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SXSW unveils all 2009 films
SXSW has announced its full 2009 roster of films, including new titles by Austinites Andrew Bujalski and Tim McCanlies, Spike Lee and Kathryn Bigelow, as well as some big titles fresh out of Sundance like “Humpday,” starring former Austin boy Mark Duplass (who stars in not one, but two films at the fest).
Here are MANY — but not all — of the titles:
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Artois the Goat — Director: Kyle Bogart. Writer: Cliff and Kyle Bogart. Lab technician Virgil Gurdies embarks on an epic quest to craft the greatest goat cheese the world has ever known and reclaim the heart of his beloved Angie. Cast: Mark Scheibmeir, Sydney Andrews, Stephen Taylor Fry, Dan Braverman (World Premiere)
Bomber — Director/Writer: Paul Cotter. A bittersweet comedy about love, family and dropping bombs on Germany. Cast: Shane Taylor, Benjamin Whitrow, Eileen Nicholas (World Premiere)
Breaking Upwards — Director: Daryl Wein. Writer: Peter Duchan, Daryl Wein, Zoe Lister-Jones. A young New York couple who, desperate to escape their ennui, but fearful of life apart, decide to intricately strategize their own break up. Cast: Daryl Wein, Zoe Lister-Jones, Julie White, Peter Friedman, Andrea Martin, Pablo Schreiber, La Chanze, Olivia Thirlby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (World Premiere)
It Was Great, But I Was Ready to Come Home — Director: Kris Swanberg. Writers: Kris Swanberg, Jade Healy, David Lowery, Ben Kasulke. A woman tries to get over her recent breakup by backpacking in Costa Rica with her best friend, and through traveling together, the two women realize they may be on separate trips. Cast: Kris Swanberg, Jade Healy (World Premiere)
Made in China — Director: Judi Krant. Writer: Judi Krant and Dan Sumpter. Lost in Shanghai, an inventor discovers that it takes more than a bright idea to succeed. Cast: Jackson Keuhn, Dan Sumpter (World Premiere)
The Overbrook Brothers — Director: John Bryant. Writer: John Bryant and Jason Foxworth. Jason brings his girlfriend home for Christmas… and bad things happen. Cast: Nathan Harlan, Mark Reeb, Laurel Whitsett, Steve Zissis, John Jones (World Premiere)
That Evening Sun — Director/Writer: Scott Teems. A ruthless grudge match between two old foes. Lines are drawn, threats are made, and the simmering tension under the Tennessee sun erupts, inevitably, into savagery. Cast: Hal Holbrook, Mia Wasikowska, Ray McKinnon, Walton Goggins, Carrie Preston (World Premiere)
True Adolescents — Director/Writer: Craig Johnson. Aging indie rocker Sam Bryant takes two teen boys on an ill-fated hiking trip that forces everyone to grow up, and fast. Cast: Mark Duplass, Melissa Leo, Bret Loehr, Carr Thompson (World Premiere)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
45356 — Director: Bill Ross. An inquiring look at everyday life in middle America, the film explores the congruities of daily life in an American town Sidney, Ohio. (World Premiere)
Garbage Dreams — Director: Mai Iskander. Filmed over four years, the film follows three teenage boys born into the trash trade and growing up in the world’s largest garbage village. Each boy chooses a different path when their community is suddenly faced with the globalization of their trade. (World Premiere)
MINE: Taken By Katrina — Director: Geralyn Pezanoski. After Hurricane Katrina, thousands of pets were rescued and adopted by families around the country, leading to many custody battles. Through these stories, the film examines issues of race, class and animal welfare in the U.S. (World Premiere)
Say My Name — Director: Nirit Peled. A story is built around the lives of entrepreneurs, mothers and artists fighting to be themselves in a society that offers few opportunities for women. (World Premiere)
Severe Clear — Director: Kristian Fraga. Armed with the world’s most lethal ordnance and his home video camera, First Lieutenant Michael T. Scotti captures the chaos and complexity of war. (World Premiere)
Sons of a Gun — Director: Rivkah Beth Medow. A family of 3 schizophrenic men and their alcoholic caregiver/Dad get evicted, move into one motel room, argue, joke around, and find a new home. (World Premiere)
The Way We Get By — Director: Aron Gaudet. On call 24/7 for the past 6 years, a group of senior citizens transform their lives by greeting nearly one million U.S. troops at a tiny airport in Maine. (World Premiere)
Trimpin: The Sound of Invention — Director: Peter Esmonde. A wild ride through the sonic world of an eccentric creative genius of Artist inventor/engineer/composer Trimpin. (World Premiere)
SPOTLIGHT PREMIERES (Premieres and sneak previews of films with distribution, plus world premieres from notable filmmakers or about notable subjects.)
Adventureland — Director/Writer: Greg Mottola. In 1987, a recent college graduate takes a nowhere job at his local amusement park and discovers the job is perfect preparation for the real world. Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Martin Starr
Alexander the Last — Director/Writer: Joe Swanberg. A sensual and intimate portrait of a young marriage. Focusing on an artistic young couple, the film illuminates the challenges of monogamy amidst myriad sexual and creative temptations. Cast: Jess Weixler, Justin Rice, Barlow Jacobs, Josh Hamilton, Jane Adams (World Premiere)
Beeswax — Director/Writer: Andrew Bujalski. Something like a legal thriller for anyone who considers “legal thriller” an oxymoron, the film revolves around a pair of twin sisters, Jeannie and Lauren — “same face, different bodies” — and Jeannie’s brewing conflict with business partner Amanda. Cast: Maggie Hatcher, Tilly Hatcher, Alex Karpovsky (US Premiere)
Best Worst Movie — Director: Michael Paul Stephenson. When an Italian filmmaker, an Alabama dentist and fledgling Utah actors filmed the low-budget horror movie, “Troll 2,” they’d no idea that 20 years later they would be celebrated for making the worst movie ever made. (World Premiere)
For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism — Director: Gerald Peary. The first documentary to dramatize the rich, fascinating history of American film criticism. (World Premiere)
Goodbye Solo — Director: Ramin Bahrani. Writer: Ramin Bahrani and Bahareh Azimi. On the lonely roads of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, two men from very different worlds forge an improbable friendship that will change both of their lives forever. Cast: Souleymane Sy Savane, Red West, Diana Franco Galindo, Carmen Leyva
Humpday — Director/Writer: Lynn Shelton. A farcical comedy about straight male bonding gone a little too far. Cast: Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Alycia Delmore, Lynn Shelton, Trina Willard.
Hurt Locker — Director: Kathryn Bigelow. Writer: Mark Boal Forced to play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in the chaos of war, an elite Army bomb squad unit must come together in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb. Cast: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce (US Premiere)
I Love You, Man — Director/Writer: John Hamburg. The film centers on a man who, upon getting engaged, realizes he has no close male friends and must find someone to be the Best Man at his wedding. Cast: Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg, J.K. Simmons, Jane Curtin, Jon Favreau and Jaime Pressly (World Premiere, Opening Night Film)
The Last Beekeeper — Director: Jeremy Simmons. This documentary follows the lives of three commercial beekeepers over the course of one year as they struggle with Colony Collapse Disorder. As they all take their bees to California’s enormous annual almond pollination, they are forced to ask the question “If all the bees die, what do you have to live for?” (World Premiere)
Monsters from the ID — Director: David Gargani. The untold story of 1950’s American Sci-Fi Cinema and the role of the Modern Scientist. (World Premiere)
Moon — Director: Duncan Jones. Writer: Nathan Parker Before returning to Earth after three years on the moon, things go horribly wrong for astronaut Sam Bell. Cast: Sam Rockwell
New World Order — Director Andrew Neel and Luke Meyer. Impassioned conspiracy theorists travel the globe trying to expose the group that they claim rules the world. (World Premiere)
Objectified — Director: Gary Hustwi. A glimpse into our relationship to manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. (World Premiere)
Observe and Report — Director/Writer: Jody Hill. This dark comedy follows the story of Ronnie Barnhardt, a deluded, self-important head of mall security who squares off in a turf war against the local cops. Cast: Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Michael Pena and Ray Liotta (World Premiere, Centerpiece Slot)
Passing Strange — Director: Spike Lee. Lyrics: Stew. Music & Lyrics: Stew and Heidi Rodewald. A musical documentary about the international exploits of a young man from Los Angeles who leaves home to find himself and ‘the real’. A theatrical stage production of the original Tony-Award winning book by Stew. Cast: De’Adre Aziza, Daniel Breaker, Eisa Davis, Colman Domingo, Stew.
Sin Nombre — Director/Writer: Cary Fukunaga Writer/director Cary Fukunaga’s firsthand experiences with Central American immigrants seeking the promise of the U.S. form the basis of this epic dramatic thriller. Cast: Edgar Flores, Paulina Gaitan, Kristyan Ferrer, Tenoch Huerta.
The Square — Director: Nash Edgerton. Writer: Joel Edgerton and Matthew Dabner. Nash Edgerton’s debut feature is a film-noir in a bleak Australian town where a simple crime goes horribly wrong and escalates into a nightmare of unforeseen events. Cast: David Roberts, Claire Van Der Boom, Joel Edgerton, Anthony Hayes, Peter Phelps and Bill Hunter (North American Premiere)
Three Blind Mice — Director/Writer: Matthew Newton. Three young Navy officers hit Sydney for one last night on land before being shipped over to the Gulf to fight. Throughout the night the boys lose each other, find themselves, and along the way discover courage, friendship and redemption. Cast: Ewen Leslie, Toby Schmitz, Matthew Newton, Tina Bursill
The Two Bobs — Director/Writer: Tim McCanlies. Just as they finish their groundbreaking violent video-game masterpiece, the two gaming legends known as “The Two Bobs” discover that their precious game-software has been stolen… and with it, their livelihoods, genius reputations, everything they own. Cast: Tyler Francavilla, Devin Ratray, Mika Boorem, Cody Kasch, Leonardo Nam (World Premiere)
Winnebago Man — Director: Ben Steinbauer. Jack Rebney’s outrageously funny outtakes from a Winnebago sales video became an underground phenomenon and made him an internet superstar. Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer sets out to find him. (World Premiere)
Women in Trouble — Director/Writer: Sebastian Gutierrez. One day in the lives of ten desperate women with one thing in common: trouble. Cast: Carla Gugino, Josh Brolin, Connie Britton, Adrianne Palicki, Simon Baker (World Premiere)
For all the rest — and there is MUCH more — go HERE.
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By Tim Daley
May 5, 2009 2:27 AM | Link to this
Did you know that the Winnebago Man, Jack Rebney lived in Grand Junction in the early 90s? He was News Director at KREX TV for a time.
Charismatic, but barely qualified, he didn’t last long. But he sure was fun.