SXSW: Uncanny sibling chemistry in "Our Father"

by Jason Adams

As a person without any close siblings (I have a half-sister who I wasn't raised with) the tricky alchemy of sibling-hood often escapes me. I watch my friends who do have close relations with their brothers or sisters with some fascination. It's not quite a foreign Twin Language every time but it might as well be, to me, the weird ways you people relate and the fiery push-pulls of it; the way you can be meaner to a person you were raised beside than anybody else on earth and then turn and snap fangs at anybody trying to do the same at that person. 

But, like too many things in life, I've learned the most about those relationships from watching them in the movies...

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SXSW: The dystopian visions of Executive Order & Witch Hunt

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

It’s sadly not all that difficult to imagine our society slipping into dystopian territory, and while that might have seemed impossible here in America, recent events have suggested we’re not that far away from authoritarian misery. Cinema has long explored such inevitabilities, and it’s those “very near future” concepts that don’t look so different from what we know today that can be especially terrifying. They can also be insightful, strong pieces of filmmaking, and SXSW has two this year that are indeed frightening and thought-provoking...

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SXSW: Hysterical, Potato Dreams of America, Introducing Selma Blair, and Broadcast Signal Intrusion

by Christopher James

There’s a lot that the pandemic has made harder. The one thing it has made easier has been attending film festivals from all around the country. Pre-pandemic, covering SXSW would’ve required a flight to Austin, Texas, inflated lodging costs and lots of pre-planning. Now, the only lines festival goers have to battle are online. Food is just an arms reach away in the kitchen (no more popcorn dinners). 

Last year, SXSW was one of the first things cancelled as COVID-19 spread across the country. The festival is very different this year, but the quality of content is still great. The Film Experience will be covering the fest through the weekend.  Here are a four takes from Day One. One comedy doc, an intimate celebrity piece, a noir, and a Russian comedy... 

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SXSW didn't have a festival. But they do have winners.

Shithouse (2020) was the big winner at the phantom SXSW festivalA not so secret secret about film festivals: many juries are watching their category on screeners before the festival due to tight schedules, scads of programming, and the general chaos of actual festivals. So, though SXSW didn't actually happen this year, their juries DID give out prizes. Yes, it feels like new movies are but figments of our imagination but that's always the case to some extent with festivals, isn't it? Like Saint Frances which won big at SXSW a year ago only to finally emerge just in time for the Coronavirus to strike it down in theaters, a couple of weeks ago. So maybe in a year's time we'll see these movies!

Their winners and what the juries said about them....

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Linkward

Gal Gadot and celebrity friends sing "Imagine" to us from their quarantines
AV Club the Olympic Flame has arrived in Tokyo... but how will the Olympics go on?
Criterion has announced its June titles - Portrait of a Lady on Fire, whoooo!
France 24 Cannes has finally made the announcement. The long running festival will not be cancelled but postponed. It will now begin at the end of June instead of mid-Ma 

After the jump including coronavirus dread at movie theaters, Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, the fate of Pixar's Onward, and more...

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