Need More Fest? Sample 'Taste of SXSW' Encores at Alamo

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SXSW Film 2010We're more than halfway through the 2010 SXSW Film Festival, and some of us are starting to experience that slightly panicky feeling that we haven't seen as many films as we wanted and are going to miss a few we were dying to see. Normally I'd advise some deep breathing, a yoga pose and the understanding that this happens every year and it's just the way the universe works. However, Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz has decided to give Austinites just one more chance to see some of the films the Alamo staff especially enjoyed at SXSW this year: Rejoice and Shout, Monsters, Outcast and Red White & Blue.*

The best part is that the "Taste of SXSW" screenings are open to the general public. These are equal-opportunity screenings where anyone can buy a ticket from the Alamo website. You don't have to wait in a long line in the rain only to find out that the badgeholders got all the seats this time.  They're spaced throughout the week so you don't have to see three movies in a day if you're starting to feel a little burned out by that schedule.

The screening times and descriptions from the Alamo website are listed after the jump.

REJOICE AND SHOUT -- Sunday, March 21, 1:30 pm

Packed with evocative photos, rare audio recordings, stirring film appearances and TV performances, REJOICE AND SHOUT covers the 200 year musical history of African-American Christianity. Culled from hundreds of hours of music REJOICE AND SHOUT features the creme de la creme of Gospel music.

MONSTERS -- Sunday, March 21, 9:35 pm

Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after new life forms began to appear there and half of Mexico was quarantined as an INFECTED ZONE. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain "the creatures."

Our story begins when a U.S. journalist agrees to escort a shaken tourist through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the US border.

OUTCAST -- Monday, March 22, 10 pm

Mary and her son Fergal live their lives on the run, hiding from someone or something. When they move to yet another new home, Fergal finds himself caught between the affections of his beautiful and feisty neighbour and his fiercely protective mother who will stop at nothing to protect her precious son. Their hunter is Cathal, a dangerous and terrifying man, intent on tracking down and killing them using a dark form of magic to find them. Mary’s only defense is to use the same ancient form of magic in order to protect her son. When local residents are brutally murdered by an unknown life force, the sense of fear escalates. Is Cathal the beast responsible for the killings? Or is it the beast that he is trying to destroy?

RED WHITE AND BLUE -- Tuesday, March 23, 7:20 pm

Erica (Amanda Fuller) spends her nights trawling the bars and beds of Austin. Emotionally withdrawn, sleeping with multiple men is just what she does ... until she meets the older and mysterious Nate (Noah Taylor), who claims to have an "honorable discharge" from Iraq. Despite his air of danger, Nate's the only guy who doesn’t just seem to want to get her into bed, and the two form a hesitant bond. But one of Erica’s casual sexual encounters, Franki (Marc Senter) -- a young, hot-headed wannabe rock star trying to make it big -- is about to return dramatically into her life ... Franki "shared" Erica with his buddies one drunken evening. A cruel twist of fate is all it takes to throw his already crazy world into a spin, and in Franki's eyes there is only one person to blame.

*Editor's Note: Can I get a ruling on the format of the title Red White and Blue? I'm using the IMDb format but I've also seen it with extra commas, "and" instead of an ampersand, and other refinements. I do believe I will try to email director Simon Rumley and find out the official title before the proofreader in me, having finally recuperated from that Inglourious Basterds thing, goes insane. I'll keep you posted, although I suspect I'm the only one who cares.