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A Place For Film @ SXSW Day 2 Impressions

A still from A Teacher, directed by IU Alum Hannah Fidell.

Day 2 Impressions



On our second day, Jason and I started out in the press suite, grabbing some coffee and double checking our scheduoverly first film of the day was A Teacher. This film about a teacher having an affair with a student was written and directed by IU Alum Hannah Fidell.

I didn't realize the IU connection going into the film, but the name rang a bell. During the credits I looked up her name, and discovered that I had seen an earlier film of hers, We're Glad You're Here, at the 2011 Indy Film Fest. I saw a lot of potential in that earlier film, and I was glad to see it realized here. A Teacher takes a very insightful look into the psyche of a woman losing control over her decision making process. We will definitely talk more about this one on the podcast.

I also saw John Sayles new film Go For Sisters. This film stars Edward James Olmos as a former detective helping a woman find her son, who has been kidnapped by a Chinese gang working out of Mexico. The story focuses on the woman, who is a parole officer, and her current parollee, who was a close friend in high school. As expected for a Sayles film, the acting, writing and directing are all stellar.

I then took a look at a film called Grow Up, Tony Philips, about an 18 year old boy that still goes trick or treating, and how his friends react to him. It was directed by a 20 year old woman named Emily Hagins, who directed her first feature film at age 12. It was a really nice coming of age story, with lots of good characters, and a good message. I really enjoyed this one, and will definitely keep an eye on what Emily Hagins is up to in the future.

I finished up my night at Milo, a film about a man who has a demon baby living in his colon.

I'll just let that sink in.

The film mixes comedy and horror, leaning more towards comedy, but with a couple of unexpected scares to keep the audience on it's toes. The film is riotously funny, but trades some of the laughs for tension during the middle third. It also has a great cast, with lots of recognizable faces like Ken Marino (Party Down, The State), Gillian Jacobs (Community), and Peter Stormare (Fargo, The Big Lebowski), and we'll talk about it more on the podcast, once I know how to discuss it.

Tomorrow I'll be checking out Milius, Zero Charisma, We Always Lie to Strangers, and The Bounceback. You can read about them all on the SXSW Schedule site.

Jason's night was later than mine, so check out our Facebook and Twitter feeds for his thoughts, and we'll try to update this post with his thoughts.

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