italy);

Choked (South Korea);

Code Blue (The Netherlands);

A Cube of Sugar (Ye Habeh Gand) (Iran);

I’d Receive the Worst News From Your Beautiful Lips (Eu Receberia As Piores Notícias De Seus Lindos Lábios) (Brazil);

In The Name of The Girl (En el nombre de la hija) (Ecuador);

Motherland or Death (Patria o Muerte) (Russia);

Pescador (Ecuador/ Colombia);

Promising The Moon (Das Blaue Vom Himmel) (Germany);

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You (Un Giorno Questo Dolore Ti Sará Utile) (Italy/USA)

10 U.S. PREMIERES

Chinese Take-Away (Un cuento chino) (Argentina/Spain);

The Cat Vanishes (El gato desaparece) (Argentina);

Distance (Distancia) (Guatemala);

The Fifth Commandment (El quinto mandamiento) (Mexico);

Heleno (Brazil);

The Sleeping Voice (La voz dorminda) (Spain);

Porfirio (Colombia/Spain/Uruguay/Argentina/France);

The Strawberry Tree (El arbol de las fresas) (Canada);

UFO In Her Eyes (Germany/China);

Vaquero (Argentina)

For more information on the Miami International Film Festival visit their webpage here, and stay tuned to Festival Genius for more updates!

Original Article Posted On FestivalGenius.Com