SXSWORLD

KEEP UP WITH FILM ALUMNI YEAR-ROUND Throughout the year, we cover upcoming releases from SXSW Film alumni. Including theatrical releases, streaming/on-demand, blu-ray and other media, you can find the information on our blog, in posts to our social media platforms on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and on aggregated posts. SXSW ACCELERATOR Returning for its tenth year in 2018, this event showcases some of the global startup ecosys- tem's most exciting, innovative and cutting edge technologies. Companies present the latest ideas and advancements in ten categories to a panel of industry experts, early adopters, and rep- resentatives from the investor community. We invite you to attend this incredible pitch event as we highlight startup com- panies' most impressive new innovations. SXSW GAMING PITCH COMPETITION This pitch competition con- nects gaming industry veterans directly with independent game developers in a private atmo- sphere to help build great pitches and offer developers extensive feedback, tips, and assistance on how to move forward. A panel of industry experts will award one entry the title of "SXSW Gaming Best Pitch." If you're a devel- oper looking to gain recognition for your current project and are willing to take the next step toward making it a reality, then the Pitch Competition is a can't- miss opportunity. REMEMBERING JONATHAN DEMME We were saddened by the death of acclaimed filmmaker and great SXSW friend Jonathan Demme, on April 26 at age 73. After starting out as a writer, producer and director with B-movie kingpin Roger Corman during the 1970s, Demme earned widespread attention as an independent director during the '80s with such projects as Melvin and Howard, Something Wild and the brilliant Talking Heads' concert film Stop Making Sense. He later had a run of success with major studio films, including 1991's The Silence of the Lambs, which garnered five Academy Awards including Best Picture and a Best Director honor for Demme himself, as well as 1993's landmark AIDS drama Philadelphia, for which Tom Hanks won the Best Actor Oscar. Demme was an early champion of Austin as a hotbed of independent film and in 1980, worked with Austin Chronicle Editor and SXSW co-founder Louis Black to compile six short films, which he later screened as Jonathan Demme Presents: Made in Texas, at New York City's Collective for Living Cinema in October 1981. Demme was also a familiar face at SXSW over the years. In 1998, he world premiered Storefront Hitchcock, a concert film featuring Robyn Hitchcock (a 2017 Grulke Prize Winner) before presenting The Agronomist in 2004. Two years later, he returned to screen Neil Young: Heart of Gold, the first of his three documentary collabora- tions with Neil Young, and participated in a keynote interview with Young at SXSW Music. 2009 featured the World Premiere of Neil Young Trunk Show, the second of his Young docs. He most recently visited in 2015 for a 25th anniversary screening of Made in Texas and during the accompanying session, Richard Linklater confessed that seeing two of its short films as a young man in Houston inspired him to move to Austin. "Jonathan Demme loved South By Southwest because he was addicted to creative energy," explains Black. "Over the years we probably talked about music more than film, so he was delighted by every aspect of it ... I'll always remember going to a SXSW day party to see The M's, because they were a band he was excited about. Jonathan brought along Neil Young, Elliot Roberts and me. Although, obviously, far more were aston- ished to see Young walking about, those that recognized Demme were just so pleased … In every way with its abundance of people, music, film, and creative energy SXSW was perfectly suited to Jonathan who enjoyed the hell out of it." Niel Young and Jonathan Demme SXSW 2006, photo by Gary Miller David Lynch - The Art Life

• Cover