SXSW Film Festival 2003
REVIEWED By Marjorie Baumgarten, Fri., March 7, 2003
The SXSW Film Festival 2003 has arrived. The Festival begins today, March 7, and continues through next Saturday, March 15. Premiering around town over the next nine days will be a wide selection of narrative features, documentaries, short films, music videos, and retrospectives, with many of the filmmakers be in attendance. In this issue of the Chronicle, there's a detailed pullout section – in addition to all the articles, interviews, and critics' picks highlighted in the regular Screens section – that provides comprehensive program descriptions, schedules, admission info, and more. Check it out, and also refer to www.sxsw.com/film/ for further details. New titles have been added since last week’s calendar insert. Among them are a couple special shows screening tonight at the Millennium: at 7pm, Last Night at the Alamo, directed by the groundbreaking Austin maverick Eagle Pennell’ and at 9pm, the Austin premiere of Rolling Kansas, which was directed by Thomas Haden Church (who will introduce the movie) and filmed right here in Austin. Other late additions include a new doc from D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, Only the Storng Survive, about Stax Records; Strange Fruit, an exploration of the song Billie Holliday made famous; two more locally shot productions, Screen Door Jesus and Steve Mims’ Lizard Times Twenty: The Austin Lounge Lizards Live at Antone’s; and finally, the breathlessly awaited Pauly Shore performance piece, You’ll Never Wiez in This Town Again. The Festival's selections offer something for everyone (although keep in mind that virtually none of these films have MPAA ratings guidelines). And stay tuned to austinchronicle.com for additional coverage. Screenings are at the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, the Austin Convention Center, Westgate 11, Paramount Theatre, the Hideout, and the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex.
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