PLAYERS' GUIDE - THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE
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The AusTin ChroniCle
roll for initiative
Pl Ayers' guide
The AuSTin ChroniCle
P l ay e rs ' G u i d e to
TA ble oF ConTenTS
Publisher Nick Barbaro
AssociAte Publisher Cassidy Frazier
Editorial
Film
editor Kimberley Jones
MAnAging editor James Renovitch
news Mike Clark-Madison
AssistAnt news Maggie Q. Thompson 4 Dungeons, Dragons, anD Heists Dungeons &
culture Richard Whittaker Dragons: Honor Among Thieves reinvents fantasy
Music Rachel Rascoe
Food Melanie Haupt by Matthew Monagle
stAFF writer Austin Sanders
EvEnt Listings
6 Crimes of Passion anD DesPeration Love &
sPeciAl screenings & coMMunity listings Death revisits one of Texas’ most infamous murders
Kat McNevins by RichaRd whittakeR
Arts listings & Food events
Wayne Alan Brenner
club listings Derek Udensi
QMMunity listings James Scott
8 LaDy BirD JoHnson: BeyonD
Contributing WritErs
BeautifiCation The Lady Bird Diaries reveal the first
FilM Marjorie Baumgarten lady’s wonk side by lina FisheR
dAy triPs Gerald E. McLeod
the verde rePort Eric Goodman
beer Eric Puga
tHe Queen of more tHan DisCo Brooklyn
Mr. sMArty PAnts R.U. Steinberg Sudano on the woman she called mother in Love to Love
You, Donna Summer by chRistina gaRcia
ProduC tion
Production / Art director Zeke Barbaro 4 17 45
AssociAte Art director Lauren Johnson
web / digitAl director Michael Bartnett
9 DiamonDs & rust A folk icon exhumes her
web consultAnt Brian Barry personal history in Joan Baez I Am a Noise
grAPhic designer Jeff Gammill C o u r t e s y o f Pa r a m o u N t P i C t u r e s Photo by DustiN meyer Photo by L arry Niehues
by doug FReeMan
stAFF PhotogrAPhers John Anderson, Jana Birchum
ProoFreAders Lina Fisher,
Jasmine Lane, James Scott
interns Joelle DiPaolo,
10 rePresentation in tHe toy aisLe Lagueria
ConFerenCe more
Katie Karp, Dex Wesley Parra Davis’ Black Barbie: A Documentary and how her Aunt
Beulah changed dolls forever by Jenny nulF
advErtising &
MarkEting
Advertising director Cassidy Frazier a Very CanaDian teCH CrunCH BlackBerry
oPerAtions MAnAger Trace Thurman
MArketing & engAgeMent MAnAger
retro-engineers the rise and fall of the original smartphone 16 WHere HaVe aLL tHe CryPto 52 Qmmunity reCs
by Julian toweRs
Cassie Arredondo
Public relAtions Sarah K. Wolf Bros gone? Molly White is busy debunking Queer fun at SXSW is just a dice roll away
senior Account executives myths about tech by toM cheRedaR by JaMes scott
Jerald Corder, Carolyn Phillips 12 WHen Wookies go VauDeViLLe A Disturbance in
Account executives David Kleppe,
Courtney Smith-Bush, Chelsea Taylor, the Force rewinds the truly horrible The Star Wars Holiday
17 anyBoDy Can Be a sCientist 53 DoWntoWn Dining guiDe
Gloria Williamson Special by RichaRd whittakeR Good places to eat in the middle of all the hubbub
clAssiFieds / legAl notices Bobby Leath Kate the Chemist's mission by kat Mcnevins
luv doc / circulAtion / sPeciAl events Dan Hardick by wayne alan bRenneR and
nAtionAl Advertising Voice Media Group
(888/278-9866, vmgadvertising.com)
Life, Loss, anD WiLLiam sHatner 18 tHe future of fooD Famed Austin chef Tavel Melanie hauPt
On the philosophy of the man who keeps boldly going
Bristol-Joseph joins the SXSW party to talk about
o f f i C E s ta f f
controller Liz Franklin
by RichaRd whittakeR
how we’ll eat by Rod Machen 54 sXsW art Program
oFFice MAnAger / subscriPtions Carrie Young Where myth and tech merge
credit MAnAger cindy soo
inFo desk Zach Pearce
13 sHort & sWeet: “WHen you Left me on 20 tHe neW PsyCH reVoLution by wayne alan bRenneR
systeMs AdMinistrAtor Brandon Watkins tHat BouLeVarD” Kayla Abuda Galang brings Deepak Chopra on how we think about psychedelics
dungeon MAster Hank her Sundance-winning short film home by evan RodRiguez 55 sXsW ComeDy
C i r C u l at i o n by dex wesley PaRRa James Adomian says get ready to get sweaty
Cassie Arredondo, Perry Drake,
Tom Fairchild, Ruben Flores, Andrew Gerfers, 22 aLL aBout tHat Bass Brane Audio is changing by Rod Machen
Eric McKinney, Grant Melcher, Matt Meshbane,
Paul Minor, Peter Oberheide, Rich Russell,
14 a fertiLe toPiC for ComeDy Leah McKendrick’s the laws of physics in speaker tech by Joe gRoss
Jonina Sims, Zeb Sommers, Bryan Zirkelbach Scrambled looks at the lighter side of freezing your eggs
by Maggie Q. thoMPson
Contributors
Carys Anderson, Tom Cheredar, Kriss Conklin,
Kevin Curtin, Lina Fisher, Doug Freeman, Christina
Garcia, Joe Gross, Raoul Hernandez, Abby
Johnston, Josh Kupecki, Angela Lim, Rod Machen,
tHe gHosts of WWii Supernatural horror Brooklyn
45 wrestles with good people committing terrible sins
musiC
Laiken Neumann, Jenny Nulf, Matthew Monagle,
Nayeli Portillo, Austin Powell, Evan Rodriguez,
by RichaRd whittakeR
Mars Salazar, Michael Toland, Julian Towers,
Clara Wang, Genevieve Wood
15 suPerstar of sCHmaLtz Thomas Kinkade was the 40 60 essentiaL Visiting aCts
world’s biggest painter. Art for Everybody asks why. The best and buzziest out-of-town artists
Cover by Zeke barbaro ( with Photos by Josh kuPecki by the Music staFF
by JohN aNDersoN / Get t y imaGes)
The Austin Chronicle (ISSN: 1074-0740) is published
by The Austin Chronicle Corporation weekly 52 times
per year at 4000 N. I-35, Austin, TX 78751.
512/454-5766 ©2013 Austin Chronicle Corp.
Follow the Chronicle’s continuing SXSW coverage at
austinChroniCle.Com/sxsw
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The Austin Chronicle, 4000 N. I-35,
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2 THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE Players’ Guide to SXSW 2023, PART I austinchronicle.com
austinchronicle.com Players’ Guide to SXSW 2023, PART I THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE 3
The AusTin ChroniCle
P l ay e rs ' G u i d e to
Film
John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein reinvent the fantasy movie with SXSW opening night selection
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves b y M a t t h e w M o n a g l e
The opening night slot at the South by be a celebration of the roleplaying franchise earlier drafts. “The one thing that we knew Casting was another way to make the
Southwest Film and Television Festival has for fans and newcomers alike. we wanted to preserve was the fact that it world of Dungeons & Dragons accessible to
often celebrated movies that balance specta- Both men came to the film knowing the was a heist,” Daley explained. “We thought audiences. While the duo did write with
cle and story equally: films like Jordan game (Daley was introduced to it when play- that was a really interesting way into a story particular actors in mind – the part of the
Peele’s Us and the Daniels’ Everything ing gamer Sam Weir in Freaks and Geeks, that people could sink their teeth into with- duplicitous Forge was written for Hugh
Everywhere All at Once, movies that earned while a young Goldstein wormed his way out necessarily any knowledge of the fantasy Grant, and Daley describes Chris Pine as
awards and box office in equal measure. into campaigns run by his elder brother – genre.” Since the basis of most tabletop cam- their “top choice” throughout the casting
That trend seems sure to continue “and since I was the younger brother, I was paigns is a group of strangers coming process for Edgin the Bard – new pieces of
with Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among often killed off pretty quickly, in an uncere- together to complete a job, the thematic chemistry and characterization were found
Thieves, the new film from writers/directors monious fashion”). While several versions of parallels between heist movies and fantasy during early playthroughs of the game
John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. the Dungeons & Dragons script existed roleplaying campaigns offer a shared lan- itself. “When the cast first arrived in Belfast,
Equal parts ensemble comedy and fantasy before they came on board, the duo immedi- guage for newcomers. “Everyone has at the we played a game of Dungeons &
adventure, Dungeons & Dragons is poised to ately gravitated toward the heist elements of very least seen a heist film,” Daley noted. Dragons with them to give them a sense of
4 THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE Players’ Guide to SXSW 2023, PART I austinchronicle.com
Headliners To avoid this, the film introduces a
mechanical component device for Justice
Dungeons & Dragons: Smith’s Simon the Sorcerer, blurring the
honor among thieves lines between wizard and gunslinger. “We
World Premiere thought of this cool cheat to be able to do
fri 10, 6Pm, Paramount theatre that quickly and cinematically,” Daley said.
Throughout the film, Daley and Goldstein
also find surprising points of overlap
between tabletop and movie experiences.
what it felt like to be in a party during a One such example is Bridgerton star Regé-
campaign,” Goldstein noted, “and also to Jean Page’s Xenk, a high-level paladin whose
give us a preview of what they might bring overpowered nature onscreen hints at a big-
as they played as their characters.” ger universe of heroes beyond what we see
Finding the right story and cast was cru- on the screen. Sure, Xenk re-creates the
cial. The world of Dungeons & Dragons can experience of a party coming across a level
be overwhelming, spanning multiple decades 20 character in their own campaign, but he
and countless rulebooks and modules. But also just happens to give the movie some of
underneath that world building is a subjec- its best comedic moments. “There’s a lot of
tive and localized experience fun in that perspective shift,
that offered the filmmakers a where you’ve spent half the
surprising amount of creative “we saw movie with this group of
latitude. “We saw ourselves as ourselves as knuckleheads, and then you
the Dungeon Masters of this meet someone who’s a kind of
movie,” Goldstein said, “so we the Dungeon a superhero,” Goldstein says.
had to decide what’s gonna be Masters of “It puts it all into perspective.”
the most fun for the audi- And while general audienc-
ence.” That means audiences this movie.” es will be able to see Dungeons
will not find core gameplay J o n at h a n & Dragons: Honor Among
mechanics like long rests rep- Thieves at the end of the
GolDStein
resented in the movie, though month, Daley and Goldstein
Daley joked that there will be couldn’t be happier that SXSW
a director’s cut that’s “14 hours long that will is the jumping-off point for their film. “We’ve
have 12 hours of them taking naps.” been lucky enough to come twice before,”
Meanwhile, moviegoers tired of mono- Goldstein notes. “There’s something about
chrome blockbusters will take great joy in the energy of Austin itself and the excite-
the bright colors and lush landscapes ment that those fans bring to the movie.”
of Dungeons & Dragons. “We didn’t want it to Daley agrees. “You’ve got people there that
be that gritty, grim, medieval look that you just enjoy going to the movies and seeing
see so often,” Goldstein explained. something that transports them to another
“We shot in Northern Ireland, which is one place,” he adds. “I can’t think of a better
of the greenest places on Earth,” Daley place to unleash it to the world.” n
added. “It would be a sin to strip it of that
natural beauty.” Both men are quick to credit
the production team – in particular, produc-
tion designer Ray Chan – for working to find
unique characteristics of each shooting loca-
tion onscreen. “None of them felt the same,”
Daley continued. “They all felt like they were
coming from different influences.”
Another welcome departure is the use of
magic. While spellcasting has become more
common onscreen in franchises big and
small, Dungeons & Dragons draws unique
inspiration from the magic of the game, com-
bining physical components and verbal
spellcasting to show a variety of magical
effects onscreen. “One of the first things
John and I said when we started to think
about the look of this was that we did not
want to have two people standing there with (l-r) Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis daley
their hands out and rays coming out of their Photo by Daniel Knighton / get t y images
hands,” Goldstein explained. f o r Pa r a m o u n t P i c t u r e s
austinchronicle.com Players’ Guide to SXSW 2023, PART I THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE 5
The AusTin ChroniCle P l ay e rs ' G u i d e to Film
TV Premieres
Love & Death
World Premiere
Sat 11, noon, Paramount theatre
director Cameron Crowe, who was around to
give advice, “but he didn’t do that a lot,
because he didn’t want to sway me.” Here he
had no access to Pat or any of the other real
figures, and he admitted he preferred working
that way. “We’re telling a story here that is
very much about human nature, and how peo-
ple make decisions. And obviously there’s a
lot of bad decisions made in this particular
story.” In fact, his understanding of Pat, and
his relationship with Candy, was drawn from
Kelley’s scripts and his first meetings with
Olsen. “We did a little bit of rehearsal and a
little bit of scene play together, but mostly we
elizabeth olsen, Patrick Fugit, Jesse Plemons, and lily rabe in love & death courtesy of hbo talked about the characters, and that’s really
where it solidified for me.”
It was also a story the Dallas-born Glatter
Crimes of Passion
Barbara Hershey as Montgomery, and a wanted to bring back to Texas, and so Love &
recent series for Hulu, Candy, that was film- Death was filmed around Austin. The team
ing at the same time as Love & Death. Most scouted around the original Collin County
importantly, Evidence of Love: A True Story of locations, “but they’re all cities now,” and so
and Desperation Passion and Death in the Suburbs, the nonfic- they headed south to find the kind of small
tion book by Texas Monthly writer-at-large towns that still have those period-accurate
Jim Atkinson and John Bloom (better known buildings that haven’t been renovated,
as gonzo cinema historian Joe Bob Briggs), retaining wood paneling rather than gleam-
In HBO’s Love & Death, director Lesli Linka Glatter and star upon which Love & Death is based. “When I ing white modern walls. That was particular-
read the story,” Glatter says, “I thought, 'You ly challenging for locations like the motels
Patrick Fugit revisit one of Texas’ most infamous murders cannot make this up, it has to be true.'” where Candy and her lover, Betty’s husband
by RiC h aRD Whi t tak eR In a way, it’s the perfect story for Glatter. Allan (Jesse Plemons), hold their secret
One of her first major TV gigs was directing trysts. “They have all either been totally
As a director, story comes first for Lesli and Parting,” launching a four-decade career four episodes of Twin Peaks for David Lynch upgraded or they’re falling apart,” Glatter
Linka Glatter. “Everyone has a story,” she that has seen her work on dozens of shows, – a mentor who she credited with teaching says. “The Continental Inn is actually three
says, and hers is as good as anyone’s. Before from Gilmore Girls to Mad Men. Often she’d her the difference locations. I can’t even
she was a filmmaker, she was a modern danc- work single episodes – an experience she between “dollar scenes remember how many
er and choreographer. She’d trotted the equates to “going into someone’s kitchen and 25 cents scenes.” “it’s about the gallons of paint had to
globe, spending time in London and Paris
(“this is back when the American govern-
and you’re asked to make a gourmet meal.
They’re supplying the ingredients, and you
That show was also
obsessed with the
women and the men be used. We had to
repaint it, because it
ment sponsored the arts”) before working can come in with your spices and maybe seedy underbelly of of that era who did didn’t look new.”
five years in Tokyo. One day she was in the
Shibuya district, looking for a coffee shop,
your favorite knives, but you’re not going to
change those ingredients, and you have to
Americana, and the
connection is never
everything right. … Much like that first
life-changing meeting
and had to pick between two. “Arbitrarily, I make the best gourmet meal you can stronger than in the Well, why do you in a Tokyo coffee shop,
picked the one on the right,” and that set her
on a path to that led to directing Love &
possibly make.” But as the solo director for
all eight episodes of Love & Death, this is her
murder scene. Glatter
described it as one of
feel so empty?” Love & Death comes
from a time and a place
Death, the new true-crime drama from HBO, biggest project to date, and the first she was the most intense expe- L e s L I L I n k a G L aT T e r that may now seem
debuting at this weekend’s South by able to develop (with showrunner David E. riences of her directing alien to many, yet really
Southwest Film and Television Festival. Kelley) from scratch. career, filming an act of astonishing violence comes back to the bonds and strains of per-
Inside the coffee shop, she met an old The story behind Love & Death would between two women “in the middle of this sonal connections. “It’s an American trage-
Japanese man, who told this twentysomething attract anyone’s attention. In 1980, suburban small-town dream. The irony of that, and the dy,” Glatter says. “It’s about the women and
American his life story. Friendship Texas everywoman Candy Montgomery juxtaposition of that, is fascinating.” the men of that era who did everything right.
blossomed, “and he and his wife are like my (played here by Elizabeth Olsen) was charged Such stories come with certain responsibil- They get married at 20, they have the kids,
surrogate parents when I’m living there. … with murdering her fellow Methodist congre- ities – after all, there were real people, many of they start a family, the men have successful
He would tell me these stories about human gant Betty Gore (Lily Rabe) with an ax. The whom are still alive. Patrick Fugit, who plays careers, the wives are mothers, they move to
connection, and I knew I had to pass on killing – a crime surrounded by lust and jeal- Candy’s husband, Pat, has played pulled- the suburbs. Well, why do you feel so empty?
these stories, and I knew it wasn’t dance.” ousy – still fixates true-crime journalists, doc- from-real-life characters before: Indeed, his Why is there a hole in your psyche a mile
Instead, she ended up making her first short umentarians, and filmmakers: There’s a 1990 first role as aspiring rock journalist William wide? And obviously Candy Montgomery
film, the Oscar-nominated “Tales of Meeting TV film, A Killing in a Small Town, starring Miller in Almost Famous was based on writer/ picks the wrong way to fill that hole.” n
6 THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE Players’ Guide to SXSW 2023, PART I austinchronicle.com
austinchronicle.com Players’ Guide to SXSW 2023, PART I THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE 7
THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE P L AY E RS ' G U I D E TO FILM
Lady Bird Johnson:
Beyond Beautification
The Lady Bird Diaries reveal the legendary first lady’s
wonk side B Y L I N A F I S H E R
The Lady Bird Diaries is a story in three her decision to record her experiences:
mediums: first, a book on Lady Bird Johnson, “She was all about Lyndon’s legacy, but
written by Julia Sweig; then a podcast pro- those tapes were also about her self-
duced by ABC News; and now a film directed awareness of her own importance to the
by director Dawn Porter, of John Lewis: Good Johnson presidency,” said Sweig, who also
Trouble fame. But the source material for all produced the documentary that premieres
three was a work of gonzo journalism by the this week at South by Southwest.
first lady herself, in the form of “One of the decisions I
123 hours of audio recordings made early on was no talking
chronicling her time in the DOCUMENTARY heads; we’re going to let
White House and embargoed SPOTLIGHT Lady Bird tell the story that
till her death. Starting 11 days The Lady she wanted to tell,” said
after JFK was shot in 1963 and Bird Diaries Porter, who was tapped for over Kennedy’s term, Porter pointed out: Lyndon’s bedroom.’”
ending six years later, the the project after her Netflix “She was literally his closest aide.” Amid all of Lady Bird’s blind spots and
WORLD PREMIERE
sheer volume of the source series, Bobby Kennedy for Beyond Lady Bird and LBJ’s political part- insights, upon hearing the tapes, Porter
FRI 10, 5PM, ZACH THEATRE
material justifies multiple President. “She always nership, Porter says, “I was very taken with said, “it struck me so clearly, here is this
TUE 14, 6:15PM, ROLLINS THEATRE
treatments. It reveals not only thought of herself as, you how clearly deeply they loved and admired eyewitness to history in one of the most
poignant personal details of know, not the glamorous one, each other.” Sweet details like her home important presidencies of our country. And
her and LBJ’s relationship (they enjoyed a not the one that people would pay atten- movies and their playful ragging on each it just raises so many questions about how
glass of wine and Gunsmoke together at the tion to. She developed this really keen other’s appearances – “old married couples' we treat women, how we treat first ladies,
end of a long day) but also the extent to sense of observation.” sort of kibitzing” – didn’t make it into the when they have this incredible but ill-de-
which she influenced his political strategy. Lady Bird’s importance to the president as final film, along with her one mention, in all fined role. She was navigating all of that in
“She didn’t really revel in the spotlight,” said an advisor is self-evident throughout the 123 hours, of LBJ’s notorious infidelity: “The real time. She wasn’t looking back, she was
Porter. “She was a policy wonk.” tapes; she describes being “tactful and mean only line we could find where she alludes to recording it as it happened. And I think that
Not many are aware of Lady Bird, née enough to get him home at a reasonable it is – they have separate bedrooms. Nixon that gives you a much fuller insight into
Claudia Taylor’s journalism and history hour, and then continue to discuss work.” was with Johnson in his, and she said, ‘Well, what she saw, what she was thinking. You
degrees from UT-Austin, which informed There was no vice president when LBJ took you never know who’s gonna come out of see her evolve over time.” n
The fabric of modern dance music may be cut from Donna more deeply into her mother’s music, but “the most impactful
Summer’s creative work, but the 1970s queen of the mirrorball aspect” was the real relationships she had, said her daughter, like
saw disco as something of a vehicle to get somewhere else. So we her working relationship with electronic music pioneer Giorgio
learn in Love to Love You, Donna Summer, the new biodocumentary Moroder, who Summer praised for redeeming other men by being
receiving its North American premiere at this week’s South by decent and caring where others were not.
Southwest Film & Television Festival. Though ambivalent about disco, Summer mere-
The film lightly excavates the story of her life ly tolerated the role of sex kitten. Her personal
and is co-directed by her daughter, actor Brooklyn 2 4 B E A T S P E R S E C O N D self-image was never as sultry. Summer was not
Sudano, and Oscar- and Emmy-winning filmmaker Love to Love You, necessarily all good girl, either. But after the “Bad
Roger Ross Williams ( Life, Animated ). Summer’s Donna Summer Girl” singer found success and still felt empty, she
influence as nightclub royalty remains regardless, returned to the Christian faith from which she
seen in homages to “I Feel Love” by the likes of U.S. PREMIERE emerged as a young gospel powerhouse.
Beyoncé on recent dance album Renaissance. SAT 11, 5:45PM, ALAMO SOUTH LAMAR As Summer says in archive footage, she crossed
Her Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland told SUN 12, 8:30PM, AFS CINEMA lines of her own morality first and could not for-
Sudano that when she and Summer shared the TUE 15, 9PM, ALAMO SOUTH LAMAR give herself. After a foiled attempt at suicide, she
THE QUEEN OF stage for a 2012 VH1 Divas special, she felt that
she’d finally made it. The story echoed a memory Sudano shared.
was born again. Thus, the stage was set for fans
to recoil in horror when Summer reported remarks about Adam
MORE THAN DISCO “Mother,” as she called Summer, loved gospel singer Mahalia
Jackson and chanteuse and dancer Josephine Baker equally. She
and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Her statement about AIDS being
punishment for sins was another strike against her. Summer did
helped Baker off the stage once and felt a parallel moment of awe. not do enough to explain herself in the moment, says the film, and
BROOKLYN SUDANO ON THE WOMAN SHE CALLED It was a “passing of the baton” moment, said Sudano. felt personally torn over being misunderstood as a vector of hate
MOTHER IN LOVE TO LOVE YOU, DONNA SUMMER Rowland’s interview did not make the film, but Sudano said she when the community was truly dear to her heart. Have her daugh-
was elated at the final product, which illuminated her mother’s ters kept the faith? “We’re all spiritual, but we err on the side of
BY CHRISTINA GARCIA trauma and healing journey. Sudano knew she could have delved love, not legalism,” said Sudano. n
8 THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE PLAYERS’ GUIDE TO SXSW 2023, PART I austinchronicle.com
DIAMONDS & RUST
Folk icon and activist Joan Baez exhumes a personal history
in Joan Baez I Am a Noise B Y D O U G F R E E M A N
So much of Joan Baez’s life has been in with it at all by any stretch. It was just a kind
the spotlight since she was heralded as the of evolving process, and deepening trust, and
crystalline voice of the 1960s folk scene that letting us have access to everything, which
there would seem to be little new ground for was really quite extraordinary.”
a documentary to cover. Her rise to interna- The documentary sets that deeply person-
tional stardom as a teenager, her civil rights al tone at the outset, as Baez prepares for
and anti-war activism, and her high-profile her final 2018 tour. Offstage, the songwriter
personal relationships and struggles with works to retrieve her voice before perfor-
anxiety have all been well documented mances, and reflects on the struggle of tour-
through two autobiographies, numerous ing as she approaches 80, and that intimacy
books, and previous films. Yet Joan Baez I remains until the end as she cares for her
Am a Noise takes audiences somewhere mother in hospice at her house.
completely unexpected. The new documenta- “To me, this film, the power of Joan’s story,
ry from directors Karen O’Connor, Miri is that I really do believe it takes you to human
Navasky, and Maeve universal themes like aging
O’Boyle (making its North and family and identity and
American premiere at “I wanted to memory and forgiveness,” The exhumed audio tapes, journals, and
South by Southwest) quite leave an honest offered O’Connor, who has footage from the storage unit likewise add a 24 BE ATS PER SECOND
literally opens a storage
legacy, because been friends with Baez for much more personal context to Baez’s very Joan Baez I Am a Noise
vault of the artist’s life and decades. “Through her public life. From a young age, the pulls of her NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
60-year career. it is easy not to.” story, you see a woman empathy, anxiety, and want for attention all FRI 10, 8:15PM, ZACH THEATRE
“I had no idea what they coming to the end of some- swirl in a tempest of emotional tensions cat- MON 13, 5:45PM, STATESIDE THEATRE
were walking into, JOAN BAEZ thing, which in itself we alyzed by her talent. In this way, diary entries
because I’d never walked rarely see. Facing the end like the one from which the film takes its title
into it,” admitted Baez over a Zoom call of a career, it’s a transformative time in any- stand in extreme contrast to previous docu-
alongside the directors. “My idea of a storage one’s life, never mind when you’ve been mentaries like 2008’s How Sweet the Sound. “Joan was willing and ready to delve into all
unit means like bedsteads and old chairs, so famous for 60-plus years. Those impulses also become recontextual- of her life, the darker-hearted truths, as well
when they started looking at this stuff, I was “Artistically, we wanted it to be observa- ized with a shocking reveal in the film’s third as the triumphs,” said O’Connor. “Certainly it’s
as astounded as they were. I never kept any- tional, intimate, immersive,” O’Connor con- act, which follows Baez’s journey as she always tricky with famous people where
thing. I’ve lost everything I’ve owned in my tinued. “Everything was shot with natural turned that empathy inward toward herself there’s a kind of general narrative known, so
life. My parents and sisters apparently kept light. We wanted it to be a fly on the wall, over the past few decades. For the first time, we thought if anything, we needed – this had
everything.” behind the scenes, and we wanted it to, she discusses abuse from her childhood and to be immersive, intimate, honest in a way. We
“When the archive started to unfold, then because of the friendship, to have that quali- its impact on her and her sister, Mimi. The knew we had a chance to make a film that
the film did shift and change,” added ty all throughout. So I think for Miri and for film delves into tapes of her therapy sessions was as really complicated and honest and
O’Connor. “When we heard Joan’s audio me at the beginning, and then Joan agreed, as she tries to make sense of the uncertain funny and layered as the woman herself.”
tapes from the March on Washington, or the we didn’t want it to be a conventional bio, memories and feelings. The focus is less on “It’s another memoir,” concluded Baez. “I’ve
Montgomery March, or the letters home, or with everything kind of presented and care- the trauma, however, than Baez’s own path had two already and it’s probably the last one.
they’re talking about Bob Dylan, and then it fully curated, carefully controlled, and very to understanding and healing now, at 82, and I guess what I say is I wanted to leave an hon-
all just deepened over time. We didn’t start little new.” with her parents and sisters gone. est legacy, because it is easy not to.” n
austinchronicle.com PLAYERS’ GUIDE TO SXSW 2023, PART I THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE 9
THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE P L AY E RS ' G U I D E TO FILM
Representation in
the Toy Aisle
Lagueria Davis’ Black Barbie: A Documentary and how her
Aunt Beulah changed dolls forever B Y J E N N Y N U L F
Growing up, Lagueria Davis wasn’t one this year’s South by Southwest Film &
to idolize dolls. But after college she moved Television Festival). When Mattel started, they
in with her aunt, Beulah Mae Mitchell, and only made one kind of doll: the thin, blonde,
she was fascinated by her unusually large white Barbie that immediately pops into your
collection. head when you think of the
“I was surrounded by doll. Mitchell’s question to
dolls, just thrusted deeply DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT co-founder Ruth Handler
into the world of dolls,” Black Barbie: A got Mattel’s wheels turning,
Davis began. “I knew that Documentary as Davis uncovers in her
she worked at Mattel, but I documentary. Black Barbie uses Davis’ aunt’s story to relatability to her. She’ll forever have a spe-
didn’t know her story. One WORLD PREMIERE “[My niece] found it dive into the rich history that Black Barbie cial place in my heart.” Davis added, to her
night, she wanted to just SAT 11, 11AM, ALAMO SOUTH LAMAR very interesting that I had inspired for Mattel. Often when other dolls aunt: “Man, you turned me into a doll lover.”
chat and get to know each TUE 14, 2 & 2:30PM, VIOLET CROWN CINEMA so many Black dolls and are made in the Barbie line, they don’t get to Mitchell’s infectious love for Black Barbie
other, and she pulled out a WED 15, 2:15PM, ALAMO SOUTH LAMAR Barbies,” Mitchell said. take the name of Barbie – they become the shines brightly throughout Davis’ film, steer-
bottle of Manischewitz “She wasn’t aware that sidekick, like sister Skipper and Stacy or ing the path for a promising future where,
and some snacks and we sat down and she many Black Barbies [were made], but it drew best friend Midge, a supporting role in hopefully, Black Barbie can be the center of
started telling me her story, which included her attention and I was very excited to show Barbie’s universe. But in 1980, based on her own story, the leading lady. “I just love all
being on that first Barbie line.” One story her that they had these Black Barbies. I would Beulah’s inquiry, a Black Barbie was of them,” Mitchell gushed. “In fact, my home
really caught her attention: “It was how her always buy Black Barbie because it was me. launched. Designed by a Black woman, Kitty is filled with Barbie’s spirit.”
and her colleagues asked, ‘Why not make a And Black people were interested in getting a Black Perkins, who was inspired by the likes And Mitchell’s spirit has filled and inspired
Barbie that looks like me?’” doll like them. It’s such a glamorous doll.” of Diana Ross, Black Barbie was a stunning Barbie in return. “They did a Black Barbie for
Aunt Beulah’s question sparked an idea that “I got thrust into your world of dolls and doll, donning a fitted, sparkly red dress and my 40th anniversary,” she said. “It’s a Black
changed history, an idea explored in Davis’ you got thrust into my world of filmmaking,” natural short hair. porcelain Barbie made just for me and it
Black Barbie: A Documentary (premiering at Davis said to her aunt. “Black Barbie herself, I found a bond and a looks like me.” n
away, they’ll see the style of BlackBerry is so different. In compar- were basically making a movie about work. Specifically, how men
ison to what Fincher and Boyle do, their operatic massiveness and in this era treated work. Do they work to amass power? Do they
extreme formal control, we’re really telling a small, tragic, and work to achieve perfection? Or do they work because they enjoy
thoroughly Canadian story.” it? I don’t think the film is making the case that any one of those
Yes, this decade-spanning tech-corporate chronicle dials into things is ultimate in terms of its sway, except to suggest that the
some similar how-did-society-get-here territory to those films world BlackBerry enabled – one in which you could be working all
(namely: callous ambition, unchecked hubris, and the bromantic the time – is a world in which these guys thrived.”
friendships that both lay to waste), but it builds to an ending that Despite the film’s hyperactive, documentary-styled camerawork
couldn’t be less future-forward. Consider it the (a formal trademark for Johnson), BlackBerry
equivalent of a dropped call. “Apple and Facebook NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT holds a tight, even claustrophobic narrative
are two of the biggest companies in the world, lens. Johnson and Miller elide their characters’
but BlackBerry is the butt of a joke,” Johnson BlackBerry personal lives and largely limit the action to a
laughs. “It’s totally worthless today, except for NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE succession of nerd-playground workplaces –
people buying their stock as a meme.” MON 13, 2:30PM, ZACH THEATRE mirroring the blinkered prognostication that was
A Very Canadian Tech Crunch The onetime Waterloo, Ontario, world-beat-
ers in question: tinkerer savant Mike Lazaridis
WED 15, 12:30PM, ALAMO SOUTH LAMAR ultimately the company’s downfall.
“These guys thought that they were making a
MATT JOHNSON’S BLACKBERRY RETRO-ENGINEERS THE (an unrecognizable Jay Baruchel), arrogant marketing maverick
Jim Balsillie (an even more unrecognizable Glenn Howerton),
fairly local and small technology that was going to be used by peo-
ple in business only,” Johnson says. “BlackBerry changed telecom-
RISE AND FALL OF THE ORIGINAL SMARTPHONE and humanistic, geek-culture-obsessed Vice President Douglas munications and was ahead of the curve in a major way, but these
Fregin (Johnson himself). BlackBerry’s story kicks off in scrappy men did not have a world-changing vision for their product in the
BY JULIAN TOWERS
underdog mode, re-creating the smartphone’s embattled origins way that most of these capitalist technologist tycoons really do.”
Matt Johnson is inviting you to notice that he is not Aaron in the early Nineties. Not lacking in perspective, however, is Johnson. There’s a reason
Sorkin, and that the paradigm-shifting CEOs of BlackBerry, Fascinatingly, Johnson largely skips the product’s triumphant the cult-favorite director has brought all of his films and TV shows
the Canadian director’s third film, are not Steve Jobs or Mark rise thereafter, instead zooming ahead to focus on the compa- to Austin festivals. “ The Dirties won the big prize at Fantastic Fest
Zuckerberg. “People approaching our film with The Social Network ny’s disastrous response to the 2007 launch of the iPhone. He in 2013, and in many ways that set off my career,” Johnson gushes.
and Steve Jobs in mind is definitely a boon,” he said, but “right explained, “Early on, [co-writer] Matt Miller and I realized that we “I owe the city a deep, deep debt.” n
10 THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE PLAYERS’ GUIDE TO SXSW 2023, PART I austinchronicle.comaustinchronicle.com Players’ Guide to SXSW 2023, PART I THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE 11
The AusTin ChroniCle P l ay e rs ' G u i d e to Film
When Wookies
Go Vaudeville
A Disturbance in the Force rewinds the truly horrible
The Star Wars Holiday Special b y R i c h a R d W h i t t a k e R
Nov. 17, 1978. The day The Star Wars reason it’s worse is because it’s remembered
Holiday Special was broadcast on CBS: 98 more because it’s associated with Star Wars.”
minutes of soulless, joyless garbage so bad So his new film, A Disturbance in the Force
that George Lucas tried to buy the rights so (receiving its world premiere at SXSW), is not
it would never make it to air. an attempt to reappraise a
He failed but was at least show so painful that, the first
able to get it thrown into a Documentary time he saw it, Coon turned
black hole ever since. Spotlight off the tape after half an hour.
Since then, The Star Wars a disturbance Instead, it’s a trip inside the
Holiday Special has been a in the Force wild world of the variety TV
source of horror and wonder, special: one-off events made However, Coon’s documentary (co-directed And A Disturbance in the Force also chron-
a part of the oft-revised Star World Premiere to be shown once, fill airtime with Steve Kozak, whose father was Bob icles … if not the rehabilitation of the special,
Wars canon that has been Sat 11, 8:45Pm, alamo South lamar on the cheap, and then be Hope’s agent) is also an examination of the at least a begrudging acknowledgment of its
thoroughly exiled, only tue 14, 11am, Zach theatre forgotten. Coon said, “You early days of the Star Wars phenomenon, and existence. The Mandalorian has an Easter
emerging through traded Wed 15, 6Pm, aFS cinema could be famous for anything. the undervalued role of Charley Lippincott, egg laid by the special’s Boba Fett cartoon
tapes and rapidly deleted You could be a football player Lucasfilm’s original guardian of Star Wars as (the only good part of the show), and
YouTube uploads. A horrifically misguided and they’d go, ‘We’re going to throw you on a brand. Moreover, it’s about how the Holiday Disneyland now celebrates Life Day, the
variety show that somehow involved Wookie this show and have you sing and dance.’ That Special happened at a bizarre moment, in the Wookie version of Thanksgiving. However,
porn, store-bought alien masks, Harvey was just what was done.” But that’s not what crossover between the last gasp of the variety Coon isn’t eager for it to ever become part of
Korman in space drag, and Bea Arthur sere- happened with The Star Wars Holiday Special show and the time before Star Wars became a the Disney+ library. “I don’t think it would do
nading a giant rat. It’s bad. And not so-bad- because this was, after all, Star Wars. highly protected intellectual property. “It anyone any favors,” he said. “It would make
it’s-good bad. Just … bad. “It’s not as bad as Especially over the last 15 years, Coon said, “It couldn’t have been made any other time,” it less cool, and without any context, if you’re
other things that were made at the same time,” just continues to grow and grow as a part of Coon said. “It would have turned out different- just watching it by itself, I still don’t think it’s
explained documentarian Jeremy Coon. “The popular culture. It’s just a reference point.” ly, based on the context in which it happened.” a very enjoyable experience.” n
history Doc of the Dead and Memory: The Origins of Alien) and piece to Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist, his long-
deep dives into the work of singular storytellers ( Lynch/Oz, The form conversation with the filmmaker about everything from faith
People vs. George Lucas). to brain surgery. Here, across five chapters, he let Shatner lead the
Moreover, it’s obvious why anyone would want to make a docu- conversation across three days of interviews on an empty sound
mentary about William Shatner. Because it’s William Shatner (Bill, as stage. It is Shatner, metaphorically naked. “After 91 years on this
he insists people call him): one of the most recognized and recogniz- planet, what does he think about?” Philippe said. “There’s an incred-
able people alive. “This is a man who has done literally everything,” ible amount of thoughtfulness and introspection and humanity …
said Philippe, and yet he keeps going. “At almost 92 now, he’s gone Here’s a man who is interested in life, and in people.”
into space, he rides his horse every day, he’s constantly When it came to finding subjects for each chapter,
working, he’s constantly doing stuff, he’s as vibrant as any Philippe was guided by Shatner’s most recent album,
person you will ever meet, never mind at his age.” D o c u m e n t a r y suitably and simply titled Bill. Deeply autobiographical
Maybe the real question is: Why would Bill Shatner Spotlight and self-analytical, its themes of loneliness – a recurrent
want to make a documentary with Philippe? They’d you can element of Shatner’s personal life and his creative career
never even met before a lunchtime appointment, set up call Me bill – became the basis for the fourth chapter. Yet Philippe was
Life, Loss, and William Shatner by production house Legion M. The filmmaker turned up
in Studio City expecting a regular pitch meeting, “but World Premiere
thu 16, 7:30Pm,
still caught off guard by Shatner’s openness. “He went to
some pretty dark places, and I remember trying to pull
when we sat down to lunch, he was not interested in the him out of it, and it didn’t go well because he was in that
In You Can Call Me BIll, doCuMentarIan approach. He was interested in me as a person. He kept Paramount theatre space. In fact, right after we finished that chapter, our sound
alexandre o. PhIlIPPe exaMInes the PhIlosoPhY asking me a lot of questions about my life, my upbring- recordist came up to me and said, ‘I know that was really
ing, my childhood, what I believe in, life, the universe, all that stuff. dark, but wait until you hear the quality of his voice. Now that was dark.’”
of the Man who keePs BoldlY goIng And after lunch he basically went, ‘All right, when do we do this?’” However, in the album and the film, there’s also a profound envi-
by Ric h aRd Whi t tak eR Over that lunch, he had gained Shatner’s trust, “and the moment ronmental message, often weighted in a grandfather’s concern for
there’s trust on a human level, he’s willing to open up.” the world he will leave his descendants. Philippe said, “It’s about
It’s obvious why Alexandre O. Philippe would want to make a You Can Call Me Bill does not aim to be a definitive history of the living creatures, it’s about the trees, it’s about this connection
documentary about William Shatner. The Swiss director’s filmog- Shatner (how could anyone cram 91 years of life and seven decades with nature. … There’s always this light at the end of the tunnel for
raphy combines explorations of pop culture phenomena (zombie of nonstop work into two hours?). Instead, it forms a companion him, and I think that’s beautiful.” n
12 THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE Players’ Guide to SXSW 2023, PART I austinchronicle.comPHOTO BY RAjINEE BuquING
Short & Sweet: “when You
Left Me on that BouLevard”
Austin filmmaker Kayla Abuda Galang brings her
Sundance-winning short film home b y d e x W e s l e y Pa RR a
Welcome to “Short and Sweet,” our look at music, and on that note, what’s your go-to
short films playing at SXSW. Every day during karaoke track?
the festival, we’ll focus on a different film and KAG: I obviously love music, but I actually have
filmmaker, kicking off with Kayla Abuda a very private relationship with music. Mostly
Galang. An Audience Award winner at SXSW because I’m afraid to admit that I’m oftentimes
2021 for her last short, “Learning Tagalog listening to the same rotation of five songs.
With Kayla,” the writer, director, producer, and But right now I’m on a big hardcore and post-
editor now brings home her Sundance 2023 punk kick with a tinge of Japanese instrumen-
Short Film Grand Jury Prize winner, “When tal pop because I’m moving through a lot of
You Left Me on That Boulevard.” feelings these days! As for my go-to karaoke
track, I think “Total Eclipse of the Heart” is a
Austin Chronicle: Ah, the nostalgia! Your lat- classic. But I’ve also been very tickled singing
est short serves up mid-2000s hairdos, tech- “Photograph” by Nickelback because that’s a
nology, and slang. How much of that detail did weird and ironic crowd-pleaser.
you have to research, and how much was AC: How has your Sundance win impacted
drawn exclusively from your own memory? you, especially as you take this short to SXSW?
Kayla Abuda Galang: I’d say there was very KAG: Because the award was such a big and
little research and much more drawing from random surprise to the team and me, it’s still
memory just because the Aughts are very something that I’m very much processing and
much etched into my heart moving through the impact of.
and my soul and my brain. So It’s definitely given a lot more
I guess it was really just ini- t e x a S S h o r t S p r o g r a m visibility and criticism to my
tially digging up the artifacts “When you left Me work, and for an early-career
like yearbooks, love letters, on that boulevard” filmmaker, that’s pretty
old schoolwork, favorite nerve-racking! But I think in
support
songs, and the like, and feel- Fri 10, 5Pm, rollinS theatre moving through all the chaos,
ing what those things emo- tue 14, 11:30am, rollinS theatre I’ve been staying as grounded
tionally invoked, and leading and open and curious as I can
with that. You know, when I think about flip as I navigate the path forward and, I guess,
FrEE prEss.
phones, I think about long nights spent on the start to level up my filmmaking instincts for the
phone with friends and maybe-boyfriends, and opportunities coming my way. But thankfully
when I think about the choppy hair, I think SXSW is my home turf. I’m very familiar with it
about how often we were trying as teenagers and I mostly see it as just a really fun and wild
to establish autonomy through rebellious time that seizes the city I live in. And so I’m
self-expression. These things came naturally approaching it like that and I’m really excited to
in the writing and development process, so watch hella movies and see hella music and Please consider supporting The Austin Chronicle.
yeah, lots of drawing from emotional memory. hang out with some friends during spring break. For just a few bucks, you can help us keep delivering the news.
AC: Music can be heard in the background of
Find more “Short & Sweet” selections at
most scenes here. What’s your relationship to
austinchronicle.com/sxsw. a u s t i n C h r o n i C l e . C o m / support
austinchronicle.com Players’ Guide to SXSW 2023, PART I THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE 13The AusTin ChroniCle P l ay e rs ' G u i d e to Film
A Fertile Topic
for Comedy
SXSW alum Leah McKendrick’s Scrambled looks at the
lighter side of freezing your eggs b y M A g g i e Q . T h o M p s o n
Leah McKendrick found herself lying in That story she set out to tell, in all its
bed at the end of a long production day last wackiness, strikes nerves much deeper, too.
year and realized she was posing. She Nellie (and Leah) accept their own power to
couldn’t really be resting, just getting framed create life – power that neither woman really
up to shoot again. feels “qualified” to wield.
Such were the blurred narrative Fe ature There’s the loneliness in
lines between McKendrick – injecting themselves in a
the rising-star screenwriter,
CoMpetition quiet apartment, in feeling
actress, and now director – scrambled like their problems aren’t as is that just me?), and Clancy Brown is (proba- spoiled asshole,” McKendrick jokes. “I pour
and Nellie, the character she SAt 11, 4Pm, AlAmo South lAmAr serious as the fertility strug- bly?) every dad born in the Fifties or Sixties. my heart and soul into everything I write –
dreamed up for her debut mon 13, 11:30Am, AlAmo South lAmAr gles of peers. And, finally, McKendrick credits the opportunity to everything. I feel that they are babies and I
feature as a director, thu 16, 8:45Pm, StAteSide theAtre they find strength in accept- direct such a cast, and write and star in her don’t want to have a million babies dying on
Scrambled. Nellie is a single ing love outside of sex and own film, partly to South by Southwest. That’s shelves. I need confidence and a guarantee
34-year-old millennial who opts (pretty romantic relationships. That love comes where #MeToo revenge horror MFA (for that we’re getting to the finish line. Some
much on a whim) to freeze her eggs. That from siblings, parents, friends, and some- which McKendrick wrote the screenplay) people are writers and they came here to
decision launches her into a biological times total strangers who seem to accept debuted in 2017. “South By is like my origin write and they live and eat and breathe writ-
process as existential as it is hilarious, and Nellie exactly as she is. story,” she said. “I was just making my short ing, and whatever happens after is the cherry
parallels McKendrick’s complex feelings These meditations on modern womanhood films and my webseries until then. I didn’t on top. That’s not me. I came to make movies.”
about her own egg-freezing experience. She come packaged as a blockbuster comedy, have any literary reps. I didn’t think I was As for a sequel? McKendrick doesn’t know
recalled, “I don’t feel adult enough to be with appearances from familiar faces along going to have a life as a filmmaker. … South what happens next for Nellie because she
mixing my own meds and injecting myself the way. Ego Nwodim is the best friend every- By put me on this new path of not only being doesn’t know what happens next for herself.
without supervision, and to be doing body (but especially Nellie) wants, Yvonne taken seriously but taking myself seriously.” But that’s no problem. “I feel at peace
something this expensive and serious – and Strahovski pops in as that Midsommar-esque Taking herself seriously means a new atti- because I made the movie I wanted to make.
when did I get so old?” Instagram/vlogger mom you hate-follow (oh, tude around screenwriting. “Now I’m a I did my best and spoke my truth.” n
second, Mohawk, was a gory wilderness thriller set in 1814. Now his Yet he also wanted to tackle the cultural misapprehension so
third feature, SXSW Midnighter Brooklyn 45, is a chilling chamber common today that postwar America “was this saccharine, beau-
piece set as the last echoes of World War II start to die away. tiful sort of thing. They think of the sailor kissing the girl in Times
So what about historical movies appeals to Geoghegan? Is it Square. They don’t think how, end of 1945 and all the way through
the cultural details? The set dressing? “I hate the present,” he 1946, it was record-high suicides in the United States and most of
laughed. “I really just want to make movies that are not set in the the world, because you had all of these soldiers coming back from
present – not just because it makes it easier to avoid cellphones, the war, and had no ability to fit back into society.”
but because I’m not a fan of the world that we’re currently living in. This becomes part of Brooklyn 45’s underlying theme of how good
I often hop back in time, not because I feel these people contend with having done terrible things.
times were any better than now, but they do offer Midnighters That’s part of what makes Brooklyn 45 his most
some form of escapism.” personal film yet. His father, who worked with Ted
In his story of five lifelong friends and war bud- brooklyn 45 on the script, was a U.S. Air Force veteran who was
dies (Anne Ramsay, Ron E. Rains, Jeremy Holm, World Premiere paralyzed in 1971 after a car accident and found him-
Larry Fessenden, and Ezra Buzzington) caught up Sun 12, 10Pm, AlAmo South lAmAr self in a Veterans Affairs hospital. “Everyone around
The Ghosts of World War II
in a séance, Geoghegan was able to explore the tue 14, noon, AlAmo South lAmAr him were paralyzed guys from the war,” Geoghegan
fascination with the supernatural that was so Fri 17, noon, AlAmo South lAmAr said, “and he would lay there at night surrounded by
common in the era – and to remind audiences that these men who were sobbing themselves to sleep.”
Ted GeoGheGan’s supernaTural horror Brooklyn we are not that far removed from those superstitions. The spiritu-
alism practiced in the film may have first exploded in 19th-century
Without even being able to turn to see them, he became a confessor to
these men who had done terrible things and saw themselves as mon-
45 wresTles wiTh Good people commiTTinG America, but it remained a powerful force throughout the 20th sters, and are buried in remorse, knowing that what they did was unfor-
TerriBle sins b y R i C h A R d W h i T T A k e R century. Aleister Crowley, the famous occultist, lived right through givable. “I wanted to make a film that liberal pacifists like myself could
World War II, “but if you brought his name up with casual people, watch and go, ‘Fuck, war is hell, and it really does destroy people.’ But I
If there was a simple descriptor for Ted Geoghegan, it might they’d think he was from the 1600s. Even his name evokes the also wanted people who are veterans, like my father and other people
be “period horror director.” His first film, SXSW 2015 selection We sense of this Rasputinesque figure – and then Rasputin, he was that I respect and admire, I want them to watch this film and go, ‘This
Are Still Here, was an homage to late Seventies ghost stories; his barely a hundred years ago.” is a nuanced look at what it’s like returning from the front.’” n
14 THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE Players’ Guide to SXSW 2023, PART I austinchronicle.comSuperStar of Schmaltz
Thomas Kinkade was the world’s biggest-selling painter.
Art for Everybody asks why. b y J o s h k u p e C k i
The ausTin chronicle’s online
St re
It’s a lush garden in the full bloom of spring, Miranda Yousef’s feature debut, Art for
a hidden bench under a tree revealed by a shaft Everybody, premiering at the SXSW 2023 Film
of sunlight. It’s a towering lighthouse above a & TV Festival. It’s not just a portrait of
rocky coast, a bright beacon of guidance and Kinkade but of a moment in time that remains
safety. More often than not, it’s a rustic cottage startlingly familiar almost 30 years later. “He
nestled in the countryside at twilight, just was this larger-than-life figure, and his story
across that bridge over the babbling brook. is almost a Greek tragedy,” Yousef says. “But
That’s the world of artist Thomas Kinkade. [the film] also provided a way in to talk about
That world exploded onto the walls of mil- these big ideas, like what is art? Who gets to
lions of American homes in the early Nineties. decide that? The politicization of taste. How
This was the pre-internet cable TV heyday, and our culture and our politics create each other.
Kinkade was a superstar artist/entrepreneur It felt relevant in a timeless way.”
on the QVC shopping channel, constantly sell- Comprising interviews with his family, friends,
ing out not only prints of his oil paintings and members of the contemporary art cogno-
(stretched onto canvas for scenti, Art for Everybody fol-
that added tactile appeal), doCuMentary spotlight lows a classic rise and fall
but just about anything and trajectory: poverty and a
everything it was possible Art for everybody broken home segueing into
to place an image on: quilts World Premiere an unsatisfying stint as an
and coffee mugs, sure, but mon 13, 5:45Pm, AlAmo South lAmAr art student at UC Berkeley,
also plates, ornaments, 3D Wed 15, 8:45Pm, StAteSide theAtre landing on his style – born of
dioramas, La-Z-Boy reclin- thu 16, 12:30 & 1Pm, Violet CroWn CinemA the Hudson River School
ers, bank cards, furniture artists of the 19th century –
and figurines, and for the real connoisseur, a and finding overwhelming success by creating
down payment on a house in a Kinkade- his own brand as the trademarked “Painter of
inspired subdivision in Northern California. At Light” (a title previously held by J.M.W. Turner,
the apex of his career, Kinkade often bragged who should have had better lawyers), a move
that 1 in 20 households had his artwork in it. Yousef finds incredibly prescient. “Kinkade did
This is a $100 million enterprise, publicly trad- what Andy Warhol wanted to do,” she says. “He
ed on the New York Stock Exchange. This is was innovative and ahead of his time in utilizing
also being pointedly ignored by art critics, but artistic reproductive technologies of the time to
Aid And Abet Abortions
We’re donating 100% of the net proceeds from sales of Austin
Kinkade’s themes of “Family and God and just get his image out there as much as possi- Chronicle “Aid and Abet” merchandise to abortion care provider
Country and Beauty” resonated with white, ble. Nowadays, we see all these artist collabs, Whole Woman’s Health. Designed by local artist Billie Buck.
Christian, middle Americans who were getting like Yayoi Kusama doing Louis Vuitton, Tom when you buy this shirt (L o t s o f c o L o r o p t i o n s + k i d s ’ s i z e s + b a b y o n e s i e s a v a i L a b L e )
riled up by Jesse Helms and Robert Sachs making shoes for Nike. The most suc-
Mapplethorpe, Piss Christ, and National cessful artists have their imagery on credit
Endowment for the Arts grants. The culture cards, like Kehinde Wiley and his work for Amex.
austinChroniCle.Com/store
wars? Kinkade shoved himself to the front Kinkade was already doing that.”
lines of the early skirmishes. But, you know, is it art? Yousef laughs. “I’m
Putting this in context is acclaimed editor not entirely sure it matters.” n
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