Saturday, March 8, 2008

SXSW film festival day 2: serendipity and surprise encounters

By John P. Meyer

On my second day at SXSW, I pioneered the Austin Metro bus system and found it to be a cracker-jack means of getting from the north end of Austin to downtown - as long as you don't mind a) waiting, and b) missing the occasional film screening because you mistook the schedule listing of one Alamo venue for another.

I'm talking Alamo Ritz vs. Alamo Lamar, which are miles apart. But this film viewing agenda of mine is a capricious affair in any case, and there are so many films playing simultaneously that if one ends up in the wrong place at the time one's selected film was scheduled to play, that selfsame one can always check out the film that's playing in the wrong place where he so successfully showed up at the right time.

Which is exactly how I stumbled onto The Order of Myths, a fantastic little documentary about Mardi Gras traditions (and present-day goings-on) in Mobile, Alabama. It's the experience of being able to immerse oneself in an unexpected film delight such as this that makes the whole hoop-jumping, hair-pulling exercise of festival attendance worthwhile.

AFI Dallas CEO Michael Cain

Imagine my surprise when, later in the afternoon at the Austin Convention Center, I walked into the press lounge and smack dab into John Wildman, head honcho of the AFI Dallas media relations crew. John's presence came as a bit of a shock - I mean, John, buddy, your OWN dang film festival starts up in just 2 1/2 weeks. Don't you have enough film stuff on your plate already?

Imagine my further astonishment when another guy comes up behind me while I'm talking to John and it turns out to be Michael Cain, the Grand Poobah (as in CEO and Artistic Director) of the whole AFI Dallas shooting match. He looks a lot different in Austin casual duds than he does gussied up for formal film events, just FYI. (Not to mention he's a lot shorter off-stage.)

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