SXSW: Day 1
By Erin Steele
March 10, 2007
For now, the streets of Austin officially belong to film fans and computer geeks as more than 10,000 entertainment buffs rolled into Austin yesterday to take part in the film and interactive portions of South by Southwest (Translation: The city feels pretty much the same as always).
Though the traffic was unsurprisingly awful, everything else in the heart o’ Texas was at its energetic, ego-saturated, always entertaining best. Attendees were abuzz about the festival fare, with the night’s biggest screening -- the unexpectedly effective suspense flick “The Lookout” -- opening to a packed house at the Paramount.
In attendance were the film’s writer/director Scott Frank, as well as stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Isla Fisher and Matthew Goode. The cast and crew are scheduled to have a press conference regarding the film at noon today.
Other notable screenings included the documentary “Running With Arnold,” a clunky, though sometimes sly, film that takes more than its fair share of potshots at the Terminator-turned-governor; and “Suffering Man’s Charity,” an awkwardly-titled narrative that revolves around reading, writing and revenge, starring Alan Cumming and David Boreanaz (more about those two tomorrow.)
Speaking of tomorrow, the fest is expected to gain steam as even more spotlight premieres are set take place, including “The Ten,” “Elvis and Annabelle,” “Manufacturing Dissent” and “Everything’s Gone Green.”
Of course, the attendance for the events may depend on how many people can drag themselves out of bed after the opening night parties (one was a “Disturbia” happy hour at Light Bar, where the cast and crew mingled with Austinites and out-of-towners who were ready to take a load off.) The other was the film’s traditional opening night party, which took place from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at 401 Guadalupe (Don’t worry, online party crashers -- I’ll have more from the fest’s celebratory frontline on Sunday, as the party scene really kicks into high gear).
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