March 17, 2010 - 8:00 pm
 By Jay A. Fernandez and Daniel Carlson
Is the Austin-set SXSW Film Festival getting too big for its chaps?
As far as problems go, excessive demand is a good one to have for a film festival. It means programmers are making strong choices, the venues are attractive and the regional vibe welcoming.
But as of the 2010 edition, which featured crowds of badge and ticket holders turned away from nearly every screening, the festival’s organizers have some hard decisions to make. Take over more venues to increase the screening count and you risk angering the locals, limit badge and ticket sales to cap demand and you risk undercutting SXSW’s populist credibility.
March 16, 2010 - 9:54 pm
By Jay A. Fernandez
 Well, I’m a little late with these SXSW feature awards, since I foolishly decided to fly back to L.A. during the Tuesday night ceremony, but I hear a bunch of people broke the embargo early, which is a shameful bungle.
The narrative feature jury award was given to Lena Dunham’s “Tiny Furniture,” which had its world premiere Monday. The documentary feature jury award was handed to Jeff Malmberg’s “Marwencol,” about a brain-damaged man who creates a 1/6-scale model of a World War II-era town in his backyard. Runner-up in the doc category was Rebecca Richman Cohen’s “War Don Don.”
March 16, 2010 - 2:57 pm
By Gregg Kilday
Within hours after “Monsters” premiered at the SXSW Film Festival, Magnet Releasing scooped up distribution rights for the U.S. and Mexico.
Gareth Edwards‘ first feature, a sci-fi tale about alien lifeforms that have infected a quarantined zone in Mexico, was shot using actors like Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able working alongside local people they met during a road trip through Guatemala, Mexico and the U.S.
March 16, 2010 - 12:19 pm
 By Jay A. Fernandez
I was happy to have scored a seat at the SXSW Midnight Shorts screening at the Lamar late Monday night. It had started to rain and, once again, the theater sidewalk was packed with moviegoers.
A dozen weird, whimsical, raunchy and freaky shorts made the cut, and almost all of them were engaging and, often, hilarious.
March 16, 2010 - 8:47 am
 By Jay A. Fernandez
“Rock ‘n’ roll is Lemmy. Lemmy is rock ‘n’ roll.”
After sitting through Wes Orshoski and Greg Olliver’s Jack-and-Coke-drenched documentary “Lemmy” at its raucous world premiere Monday night, I couldn’t possibly argue. The Motörhead life force — and the rest of the band, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee — were in attendance at the Paramount to christen the brain-numbingly long but definitive rock doc with a Panzer full of metal credibility.
I mean it literally when I say that this film, and its subject, is about as rock ‘n’ roll as you can get. From his custom-made boots to his bandolier belt to his war-memorabilia headgear, Lemmy Kilmister is a rare breed of old-school rocker who, at 63 years old, apparently still lives as he did at 19. The whiskey, the endless cigarettes, the women, the house a block off Sunset, the ear-splitting shows — and a few things I certainly didn’t expect, like his obsession with one-arm bandits and the trivia game at the bar at the Rainbow Bar and Grill.
March 16, 2010 - 7:50 am
By Daniel Carlson
 I’d missed the Friday night “Kick-Ass” premiere at SXSW to attend “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” (really good), so Monday’s world premiere of Rogue/Universal’s “MacGruber” at the Paramount was my first full-on blowout of the fest in terms of celebrity and buzz.
The admittance line for badge-holders wrapped around the block, and people started forming a queue at 6:45 p.m. for a 9:30 show. This year’s fest is definitely bigger than last year’s, and to combat the diminishing odds of getting into movies, many badge-holders hop in line with friends. I mean, I heard about someone doing that. Far away from me.
March 15, 2010 - 2:47 pm
By Jay A. Fernandez
 I got a look at James Franco’s “Saturday Night Live” documentary, titled “Saturday Night,” at the Alamo Drafthouse Lamar on, uh, Sunday night. Once again, the theater parking lot was packed, with lines bending in both directions around the back of the building.
What began as a five-minute documentary thesis project focusing on cast member Bill Hader for Franco’s NYU graduate course turned into unprecedented access and a warts-and-all feature-length look at a week in the life of Lorne Michaels’ long-running NBC comedy sketch show.
March 15, 2010 - 8:30 am
 By Jay A. Fernandez
Richard Garriott became the first second-generation astronaut to make it into space last year. Filmmaker Mike Woolf chronicles Garriott’s achievement in “Richard Garriott — Man on a Mission,” which held its world premiere Sunday afternoon at the Paramount Theatre.
Garriott is a video game developer who spent $30 million of his own funds to train secretly in Moscow, launch from Kazakhstan and spend 12 days aboard the International Space Station before returning home to meet his astronaut father, Owen.
Here’s a shot of Garriott outside the theater.
March 15, 2010 - 8:06 am
 By Daniel Carlson
I totally got called out by Jonah Hill for a negative review of “Cyrus” that ran in The Hollywood Reporter, which is pretty much when the wheels came off.
Looking back, this was probably not the way I wanted to start my professional relationship with the man, but it could’ve been worse: At least I didn’t write said review. Or throw up on camera.
March 14, 2010 - 8:00 pm
By Jay A. Fernandez
 Distribution deals were never the point of the SXSW Film Festival, and that’s still true at its 17th edition, which began this weekend.
But for filmmakers, actors, independent film aficionados and yes, sales executives, it’s a laid-back Lone Star love-in.
“Audiences are more relaxed here,” says Ron Yerxa, who with Albert Berger executive produced Jacob Hatley’s “Ain’t in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm,” which held its world premiere Saturday afternoon. “Screenings at the Alamo Draft House have almost a party atmosphere, which is what I always thought festival screenings should be.”
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