Local Cast and Crew

Day three of SXSW actually began with the end of day two. Thanks to earlier screenings delaying the start of the super-secret screening of the Scott Derrickson/ C. Robert Cargill movie Sinister, Sunday was under way before the audience was admitted. The screening took place at Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar.

Sinister, conceived and written by Austin film critic Cargill, was universally well received, spawning a number of reviews that all contain the phrase, "I must disclose that I'm friends with Cargill ..." The no-nonsense ghost story was described by many as the scariest movie they've ever seen. Cargill was joined after the film by director and writing partner Scott Derrickson, producer Jason Blum, star Ethan Hawke and producer Brian Kavanaugh-Jones for a Q&A.

Day two of SXSW, and I'm already exhausted. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like the rain has sapped a lot of their energy. And the spring ahead to Daylight Savings Time certainly doesn't help.

Despite all that, I made it to five movies on Saturday. I didn't think I'd make it to Eating Alabama, but it seems every screening I went to was about a half-hour late starting. This very personal approach to the locavore phenomenon was an interesting meditation on the lost art of farming, even in a rural state. The documentary would make a great companion piece to King Korn.

Next up was the provocative and disturbing film Girl Model, but I have to disagree with co-director Dave Redmon, who said in the intro that the documentary wasn't an expose. I think it is, in the sense of holding back the curtain on something of which we're already aware: young girls are exploited in the model industry. But what Redmon and co-director Ashley Sabin do is make it personal, focusing on a young Siberian and her struggling family, and on the model scout (and former model) who discovers her. Girl Model is powerful stuff.

Austinite Jonny Mars may be best known for his roles in front of the camera in Texas independent films such as The Happy Poet and Wuss, but he's also spent a considerable amount of time over the last five years behind the camera directing his first film project, America's Parking Lot. In this documentary, Mars captures the story of Cy Dittmore and Stan "Tiger" Shults, two die-hard fans of "America's Team" and leaders of the legendary Gate 6 tailgate party, as they spend their last season with the Dallas Cowboys at the historic Texas Stadium. The economics and politics within the NFL threaten to dissolve the friendships and traditions these blue-collar tailgaters have built over 20 years.

I spoke recently with Jonny Mars as well as America's Parking Lot editor Robin Schwartz and sound engineer Eric Friend to discuss their film, which debuts at SXSW 2012 on Sunday afternoon.

Slackerwood: Describe America's Parking Lot in a few sentences.

Jonny Mars: Effectively America's Parking Lot chronicles the journey of two tailgaters as they move from their old stadium and 25-year-old tradition to a new billion dollar stadium, as they try to hold on to their tailgating tradition as well as their friends and identity over a four-year period.

Native Texan Amy Seimetz may be familiar to Austin film fans as the winner of Fantastic Fest's Best Actress Award for her role in A Horrible Way To Die.  Now she's back in town for SXSW to premiere her latest film, the thriller Sun Don't Shine, which she wrote and directed. If that seems like a vague Austin or Texas connection, keep reading, there's a veritable Who's Who to follow.  

Describe Sun Don't Shine for us in a couple of sentences.
Two lovers on the back roads of Florida do very bad things. That is all I will tell for now ...

Filmmakers David Redmon and Ashley Sabin (pictured above) have been collaborating on documentaries for years, including such titles as Kamp Katrina (SXSW 2007), Mardi Gras: Made in China (which earned a Documentary Grand Jury Prize nomination at Sundance 2005) and Intimidad (SXSW 2008). This time Redmon and Sabin tackle the provocative subject of fashion-model scouting, from the perspective of a former model turned scout and a young girl from Siberia pursuing a modelling career to support her family, in Girl Model. Redmon hails from north Texas.  

What’s one thing about Girl Model that is going to make it impossible for people to resist seeing the film?
It's a strange journey into a house of mirrors, a place where you don't know who to trust.   

Is there anything the audience should know about the movie before seeing it?
Girl Model took four years to make. We traveled to Siberia, Tokyo, Paris, NYC and China – several times – to make Girl Model. The most difficult aspects were the personalities. It was our most challenging production to date. 

Jonathan Lisecki's movie Gayby is making its world premiere at SXSW; it's a feature that expands the story from his short film of the same name. Lisecki's past work includes the 2008 Spirit of Slamdance Award-winning Woman in Burka, and you might remember him as the coach in Clay Liford's film Wuss from SXSW 2011. Austin filmmaker Liford was Director of Photography on Gayby, so you know it's going to look good; when you read the premise, you can be pretty sure it's one of the more memorable plots in an already edgy fest lineup.

Slackerwood: Describe your film for us in a couple of sentences.
Jonathan Lisecki: Gayby is an outrageous comedy about a straight girl and her gay best friend trying to have a baby. Insanely awkward sex scenes and vast complications ensue.

What’s one thing about the film that is going to make it impossible for people to resist seeing it?
Who doesn't love weird and silly sex, and we have that for sure. A woman I know who programs for another festival saw an early cut and said it had the funniest sex scene she had seen all year. This is someone who watches hundreds of films, so she knows of what she speaks. But after the aforementioned insanely awkward sex scene there is another one that takes it to a whole different level. Come for the sex, stay for the laughs. That's how most of my relationships have gone, now that I think of it.  

Many people may never have heard of the early '70s band Big Star, and aren't aware that "In the Streets," the theme song for That 70s Show performed by my personal favorite band Cheap Trick, was actually penned by Big Star's Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens (correction: Chris Bell). Attendees of the 2010 South by Southwest Music Festival became more aware of the band's influence when Chilton died unexpectedly of a heart attack on March 17, only three days prior to a Big Star reunion show in Austin. That show turned into a tribute with many musical guests from near and far, with several other tribute moments throughout SXSW that year -- including several songs played in tribute by Cheap Trick as headliners at the Auditorium Shores outdoor stage.

In addition to the fans that have supported the band throughout the years, many musicians credit Big Star with inspiring their careers. More importantly, music critics who were often disillusioned with the rock "gods" of the early '70s were attracted to the heart and soul that Big Star gave to its music. One such rock writer is Lenny Kaye (pictured above), who wrote for several magazines including Creem and Rolling Stone. He is one of the interview subjects of an upcoming film, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, which will have a special sneak preview at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival.

I interviewed one of the film's producers, Danielle McCarthy, and editor Chris Branca, a native Texan, who are busy working on the final edits. Find out what they had to say about Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me.

Say what? You don't recognize the name Ben Steinbauer? Perhaps you remember the hit documentary Winnebago Man, which wowed crowds at film festivals everywhere it played, including SXSW 2009. In 2010, the Austin Film Critics Association awarded it Best Austin Film. This time around, Steinbauer brings a documentary short about Stephen Friedland called Brute Force to SXSW 2012.

Slackerwood: Describe your film for us in a couple of sentences.
Steinbauer: Brute Force is the story of Apple Records recording artist Stephen Friedland, who in 1969 released the song "King of Fuh" that became the most controversial single Apple ever recorded.

What's one thing about the film that is going to make it impossible for people to resist seeing it?
The relationship between Stephen, aka "Brute Force," who is now in his seventies, and his daughter Lilah, aka "Daughter of Force," is funny, charming and endlessly relatable. It will appeal to anyone who has a complicated relationship to their parents (who doesn't?)

Miss Congeniality, released in 2000, was filmed in New York City and San Antonio, but mostly in Austin. I recall it was a big deal when they filmed the movie in town because they closed down a section of Congress, and people attempted to catch a glimpse of the stars around town.  

The Sandra Bullock feature has her playing FBI agent Gracie Hart, assigned to a team investigating a threat to the Miss United States pageant. Benjamin Bratt plays her colleague/team leader/love interest Eric Matthews, who decides Hart will go undercover at the beauty pageant. Overseeing her entry into the pageant world is Michael Caine, who camps it up in this movie. Candice Bergen is the pageant -- er, scholarship program -- coordinator, and Heather Burns almost steals the show as a clueless Miss Rhode Island.

Miss Congeniality is your standard ugly-duckling-gets-turned-into-a-lovely-swan-by-federally-sponsored-beauticians tale. Hart is initially abrasive and female friend-less and by the close of Miss Congeniality has come to know and appreciate her fellow contestants ... after they have bonded over neon-paint-drumming (!!), Mr. Gatti's pizza and a makeover. The film aims for a girl power message, but it is far too muddled.

With a VHS camcorder, Caleb Straus and Dustin Johnson tried to change the world by remaking scenes from popular movies as children in Abilene. As adults, they are working to conquer it with The Storybook, the sequel to the apocalyptic thriller It's Over, through the Austin-based multimedia production company they've founded, Snout Productions.

"I don't know how many action figures we set on fire (as children)," Straus said.

Straus and Johnson plan a May release for The Storybook ... but that's only part of what Snout Productions is working on these days.

Snout Productions grew from a Snout Recordings label logo Johnson created, where he scanned his nose against a Xerox machine, for a Texas State Technical College class project. He received an associate's degree in graphic design from the college. He said the advice from Straus and the professional actors he has worked with through Snout Productions has replaced his need for a bachelor's degree.