Films, music, sunshine, margaritas and taco stands; a few of the reasons we returned to Texas for the 2010 South by Southwest festival.
By Tara Kumar and Whitney Wegner
Scenes from the South by Southwest festival
DAY 3
The South by Southwest experience would not be complete without endless lines in which everyone tirelessly waits. Some lines end with success while others end in failure, today we experienced both ends of the spectrum. Our hour-long wait at the local taco stand was victorious, the three hour wait to see and fall in love with James Franco at his premiere of “Saturday Night” brought disappointment and rejection.
We did, however, get to check out the always stylish Chloë Sevigny at her second premiere of the festival, “Mr. Nice.” Her co-star Rhys Ifans accompanied her down the red carpet for this movie which is based on the biography of Howard Marks, who was once Britain’s most wanted man for drug smuggling. In the film Rhys plays the main character, who he idolized as a child in real life. He admits to sending fan letters while Marks was in prison. Since Howard Marks is a convicted felon he was unable to make the show, but his daughter was in attendance.
On our way over to the Google party we stumbled upon the premiere of “Pelada,” a film made for the love of soccer. Luke Boughen and Gwendolyn Oxenham, both former players of the game, traveled the world to document ways in which the universal love for this sport transcends cultural and political differences.
There was a rumor that the Twitter party at the Parish included an open bar. It was a Lie. The overly hyped party did have one good thing to offer, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. This Austin-based band is the perfect combination of rock and blues and style.
Although we missed the premiere of the documentary earlier in the evening, we didn’t dare miss the after-party for “Bear Nation” at Red 7. An open bar and plenty of “bears” made this affair the ideal end to the evening.
