The documentary blogosphere weighs in with reactions to the inaugural Cinema Eye Awards held last week in New York City. Our own Yance Ford offered her reaction last week. The Reeler Blog's S.T. VanAirsdale summarizes the evening as well, calling it an evening "organized by friends for friends" and criticizing the awards for bowing to the establishment orbit. Mark Rosenberg at the Rooftop Films Blog praises the awards but also suggests improvements for future iterations of the awards, including creating an "Underexposed Award" for films that didn't get a theatrical release.
The trailer for Standard Operating Procedure, Errol Morris's much-anticipated documentary about Abu Ghraib, has been released. (via The Documentary Blog).
Cinematical reviews a number of documentaries from the recent SXSW film festival, including Some Assembly Required, about teams of middle school kids from around the country who compete in the National Toy Competition; Bama Girl, an examination of race through the Homecoming Queen competition at the University of Alabama; Intimidad, the story of a young, poor Mexican couple saving up money to buy a piece of property for themselves; and We Are Wizards, a look at Harry Potter fandom, and the "Wizard Rock" bands that have been formed by Harry Potter fans. For more reviews of SXSW films, visit Cinematical.
The Independent Blog writers were also at SXSW, and they wonder whether the films screened there will find a wider audience.
Anne del Castillo, P.O.V.'s director of development and special projects, just returned from SXSW. She reports on what it was like to return to her old stomping grounds in Austin.
I remember a conversation that I had with film bloggers Joel Heller, Agnes Varnum, and Sarah Jo Marks at SXSW last year: Joel told us that he'd stopped doing "real-time" blogging during festivals, because it was too much to balance screening, connecting and distilling all at once. This year, having attempted my first "blog report" from SXSW, I now get what he was saying. Following is a hybrid on-the-spot/look-back at my three-day, whirlwind run at the festival.
Friday: My "Secondary" Life
7:20 a.m. When I get to the security check-in at Newark Airport, I'm told by airport security that my driver's license has expired. I have no other ID on me, and my flight is in 30 minutes. "Does this mean I'm going to miss my flight?" I ask. The security agent assures me that it won't, "but it will take a little longer to board," as he streaks pink highlighter and scribbles S's all over my boarding pass. "We've got a secondary!" he hollers to his colleagues, who proceed to take turns announcing my arrival at each checkpoint — from the conveyor belt, to the puffer detector, and into the isolation booth for baggage hand-check. Finally, the secondary is cleared for passage to the gates.
Austin: Day 1.
1:30 p.m. I'm at the convention center waiting in line to pick up my badge when SXSW producer Matt Dentler walks over to give me a warm Texas welcome. He looks remarkably unfazed by the fact that it's opening day of the festival — we could just as well have been meeting for coffee, and I'm reminded of why I enjoy coming to SXSW.
Read more after the jump....
Congratulations to Tony Gerber and P.O.V. alum Jesse Moss (Speedo, P.O.V. '04) whose film Full Battle Rattle took the Special Jury Award!
They Killed Sister Dorothy by Daniel Junge won both the Grand Jury Award and the Audience Award.
Click here to see the full list of awards.
Anne del Castillo, P.O.V.'s director of development and special projects, is in Austin for SXSW. The former Austin resident reminisces about her favorite movie theater and looks forward to checking it out while she's in town for the festival.
I'm really excited to go back to Austin for SXSW. Though I'm a native New Yorker (and proud of it), Austin is truly my second home. It's changed since I left in 2002 — revitalization has rendered downtown Austin almost unrecognizable to me, so that each year when I return for SXSW, I wonder if I'll find my old haunts. Fortunately, one place I can count on is the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema — the best place to see a film, hands down. Apart from the fact that you can order burgers and a pitcher of beer while watching a movie, the Alamo is a standout for its innovative programming and ongoing support of the local film scene.
Full disclosure: I got to work with the Alamo when I was at the Austin Film Society, and the owners Tim and Karrie League are good friends. But that aside, the Alamo really is an Austin institution; in 2005, Entertainment Weekly ranked it #1 among movie theaters around the country "doing it right."
And with good reason.
Read more about the Alamo after the jump...
