SXSW 2011, Post #1

As the South By Southwest (SXSW) Music-Film-Interactive Festival and Conference enters its 25th year, one thing is clear. This thing is bigger than ever. Roger Ebert, apparently in Austin for the first time, Tweeted on Saturday: “SXSW is huge! I knew it was a big deal, but I had no idea.”

The choices are many. The trade show floor is easily five times what it was when I attended my first SXSW in 2007. There are so many companies here hawking their apps and software, I’m beginning to wonder if we’re not entering another tech bubble.

I’ve spoken to a few peo

ple that are starting to feel the Interactive festival and the film parties that surround the festival are starting to overwhelm the movies themselves. Maybe for the industry and press folk, but the average movie fan still has plenty to discover at SXSW. I spoke to a couple from Austin that try to come to as many movies as they can -- they buy individual tickets to the films. I also ran into TPR members Sherry Heffner and Steve Sozanski. Sherry is spending the entire week in Austin, gorging on the firehose of movies that is SXSW Film.

I held myself to one interview and four features yesterday. Monday, it’s three movies and five interviews. One of the things I enjoy most about the festival is meeting the filmmakers behind the smaller, independent films that are here. For them, showing their film in front of an ap

preciative crowd is a treat in and of itself. If they’re lucky, a distributor may come knocking on their door.

One of the highlights

that is already generating some buzz at the festival is KUMARE, a documentary by Vikram Gandhi. Gandhi started out making a film about the yoga industry, but the more he learned, the more interested he became in the gurus that people follow. He started to wonder just what people believed in, and decided to find out from the inside. Gandhi grew out his hair and beard, dressed in flowing robes, moved to Phoenix, and added an “e” to his middle name to become “Kumare.” After a few weeks in Phoenix, Kumare develops a core group of followers, who being to open up their lives to him. When Kumare finally “unveils” to them, the results are surprisingly emotional. This was a wonderful film, and it has a real shot at winning an award this Tuesday night.

I’ll follow up this post with more on some of the other films I’ve seen, and we’ll be posting interviews online at TPR.ORG later this week.