SXSW 2010: Austin Filmmakers Congregate at 'Happy Poet'

Sometimes the best photo opportunities have nothing to do with red carpets. The Austin-shot film The Happy Poet had its world premiere in the small theater at Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz during SXSW this year, and the only red carpet might have been a patch in the lobby where someone spilled a Red Bull. Still, if you wanted to meet Austin filmmakers and actors -- and snap a few photos -- this was the place to be early on Sunday afternoon.

Everyone clustered around the little food cart (pictured at right) in front of the Ritz, just like the one in The Happy Poet, but unfortunately with no sandwiches. You could get one of the healthy snacks, however, if you signed up for the film's mailing list. The only problem was that the light was terrible for photography -- it was very sunny and everyone stood in the shade.

Jenn Brown and I were both intrigued by this movie, because a) we could see from the stills that it was shot in noticeable Austin locations like Auditorium Shores and b) we like movies about food. So we both got to the premiere early, which you want to do anyway for films playing in the small Alamo Ritz theater on the first weekend of SXSW.

We met so many Austin film folks that I've forgotten who a few of them are in the photos, but I'm sure some of you will be kind enough to let me know in the comments.

It was easy for us to recognize Mars director Geoff Marslett, because we'd had brunch with him before the fest to talk about his movie. He wasn't wearing his Mars space outfit that day, though ... but Jenn posted photos of that elsewhere. In the following photo, he's second from the left, next to filmmaker Spencer Parsons (I'll Come Running) with local author/filmmaker Linden Dalecki and UT instructor Bryan Sebok, who co-produced SXSW 2010 feature Dance with the One, on the right.

Of course, the cast and crew of The Happy Poet were also hanging out in front of the Ritz. I met director/actor Paul Gordon, whose voice I'd heard the previous day in the film Mars -- he plays one of the astronauts. I have to say I kind of wished I'd seen The Happy Poet first, because I think I would have appreciated his Mars performance more if I'd known about his deadpan acting style. 

Anyway, here's The Happy Poet producer Chris Ohlson (who also co-produced SXSW 2010 selection Lovers of Hate), actor Chris Doubek (who was also in Lovers of Hate and Earthling at SXSW), Earthling director Clay Liford -- look, Jenn! I got a photo, so don't worry about missing one -- and actor/co-producer Jonny Mars.

I also ran into David Hartstein, the producer of The Happy Poet, whom I'd met and interviewed last year when his documentary Along Came Kinky premiered at SXSW. (And Hartstein helped get Kinky Friedman for Mars. Austin film is all one big rollicking interconnected community sometimes.) Hartstein is at the far right in the picture below. On his left is Anish Savjani, who has produced local films such as Mars, Harmony and Me, I'll Come Running and Gretchen. And on his left is actor John Merriman, who used to work as a programmer for Austin Film Festival and has been in films like Holy Hell and Gretchen. Merriman is allegedly working on some mysterious project, I think in Connecticut (no one really knows), and is one of the funniest people in my Twitter feed.

Jenn and I both enjoyed The Happy Poet, and you can read her review right here. Again, however, we wished some of the sandwiches had been on the Alamo Drafthouse menu as specials that day. Alamo had some yummy food specials for March but didn't do any SXSW tie-ins this year.

After the film, producer David Hartstein, filmmaker Paul Gordon, and actors Jonny Mars and Liz Fisher all held a Q&A. The following picture of Gordon is a bit blurry, but it's still my favorite of him:

You can't tell that he's wearing his Happy Poet shirt, but with the changeable weather, nearly everyone had jackets or overshirts on. Jonny Mars had one on too .. also covered up, sadly. Here he is with Liz Fisher:

Finally, a shot of the whole Q&A:

Now, when can we see The Happy Poet again? I'm wondering that myself. We'll keep you posted about future screening dates on Slackerwood. In the meantime, you can join the film's mailing list from their website, or follow their Facebook fan page, where they're currently holding a t-shirt design contest. And if you want to see a few more photos from the SXSW event, check out my SXSW 2010 Flickr set.