Austinist Interviews SXSW Film Festival Producer Matt Dentler

Is it easier to program a festival where there is a specific theme or focus? Like, for example, Fantastic Fest, where all the films fit a certain genre?

It’s actually harder, I think. Niche festivals are harder because then you’re limited by what the mission of the festival is. For example, for the last couple of years when Fantastic Fest rolls around—as fun and great as it is to find really cool films for it—you’re limited by the fact that it’s got to fit the criteria. When we have programming meetings, a certain film will come up that’s good, but that isn’t really the kind of film that people go to Fantastic Fest for. With South By Southwest, we have a little more freedom—our programming criterion is a little more open-ended. We just look for the best new stuff out there.

Do you see South By Southwest Film as an industry-oriented festival, or is it more of an audience oriented thing?

I think it’s a little bit of both. We pride ourselves on being able to unite the industry and the general public in a way that’s a lot of fun. Some other film festivals have specific press and industry screenings, and we don’t. Particularly because we found that there’s a lot of excitement when you can have industry and press and filmmakers watching a film for the first time along with the general public. I think we’re at about a 50/50 rate on that.

People tend to describe [SXSW] as a very unpretentious, friendly sort of festival compared to other festivals.

Yeah, I guess that it is a pretty egalitarian festival. We do our best to make it pretty indistinguishable in a crowd who’s the big powerful industry tycoon and who’s the struggling independent filmmaker. It’s nice to be in an environment where everyone’s on the same playing field.

There are a lot of films this year that have connections to Austinites or to folks who’ve lived here at some point. Is that more a function of you seeking those films out, or does Austin just produce a lot of talented filmmakers?

I think it’s a bit of both. We’re very fortunate that we’re a festival that exists in a town that has a very vibrant film scene. It’s really exciting to be able to showcase a lot of films by local filmmakers, not just because they’re local but because they’re great films.

So yeah, I think we just live in a time where there’s a lot of exciting new stuff coming from filmmakers in and around Austin, and we feel really fortunate to be a hop skip and jump away for a lot of these filmmakers. For example, last year, a film like Gretchen went over incredibly well, and a lot of people from around the world saw it and loved it, and we were glad to premiere it. And we were proud because it was made here by people who lived here. It’s always nice when those things work out like that.

I tell people all the time, we couldn’t have South By Southwest in another city. The way the festival works, and the atmosphere at South By Southwest is something that’s exclusively Austin. And I think that’s what attracts people from all over the country and all over the world - it’s Austin first, SXSW second. We wouldn’t be where we were without this city.

I know you can’t really choose favorites, but is there anything you’re especially excited about seeing or premiering?

It’s hard to say. I’m just excited about so many of the things in the festival—to me, it’s really exciting to be able to debut new work by up-and-coming filmmakers, either in the competition programs or in the Emerging Visions competition that we have. Those two sections are great breeding grounds for discovering new talent, and I think at the end of the day, that’s a lot of what we’re trying to do.

We try to showcase really great work by veteran filmmakers who probably don’t need a whole lot of a boost, but for the most part I think that in addition to that, we pride ourselves on striving to bring the best from new filmmakers.