SXSW Festival 2016

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Conferences & Festivals offer the unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies. Since 1987, it has taken place every year in Austin, TX, and continues to grow.

The 7 Best Jokes & Banter from HBO’s “Silicon Valley” SXSW 2016 Panel

The cast and showrunners of HBO’s Silicon Valley (2014 - ) gathered in a SXSW 2016 panel entitled “Making the World a Better Place,” where the guys traded jokes about the tech industry. Here’s the best banter from the event. 1. Zach Woods:…

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How Accurate is HBO’s “Silicon Valley”? Is the Tech World Really That Absurd?

According to the showrunners and stars of HBO’s Silicon Valley (2014 - ) the tech world is at least as crazy as the events depicted on the show – if not crazier. At a panel at SXSW 2016, creator Mike Judge and executive producer Alec Berg said…

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Ask the Director: Keith Maitland on “Tower,” SXSW Documentary Grand Jury Winner

On August 1st, 1966, a sniper rode the elevator to the top floor of the University of Texas Tower and opened fire, killing 16, wounding three dozen and shocking a nation that had yet to experience mass school shootings as a too-common event. 50…

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Ask the Composer: Sage Lewis on SXSW’s “Operator,” Scoring for VR and if Tech Will Tear Us Apart

Composer Sage Lewis has scored two films at SXSW 2016 that both revolve around our obsession with technology: Operator (2016), a dark comedy starring Martin Starr, and The Surrogate, a virtual reality film set in the future. A Sundance Film…

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Ask the Filmmakers: “Free in Deed” Star David Harewood and Writer-Director Jake Mahaffy

Free in Deed (2015) tells the story of a preacher in a Memphis storefront church who attempts a faith healing on a boy with a mysterious illness. Based on actual events, Free in Deed stars David Harewood (Homeland) as the lonely Pentecostal…

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Ask the Directors: Lisa Robinson and Annie Howell on Their SXSW Premiere “Claire in Motion”

Director team Lisa Robinson and Annie J. Howell return to SXSW 2016 with Claire in Motion (2016), the story of a woman undergoing a crisis of identity. Claire (Betsy Brandt, known for Breaking Bad and Masters of Sex) is a math professor in an…

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Ask The Composer: Kerry Muzzey Talks About “The Seer: A Portrait of Wendell Berry”

Kerry Muzzey has composed a wide range of modern and classical scores for movies and television. His music has been used in Glee (2009-2015) and the Oscar-nominated Nebraska (2014), and he has collected his modern classical works in the album The…

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Ask the Director: Joe Berlinger on Netflix’s “Tony Robbins: I am Not Your Guru”

Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger’s newest documentary Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru (2016) focuses on world-renowned life coach and best-selling author Tony Robbins’ annual seminar “Date with Destiny.” At…

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Ask the Director, Joe Berlinger: What Inspired You to Make “Tony Robbins: I am Not Your Guru”?

Award-winning social documentarian Joe Berlinger seems an unlikely storyteller to present life coach Tony Robbins’ “Date with Destiny” seminar to the world at large. Introducing Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru (2016) at its SXSW premiere…

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Ask the Filmmakers: The Creators of “Operation Avalanche” on Docu-Comedy and Sneaking into NASA

An original mix of faux-documentary, improv comedy and historical commentary, Operation Avalanche (2016) follows two young CIA agents (Matt Johnson and Owen Wiliams) who infiltrate NASA, pretending to be documentary filmmakers. As their scheming…

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