'The Source'

• SXSW Film

  Daily reviews and interviews

• Hurts So Good

  BY MELANIE HAUPT

• From the Eyes of the Abused

  BY BELINDA ACOSTA

• 'Wonder Women!: The Untold Story of American Superheroines'

  BY ROBERT FAIRES

• 'The Do-Deca-Pentathlon'

  BY MELANIE HAUPT

• 'Kid-Thing'

  BY ASHLEY MORENO

• 'Brooklyn Castle'

  BY NORA ANKRUM

• 'Bad Brains: Band in DC'

  BY JOSH ROSENBLATT

• 'Small Apartments'

  BY JAMES RENOVITCH

• 'V/H/S'

  BY RICHARD WHITTAKER

• 'The Source'

  BY NORA ANKRUM

• 'Chasing Ice'

  BY NORA ANKRUM

• 'Sunset Strip'

  BY MARC SAVLOV

• 'Under African Skies'

  BY JOSH ROSENBLATT

• 'Funeral Kings'

  BY NORA ANKRUM

• 'Documentary Shorts 1'

  BY LEAH CHURNER

• 'Documentary Shorts 2'

  BY LEAH CHURNER

• 'Modus Anomali'

  BY RICHARD WHITTAKER

• 'Crazy Eyes'

  BY JAMES RENOVITCH

• 'Scarlet Road'

  BY KATE X MESSER

• 'Lost and Sound'

  BY WAYNE ALAN BRENNER

The Source

    Jim Baker – aka "Father Yod," leader of the Source Family commune cum cult – didn't have to convince people he was God. As the "ultimate guru father figure," he simply was. One devotee believed she saw lightning coming out of Baker's ears. Another kissed his feet at first sight. How did Baker respond? "Far fuckin' out," he said. At the height of the free-love era, Baker inspired a gaggle of beautiful, young, white-robe-clad followers to change their names to things like "Orbit" and "Electra" and live together in what – briefly, anyway – was a utopian dream come true. This documentary retraces Baker's steps from man to God and back again, using an incredible trove of photos and recordings (along with clips from Annie Hall and Saturday Night Live parodying Baker's popular L.A. health-food restaurant, where the cult followers worked). Meanwhile, interviews with former Source members provide a surreal – and sometimes painfully wide-eyed – glimpse at that moment in history before irony killed the hippie.

Friday, March 16, 6:45pm, Alamo Lamar