For many indie films, fests like South By Southwest function as cast and crew screenings. Moms and Dads fill the seats. Cousins and extras and gaffers laugh at anything and everything. But the crowd at the Dobie to see Love and Mary Sunday night might set a new record for homerism. First a second screen had to be opened to handle the masses who made the trek from Houston for the love story about a girl caught between two very different twin brothers (but played by the same actor, natch). Then they applauded the credits with genuine enthusiasm. Finally, they dominated the Q&A like GOP plants at a Bush rally. "Was this based on your family members?" a family member asked. "Had you worked on this script long?" a cousin quizzed. (Five years was the answer from writer/directer Elizabeth Harrison.) "Do you expect to win an Academy Award?" intoned, well, nobody. One obvious complaint about the amiable flick would be the high quirkiness quotient, but there in the third row is Pappy, the model for the film's Pappy. Over there the brother who battled allergies with a special plastic bag suit. Well, the guy in the audience at least opted for cotton. But there's something special about watching a film girded by hometown supporters clad in rose-colored glasses. For a moment you're living the dream. Fof a moment anything is possible.

Sunday, March 11: Oh, it seems it was only a few short years ago that I sat in on a SXSWI panel on online confessionals. The agony and ecstasy of realizing different versions of one's self online was heady and scary, and freaky for those new to the concept. Today, we have LonelyGirl15 and the Plain Layne blog. Now, the question is not about if, but how, why, and by whom are online characters created. In other words, what is the range of the continuum between a lie on one end and good fiction on the other? What are the ethics of fictional blogs? These were a few issues addressed at the all too short panel led by Liz Henry of Social Text and Odin Soli of Aveso, Inc (aka Plain Layne).

As a writer, Soli took on the character of a 20-something year-old woman, seeking to immerse himself in a persona, not to create a hoax. He was the last to expect that his fictional Layne would draw so many readers. Some suspected early that Layne was not all that she said she was, but continued to participate in the fiction, while others were shocked to discover that Layne was not a young woman, but a 30-something year old man who. This was revealed one day when his face was splashed across his morning newspaper.

What's the maddest, most brilliant piece of free crap anyone is giving away this year?

The wonderfully stabby (and surprisingly heavy) necklace being given away by Bigfoot Networks to pimp their new Killer K1 network interface cards. Now even first person shooters can have their bling.

There was a bit of a shift on today's The Future Of Horror panel. Hostel director Eli Roth, who was supposed to be the guest of honor, had to bail due to illness ("It better be a flesh-eating virus," added mediator and today's nominee for most ubiquitous panelee, Harry Knowles of aintitcoolnews.com.) Fortunately, with a conference full of film makers around, replacements weren't so hard to find. Nobly stepping into the breach was Zev Berman, director of this year's hot-buzz horror Borderland (premiering tonight at the Alamo Downtown at midnight) and the film's lead Rider Strong, aka Paul from Cabin Fever. They joined their producer Lauren Moews, Scott Glosserman (director of last year's SXSW horror hit Behind The Mask ), Alamo Drafthouse horror booker Zach, and Scott Weinberg of efilmcritic network.

Once all the changes were announced, the panel got down to the serious business of scares. The consensus was that the new era of torture-porn ("and I mean that in a nice way," added Knowles) is coming to an end. Glosserman had a theory why they had been so hot - because the world has been gorey. "Saw will be looked back on as a classic movie one day," he explained, "because we're living in a hopeless era, where you can see people getting their head cut off on the news. When you're in a room where you can't get out and there's no hope, that reflects a lot about the social consciousness."

What's it like in Room 19A (or is it 19B), the extremely well-hidden lair for panelists awaiting deployment? Nobody's huddled on the floor around the available outlets, for one thing. There's a TV that isn't even on.

But it's the little touches--the abstract sculpture, the potted plants, the tiny Perrier--that makes a visitor sad to leave through the back exit and travel deep into the bowels of the Convention Center, only to emerge on a different floor in some far-flung arm of the building.

For those of you who think that Titanic director James Cameron should just keep his head under water without a breathing mask, think again. Cameron regular and Texas Film Hall of Fame inductee Bill Paxton had a fascinating story yesterday in a Q&A at ACC on Saturday. It seems that, in 1997, the father of Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro was kidnapped. The criminals demanded $1 million dollars: the director, virtually bankrupt and making Mimic, didn't have a fraction of that. When Cameron found out about that, he put del Toro in his car, drove to the bank, and withdrew a million bucks of his own cash.

That's Keith Sharp in the photo posing with Chris Kattan. He's been a volunteer at every South By Siouthwest Film Festival, which has me beat. I started covering the fest in 1997, when I first transformed myself from movie extra to film writer. Since then I've covered the fest for four major Texas newspapers--the last two three years for The Austin Chronicle. I do it because I like movies. Lots and lots of movies. I stuff myself then collapse somewhere and sleep it off. Keith and I met 10 years ago on the set of The Newton Boys. It was writing about that Richard Linklater experience that resulted in my first SXSW coverage gig. Since them I run into Keith whenever there's a film event going on around town, and we all know that's a lot. I keep promising him a copy of the article I wrote about that life-changing extra gig (our scene ended up on the cutting room floor), and I keep letting him down. Maybe this photo taken after the midnight screening of Undead & Alive: A Zombedy will tide him over for another 10 years of waiiting.

Re: Elvis & Anabelle:
Director Will Geiger and his crew "captured the colors of the Texas sunset perfectly." Couldn't be truer. This beautiful, quirky love story, filmed in Austin and Pflugerville, hypnotized in hues of blue and pink skies and bright yellow sunflowers. And actors Max Minghella and Blake Lively (whom you might remember as a younger soccer player in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) and especially Joe Mantegna weren't too shabby either.
"And nobody talks about the beauty of our beaches." Well, lets just thank the gods that Geiger shot on South Padre Island. That water was barely brown. Next (and final) screening: Thursday, March 15, 9:45pm, Paramount.

Re: Frownland:
"Did you just come out of that two-hour movie?" Why yes I did. And let me tell you: Two hours of character development hitting at 11am after daylight-saving time felt like 10 hours of philosophy. Not that first-time filmmaker Ronald Bronstein failed; it just might have worked better in the 90-minutes-or-less category. Next screening: Monday, March 12, 1:30pm, Alamo Drafthouse Downtown.

Re: Confessions of a Superhero:
"I just saw the Hulk on the corner!" And I just saw Superman in a suit. Go figure. Next screening: Tuesday, March 13, 9:45pm, Alamo Drafthouse Downtown.

p.s. I repeat: Go see Clayton Jacobson's Australian mockumentary, Kenny, tonight, 12mid, at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. Trust me on this one. I saw it last night with only 15 or 20 of my closest friends, and it's so hilarious, I want the world to know. We need a little cheering up these days, don't you think?

Getting noticed at SXSW isn't the easiest job for any film maker, so everyone’s innovating. For the makers of TWISTED: A Balloonamentary, they’re hoping you can’t see a balloon without thinking of them. At the world premier of the latex-laden doc on Saturday, the whole crowd got a quick insight in the first, great life-lesson that balloon-twisting gives – how to make a balloon dog. There’s also twisters working the crowds, handing out balloon hats, animals and flowers to the crowds. And if you miss out on that, just watch out for their promo-postcards, each of which comes with a free balloon and instructions on how to make your own balloon critter (hint – when twisting, pull the two sides apart a bit, to cut down on deadly friction.)

Twisted screens again on Tuesday at midday at Dobie.