SXSW 2010 Spotlight: New Documentaries from Steve James, James Franco and Malcolm Ingram

Last night, SXSW announced their full lineup for 2010.  We told you about the eight films in competition but that's just the tip of SXSW's documentary iceberg.  In this post, the nonfiction components of this year's Spotlight and Emerging Visions sections.

SPOTLIGHT PREMIERES

BARBERSHOP PUNK
Directed by Georgia Sugimura & Kristin Armfield (Co-Director)

Keeping the independent/punk spirit alive, barbershop quartet fan Robb Topolski takes on the nation’s largest cable company, only to find himself at the center of a federal investigation, inspiring a larger story of censorship, individual voice and access. Featuring interviews with Ian MacKaye, Damian Kulash of OK Go, Henry Rollins, Janeane Garofalo, John Perry Barlow among others. (World Premiere)

GREENLIT
Directed by Miranda Bailey

It ain't easy bein' green. (World Premiere)

HOOD TO COAST
Directed by Christoph Baaden and Marcie Hume (Co-Director)

Hood to Coast follows four unlikely teams on their epic journey to conquer the world's largest relay race.  Winning isn't everything in a documentary that takes a celebratory look at personal motivation and attempting the extraordinary. (World Premiere)

LEMMY
Directed by Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski

This documentary delves into the personal and public lives of heavy metal icon and Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister. Nearly three years in the making, and featuring appearances by such friends/peers as Metallica, Dave Grohl, Billy Bob Thornton and pro wrestler Triple H, the film follows Kilmister from his Hollywood bedroom to the hockey arenas of Scandinavia and Russia. (World Premiere)

 

MAN ON A MISSION

Directed by Mike Woolf

Man On A Mission is a feature length documentary that follows gaming millionaire Richard Garriott as he becomes the first second-generation American astronaut. (World Premiere)

NO CROSSOVER: THE TRIAL OF ALLEN IVERSON

Directed by Steve James

Steve James returns to his hometown of Hampton, Virginia to examine the 1993 bowling alley brawl that landed Allen Iverson, the nation’s top high-school basketball player, in jail and divided the community along racial lines. (World Premiere)

ONE NIGHT IN VEGAS

Directed by Reggie Rock Bythewood

On the evening of 9/7/96, Mike Tyson attempted to regain the WBA title in Vegas. Sitting ringside was his friend Tupac Shakur. This ESPN Films documentary tells not only the story of that infamous night but of their remarkable friendship. (World Premiere)

THE PEOPLE VS. GEORGE LUCAS

Directed by Alexandre O. Philippe

A no-holds-barred cultural examination of the conflicted dynamic between George Lucas and his fans over the past three decades. (World Premiere)

THE RIDE

Directed by Meredith Danluck

A journey into the heart of America through the rough and tumble, rock and roll world of bull riding Cowboys. (World Premiere)

SATURDAY NIGHT
Directed by James Franco

With unprecedented access to the behind the scenes process of the writers, actors and producers, Franco and his crew document what it takes to create one full episode of Saturday Night Live. (World Premiere)

THE WHITE STRIPES: UNDER GREAT WHITE NORTHERN LIGHTS
Directed by Emmett Malloy

A visual and emotional feature length film documenting The White Stripes making their way through Canada and culminating with their 10th anniversary show in Nova Scotia. The film documents the band playing shows all over Canada; from local bowling alleys, to city buses, and onward to the legendary Savoy Theater for the 10th Anniversary show.

EMERGING VISIONS

11/4/08
Directed by Jeff Deutchman

Weaving together footage recorded throughout the world on the day Obama was elected President, this vérité documentary explores how people choose to live through “history.” (World Premiere)

A DIFFERENT PATH
Directed by Monteith McCollum

In an automobile dominated society, a cast of characters uses ingenuity and wit to forge a new way to commute. One by foot, one by bike, two by boat. (World Premiere)

AMERICAN: THE BILL HICKS STORY (United Kingdom)
Directed by Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas

At last the true life story of the outlaw comic who tried to save the world. Three years in the making, using a stunning new animation technique, AMERICAN: THE BILL HICKS STORY finally brings the amazing tale of one of modern culture's most iconic heroes to the big screen. (North American Premiere)

BEAR NATION (Canada)
Directed by Malcolm Ingram

What if your biggest perceived flaw became you greatest asset? BEAR NATION is a thorough and stylistic examination of the sub culture sweeping gay culture, the sexualization of fat and hair. From the director of small town gay bar and Exec Produced by honorary bear Kevin Smith.  (World Premiere)

THE PARKING LOT MOVIE
Directed by Meghan Eckman and Christopher Hlad (Assistant Director)

“It’s not just a parking lot, it’s a battle with humanity.”  THE PARKING LOT MOVIE is a documentary about a singular parking lot in Charlottesville, Virginia. The film follows a select group of Parking Lot Attendants and their strange rite of passage. Something as simple as a parking lot becomes an emotional weigh station for the American Dream. (World Premiere)

WE DON'T CARE ABOUT MUSIC ANYWAY... (France)
Directed by Cedric Dupire and Gaspard Kuentz

"We don't care about music anyway"...In other words, "we make it and that's all". Beyond the music and beyond its performance, the future and mode of existence of a city, and society as a whole, are in motion. (North American Premiere)

WORLD PEACE AND OTHER 4th GRADE ACHIEVEMENTS
Directed by Chris Farina

WORLD PEACE AND OTHER 4th GRADE ACHIEVEMENTS portrays John Hunter, a remarkable public-school teacher who has dedicated his life to teaching children the "work of peace." (World Premiere)

WORLD'S LARGEST
Directed by Amy C. Elliott and Elizabeth Donius

Desperate for tourism, hundreds of small towns across the U.S.A. claim the "world's largest" something - from 15-foot fiberglass strawberries to 40-foot concrete pheasants.  WORLD'S LARGEST visits 58 such sites and profiles Soap Lake, Washington’s five-year struggle to build the World’s Largest Lava Lamp.  By documenting these roadside attractions, World’s Largest captures the changing, perhaps even vanishing, culture of small-town America. (World Premiere)

 

Also worth noting is a narrative adaptation from CATFISH co-director Henry Joost and BROCK ENRIGHT: GOOD TIMES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME's Jody Lee Lipes:

NY EXPORT: OPUS JAZZ
Directed by Henry Joost and Jody Lee Lipes

This scripted adaptation of a 1958 jazz ballet by Jerome Robbins (West Side Story) takes the original choreography and returns it to the streets that inspired it in this tale of disaffected urban youth. Shot on 35mm on location all over New York City with dancers from the New York City Ballet. Cast: Dancers with New York City Ballet, Jerome Robbins. (World Premiere)

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