SXSWORLD

Emotionally Laden Images Bring Visual Power to Trio of SXSW Films by Joe O'Connell ground is, in fact, still photography, while Hudson is known to SXSW regulars as the cinematographer of 2011 Audience Award Winner, Kumare. Th e combination creates a movie that is part fi ne art photog- raphy and part emotional wrestling match. Meanwhile, Bill and Turner Ross have a fi lmic love aff air with place. Th eir fi rst feature, 45365, won the 2009 SXSW Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature and then went on to earn the Independent Spirit Truer than Fiction Award. All for a love letter to their home- town of Sidney, Ohio, that is documentary as a pure visual experience as it wanders along police offi cers on patrol, high schoolers at a football game, and the down and out, with no voiceover narration. 40 SXSW ORLD / M ARCH F ILM- I A 2012 going fl y fi shing, not a topic that sizzles in a pitch meeting. But in the hands of co-directors Tyler Hughen and Kahlin Hudson, it becomes a prose poem. Th e focus fades in and out as we drift out to meet J.T. Van Zandt, son of songwriting legend Townes Van Zandt, and nature surrounds us in a series of living snapshots. Th row in J.T.'s friendship/rivalry with a curmudgeonly fl y-fi shing Yoda named Alex "Xenie" Hall, and you have fi lm as uneasy medita- tion. J.T. seeks the satori of doing the everyday as perfectly as possible. Xenie just gets a rush from the catch itself. Th e mix of confl ict and poetry pervades the fi lm. Hughen's back- Malick's Th e Tree of Life is claiming numerous cin- ematography awards this year, has said that fi lm's aim was emotion over the traditional story arc. Compared to studio fi lms that rely heavily on a set plot format and snappy dialogue, this is seen as a revelation, and several independent fi lms at SXSW this year also are using images to tell their stories. Consider Low and Clear, a documentary about two guys fi lmmaker Tim Sutton and his cinematographer, Chris Dapkins, seek when you watch the world premiere of Pavilion at the SXSW Film Festival. On the surface a simple coming-of-age story, the words the actors speak are secondary to the lush images: 15-year-old Max is seen from behind sit- ting on a porch with his mother as the rain falls in front of the them. No words are uttered, but the emotion fl ows from the image. A group of boys on bicycles is seen in wide shot peddling through a grove of trees in unison. A boy climbs a tree as the girl he desires watches from below. Emmanuel Lubezki, whose work on Terrence adulthood? Th e loneliness, the adventure, the joy? Now feel it. Let it sink into your pores. Th at's the reaction fi rst-time R emember being 15 with all that swirling angst about impending Scene from Pavilion Orleans for Tchoupitoulas, a documentary about a beer- soaked street that glows with jazz riff s, sexuality, grit and excitement. Th is time, the fi lmmakers add the view- point of three young African-American brothers who slip off against their parents' wishes on a ferry across the Mississippi River to fi nd some action. Th e boys can't get more than a peek into the nightclubs, but that doesn't stop the camera as it explores drag shows and strippers. It's as if the camera hops off of the boys' shoulders and is itself seeking out the mysteries of life. All three fi lms aim an arrow at human For SXSW 2012, the brothers go to Uptown New truth as evoked by the camera image, and this idea will be extended to a cin- ematography panel discussion during this year's SXSW Film Conference. SXSW Film producer Janet Pierson approached fi lmmaker David Lowery (St. Nick) to put the session together. "We both immediately agreed that Scene from Low and Clear Scene from Tchoupitoulas understands their craft to expose it to light and create a pretty picture. I thought it would be fun to sit down with some of the best cinematogra- phers working in independent fi lm and throw away a lot of the specifi cs of data and codecs and just focus on the image." Lowery will moderate "Th e Great Cinematography Shoot Out" panel that also will include PJ Raval (who shot Ernesto Fornando's 2012 SXSW premiere, Sunset Stories), James Laxton (who shot 2010 SXSW fi lm Th e Myth of the American Sleepover) and Jody Lee-Lipes (director/ director of photography for HBO's Girls, 2011 Grand Jury Winner for Tiny Furnture and co-director/cinematographer for 2010 SXSW audi- ence award-winner Opus Jazz). ■ we should take an artistic approach to a medium that's become increas- ingly technical," Lowery says. "Th ere are so many great cameras available to the independent fi lmmaker today, but they all still are being used in service of the same time-honored ideal—visual story- telling. As big or small as any given CCD chip might be, it still needs someone who "The Great Cinematography Shoot Out" panel will be held today (Sunday, March 11) at 12:30pm in the Austin Convention Center. Check schedule.sxsw.com infor- mation for details as well as screening times for the fi lms mentioned above.

• Cover