SXSW 2011: Day Five
We interrupt this festival coverage to rave about the tremendously positive reception of Austinite Emily Hagins' third feature film, My Sucky Teen Romance.
Sure, we're totally biased -- at least I am, and I'm not the only Slackerwood contributor who is. I contributed to the crowdfunding, and I know many people who worked on the movie, including Emily. Our Mike Saulters was an extra. But I'm very pleased to report that the Paramount had to open up the balcony for the world premiere of My Sucky Teen Romance. It didn't quite fill the theater to capacity, but the lower balcony had a big lively crowd, which is always a great thing for filmmakers, especially once the SXSW music festival starts. Emily is one of our own, and she's done us proud, just like we knew she would.
The Austin film communities -- filmmakers and film fans alike -- have nurtured Emily since she started making films at the tender age of 11. Now 18, Emily managed to keep her composure when the audience gave her not one, but two standing ovations, first for the accomplishment of premiering her third feature at the most coveted venue for film festivals, the historic Paramount, and then for the accomplishment of bringing us a very solid film. Yes, we turned out to celebrate one of our own, but that level of enthusiasm was because Emily and her cast and crew delivered.
Emily's pictured above with one of her younger cast members (wearing a t-shirt with the title of her first film). Most of her current cast were teens, making My Sucky Teen Romance a teen horror comedy that has the authenticity Hollywood teen comedies lack. We would have added a picture of her youngest cast member, but he was being rushed off to bed after he had a chance to say hello to his director. We'll be reviewing MSTR later, but in the meantime, we're thrilled at the positive reception. Read my interview with Emily for more details about the film and its director.
Plenty of other interesting movies were playing around town today, including another screening of Buck. I can only assume the horses and riders above were here supporting the film, but if not, just know that the only horses we normally see are those carriage rides.
So what's up tomorrow? If you like tense character studies, check out 96 Minutes. If you're a fan of molecular gastronomy, then El Bulli: Cooking in Progress is for you. If you missed it, the social commentary wrapped in a sci-fi/horror context hit Attack the Block plays again, as does Ti West's The Innkeepers. And there are not one, but three "buzz" screenings, at least one of which is bound to be Natural Selection, which won multiple awards at Tuesday night's SXSW awards show. But perhaps the big-ticket movie is the premiere of local screenwriter Kyle Killen's The Beaver, directed by Jodie Foster and starring Mel Gibson.