SXSW 2009 Festival Genius

Kicking off the awards season each year, AFI FEST offers an important avenue of exposure to the film community and provides enthusiastic audiences with the very best of world film, right in the center of Hollywood. This year the festival has extended a gift to moviegoers by offering free tickets to all festival screenings, and it’s no surprise that audiences are flocking to the theaters. These films have been building substantial buzz and have the highest number of calendar adds on the B-Side Festival Genius schedule:

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus: Set in the present day, Terry Gilliam’s fantastical morality tale tells the story of a travelling show hosted by the extraordinary Doctor Parnassus. An inveterate gambler, Parnassus made a bet with the devil and won immortality. Centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Parnassus made another deal, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his daughter reached her 16th birthday, she would become the property of the devil. As Valentina rapidly approaches this milestone, the desperate Parnassus talks the devil into one final wager. Encountering a series of wild, comical and compelling characters, Parnassus fights to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles, hoping to undo the mistakes of his past once and for all.

Precious: Based of on the novel “Push” by Sapphire: Set in Harlem, this film follows the story of Clareece “Precious” Jones, a 16-year-old African-American girl born into a life no one would want. Pregnant for the second time by her absent father, she waits hand and foot on her abusive mother. School is cruel and chaotic, and Precious has reached the 9th grade with good marks and an awful secret: she can neither read nor write. Though sometimes down, Precious is never out. Beneath her impassive expression is a watchful, curious young woman with an inchoate but unshakable sense that other possibilities exist for her. Could a transfer to an alternative school be the chance she has been waiting for? Winner of three awards at Sundance, the audience award at Toronto and an official selection at Cannes, director Lee Daniels takes us on a journey from darkness, pain and powerlessness to light, love and self-determination.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox: Visionary director Wes Anderson’s first animated film utilizes classic handmade stop-motion techniques to tell the story of the bestselling children’s book by Roald Dahl. Mr. and Mrs. Fox live an idyllic home life with their son Ash and visiting young nephew Kristofferson. But after 12 years, the bucolic existence proves too much for Mr. Fox’s wild animal instincts. Soon he slips back into his old ways as a sneaky chicken thief and, in doing so, endangers not only his beloved family, but also the whole animal community. Trapped underground and with not enough food to go around, the animals band together to fight against the evil farmers – Boggis, Bunce and Bean – who are determined to capture the audacious, fantastic Mr. Fox at any cost.

Films synopses taken from AFI Fest schedule.

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The 2009 Boston Jewish Film Festival, running November 4th to the 15th, presents the year’s most innovative films on Jewish themes. Screenings are accentuated by panel discussions, visits by directors, actors, and subjects, and musical events.  Boston Jewish explores what it means to be Jewish–in the United States, Israel, and around the world–by screening international and American independent films which highlight the Jewish experience, deal with themes of Jewish culture, heritage, and history, or are of particular interest to the Jewish community.

This year’s theme explores the subject of home; what it means and how it is defined by different people and perspectives. The festival also presents many live events such as concerts, dance performances, and new scores to silent films. To see what other films, events and themes Boston Jewish Film Festival has to offer, check out the schedule page.

Other festivals starting this week include:

Arizona Underground Film Festival (Nov 2-7)

Rivers’ Edge International Film Festival (Nov 5-8)

Rockport Film Festival (Nov 5-8)

Dallas Video Festival (Nov 5-8)

Independents’ Film Festival (Nov 5-14)

San Francisco Latino Film Festival (Nov 5-25)

South Alabama Film Festival (Nov 6-8)

Festivals starting next week include:

Austin Asian American Film Festival (Nov 12-15): The festival is committed to celebrating the best in independent Asian cinema from across the globe. For five years, AAAFF has highlighted the complexity and vitality of Asian and Asian-American communities through cutting-edge narrative, documentary and experimental films. The festival hopes to use its place in the community to not only educate the public about other cultures, but environmental and global issues as well.

Red Rock Film Festival (Nov 12-15): Determined to give all films a chance at exposure, this Utah festival finds a place in the schedule for all submissions.  Red Rock encourages the production of media in both the independent and professional market that portray humanity in a positive light. The festival’s demographic–consisting mainly of empty-nesters, college students, and seniors–is well-educated and open to new experiences and productive discussion.

Lone Star International Film Festival (Nov 11-15)

Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival (Nov 11-15)

Cinema Arts Festival Houston (Nov 11-15)

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The Austin Film Festival is near and dear to us, as our first ever Festival Genius partner back in 2005, and we were in attendance this year to experience all of the great films, panels and parties offered. AFF’s unique focus on the writer was reflected in the strong film programming and conference lineup. Panels brought together esteemed Hollywood writers to talk about their craft; film selections emphasized the power of storytelling; and parties gave festival-goers, filmmakers, aspiring writers and industry VIPs alike a chance to rub elbows and kick back Austin-style.

Attendees have been using the the Festival Genius to plan their schedules and voice their opinions in record numbers this year. Here are just a couple indie gems festival-goers have discovered at AFF:

The Scenesters: Director Todd Berger crafts an entertaining twist to the classic whodunit, honoring and deconstructing the film noir genre while poking fun at hipster culture. From user raraviv: “Funny, clever, great performances, fantastic soundtrack. This is the sort of unique film that could become a cult hit (or maybe even a regular hit).”

Happy Ending: Atsuhiro Yamada’s first feature simultaneously homages formulaic romantic comedies while deconstructing the genre and creating something that is undeniably fresh. From user simplygreg: “Whimsical and smart, the self-awareness and nerdcore is fun and memorable, especially for cinephiles.”

Austin Film Festival Marquee Screenings are usually films you can expect to see soon at a theater near you, and these crowd-pleasers were well-received by audiences at AFF:

The Messenger: Oren Moverman’s directorial debut stars Ben Foster as an Army officer assigned to the difficult task of delivering tragic news to the relatives of fallen soldiers. From user kuchynata: “Awesomeness abounds. What a wonderful story, and a beautiful way of telling it. Fantastic acting by gracious people really helps.”

Youth in Revolt: Director Miguel Arteta paints a bizarre and charming picture of an awkward teen, played by Michael Cera, hopelessly in love and willing to go to absurd lengths to be with his sweetheart. From user sstair: “Wonderfully funny movie. I’m going to have to see it again to hear the dialog I missed due to all of the audience’s laughter.”

The 16th Annual Austin Film Festival is coming to a close tonight, and it’s been a great ride. If you didn’t have a chance to make it out this year, we hope to see you in 2010.

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