In its opening minutes, SXSW Narrative Feature Competition entrant
Women Is Losers issues a mea culpa.
The actors stop the scene en media res, look straight into the camera, and explain what you’re about to watch: a tale of good old fashioned, up-by-the-bootstrap, American resourcefulness, only this one foregrounds faces – Latinx – not often at the heart of this kind of tale. The actors also beg your lenience with the period detail (the film is set in late 60s/early 70s San Francisco); with indie films, they explain, you can’t always dress the street or afford the best lighting.
Count yourself lucky if you’ve never had the awkward experience of trying to mend fences IRL after an argument on social media. What was intended as a way to connect with others at times has an isolating effect, and with the distance afforded by the platforms, we’re often not our best selves online.
In a SXSW Online panel titled “Unravelling the Social Dilemma,” Jeremy Hollow of Listen & Learn Research and Jillian Ney, digital behavioral scientist at the Social Intelligence Lab, dove into the complex issues around social media and proposed possible solutions for its problems. The thesis: Social media is a child, and we must help it mature.
Top: Barry Jenkins, Nicholas Britell; Bottom: Hannah Giorgis
It’s easy to admire the transportive work of filmmaker Barry Jenkins and composer Nicholas Britell, but who knew they’d embody #friendshipgoals too?
Jenkins and Britell anchored one of the first featured sessions out of the gate of this year’s entirely virtual SXSW Online. During a 55-minute chat, pretaped focused on their musical collaborative process, moderated by Hannah Giorgis of The Atlantic, the pair ran through their first introduction six years ago and the projects they’ve embarked upon together:
Moonlight (which earned Britell his first Oscar nomination),
The Underground Railroad. (Additionally, Britell won an Emmy in 2018 for his addictive main title theme for HBO’s
Opportunity amid the Green Rush has not been shared equally. According to a
Marijuana Business Dailysurvey, 4.3% of marijuana business owners and founders are Black, compared with the 81% that are white.
Enter Al Harrington s Viola Brands.
Since founding Viola Brands in 2011, Harrington, a former NBA player, has been at the forefront of the conversation around racial equity in the cannabis industry. The company s approach has been wide-ranging, from trying to support minority owners in need of capital for a startup (particularly important since banks won t give loans for federally illegal products) to speaking with politicians in Washington, D.C., about restorative justice legislation.
SXSW Film Festival Announces Full Lineup, Including Tom Petty and Selma Blair Docs
Matt Donnelly, provided by
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The South by Southwest Film Festival has rolled out its full programming line up, with high-profile new documentaries bolstering previously announced features.
For many in Hollywood, the last-minute cancellation of the Austin-based 2020 SXSW conference was a reality check about the severity of the coronavirus pandemic. Global lockdowns followed, and a year later, the film portion of the cultural event is soldiering on.
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“We feel privileged to have been able to pivot to SXSW Online and present a fantastic treasure trove of programming, including a pared down and wonderful selection of films that we know will delight, entertain and move our attendees,” said Janet Pierson, SXSW’s director of film.