What’s that? Another film festival? No, actually, SXSW (or South By Southwest) is not just another film festival – it’s actually one of the hippest, liveliest festivals you can attend all year. Based in Austin, Texas, SXSW includes three festivals in one: an interactive festival, a film festival and a music festival -- and as far as the film festival goes, there’s always a slew of really hot new buzzed-about films that are either hitting theaters real soon, or haven’t even been discovered yet.
Which titles should you be interested in keeping an eye out for? Here are five of my most anticipated …
What’s It About: The opening night film of the festival, Kick-Ass is based on the graphic novel about an ordinary teenager who decides one day to become a costumed vigilante … even though he has no powers or real, serious ass-kicking abilities.
One Reason to See It: Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays a costumed superhero. Can you imagine McLovin’ as a superhero? Yeah, we need to see this for ourselves.
Saturday Night
What’s It About: Actor James Franco gets behind the camera for this documentary about the making of one episode of Saturday Night Live.
One Reason to See It: The jokes on SNL lately haven’t been all that funny. Imagine the jokes that don’t make the show? Wait till you see what those are …
Erasing David
What’s It About: A documentary about a guy who, in an effort to see how much of his life is really available for the taking, decides to disappear for a month and hire two investigators to try to find him using only public info.
One Reason to See It: Don’t you want to know how non-private your private life really is?
What’s It About: Patrick Wilson stars a wannabee womanizer who loses a testicle in an accident, and then finds out he’s going to be the father of a child from a woman he doesn’t remember sleeping with.
One Reason to See It: I was sold on a comedy about a guy with one testicle.
For Once in My Life
What’s It About: Uplifting documentary about a real-life band made up of singers and musicians with mental and physical abilities.
One Reason to See It: Early buzz has this one pegged for a possible Oscar nod next year, and as someone with an autistic brother-in-law, this is a must-see.
To read more about which films are screening at this year’s festival, head over to the official SXSW website.
