LITTLE WHITE LIES – “Timely… optimistic… human”
March 28th, 2011 | Published in Reviews
Read original article by Samuel Hilton
Every March in Austin, in the heart of Texas, creative energy explodes throughout the city. The vibrations are felt pouring out of music venues, rambling through the convention center, pumping along the main street and rippling through the cinemas. This is the South By Southwest Festival.
During spring break every year, the city is overran by up-and-coming musicians, geeks and filmmakers. SXSW is impressively expansive; spanning only nine days it manages to jam in a music showcase festival, an interactive convention and an indie/geek driven film festival.
This year the film festival boasted over 130 features, the programme emphasising American indies and first time filmmakers. But the small is also complimented by the big. Every night SXSW rolls down the red carpet to premiere some Hollywood films, mostly ones that have been generating some buzz through the online community.
With all this going on the city is alive with energy. Standing in line at the cinema musicians constantly swarm past you, driven by free booze, the searing heat and potent atmosphere of creativity. Inside the audience are noticeably young and excited as film recommendations are yelled out across the auditorium before the lights dim. It is fitting then that the festival programs such energetic films that can match the buzz of the city. Here are our picks from this year’s fest.
Sound It Out
The joy of a passion can be contagious. British filmmaker Jeanie Finlay proves such with her documentary Sound It Out – a portrait of the last record store in Stockton-On-Tees, the owner Tom Butchart and the local vinyl collectors. Unsurprisingly the film has a superb soundtrack defined by the tastes of Butchart and the collectors, along with local music.
It is a timely documentary but rather than focus on the economics of the endangered industry or take a pessimistic viewpoint the film is continually optimistic and human. Finlay gives time to each of the collectors she meets at the store, giving them time to show off their collection and what it means to them, making a visual record of their joy. The film never cuts them off and never uses their eccentricities as the butt of a joke.