It was drizzling this morning in Texas on Day Five of The Daily Buzz at SXSW Film. If you were walking by our broadcasting studio on N. Congress Ave. earlier today, you may have heard violin and cello strings being tuned as we talked with Christine Vachon from Killer Films, award-winning producer of Boys Don't Cry, Far From Heaven and, most recently, Still Alice.
Vachon stopped by our studio before delivering the Keynote Speech at the Austin Convention Center (ACC) this morning. Daily Buzz co-host Anderson Le, Director of the Hawaii International Film Festival, sat down with Kevin Iwashina, CEO & President of Preferred Content, to catch up on what he’s been busy doing at SXSW, including the sale of Rolling Papers. We speak with the makers of that film later on in today’s episode.
Today’s Daily Buzz co-hosts Jason Whyte (eFilmCritic), Erik Childress (WGN Radio/RogerEbert.com), and Michael Lerman (Tiger Industry Films) met the team behind Landfill Harmonic: director Brad Allgood, executive producer Alejandra Amarilla, and four members of the Recycled Orchestra, who flew to Austin for the festival and gave us an impromptu concert using one-of-a-kind instruments created from materials found in a Paraguay slum. We spent some time with the director of Good Things Await, Malene Pedersen, and learned about biodynamic farming.
Danny Says director Brendan Toller gave us a look into the world of The Doors, Iggy Pop, and The Ramones, and shared new stories about the film’s subject, Danny Fields, the American punk rock journalist and author.
We discussed the legalization of marijuana in Colorado with Rolling Papers director Mitch Dickman, co-producer & editor Zach Armstrong and the subject of the film, Ricardo Baca. We then met stenographers Michael and Richard Scire from the film For the Record, which follows several court reporters as they compete for the Guinness Book of World Records title of “World’s Fastest Court Reporter."
Documentary filmmaker Robert Gordon spent some time in our studio sharing war stories about the debate between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, which is featured in his film Best of Enemies. Rounding out this episode is a conversation with Rick Alverson, director of the film Entertainment, which follows a comedian traveling through the desert as he tries to revive his career.
Stay tuned to KUT 90.5 throughout the festival, and look out for our "Best of Fest" episode scheduled to air later this week. Follow us on Twitter @fsdailybuzz and like us on Facebook for special behind-the-scenes photos from the Green Room and in between takes.
The show is produced with help from Texas Tea and Squeeze, Kind Snacks and Sabra Hummus.
