"Hookers, booze, gunfights, and miners going berserk." That used to be Darwin, an isolated Death Valley town founded in 1874 once silver was discovered there. While its population peaked at 3,500 in 1877, present-day Darwin contains a mere 35 people. It is that remote, pocket-sized community that filmmaker Nick Brandestini chronicles in Darwin, screening this week as part of Austin Film Festival's Documentary Feature Competition. We asked Brandestini to participate in a quick e-interview to discuss the town, its absorbing pioneer history, its mysterious/ominous only neighbor, and its current, unique populace. more ›

The 2011 Austin Film Festival is drenched in docs, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. The Marquee Screening category is made up of a chunk of compelling nonfiction—previewed here—that then spills over into the genre-specific Documentary Feature Competition category. more ›

When people talk about the cities with the most alive musical cultures, the name of our little burg is thrown about with the likes of Seattle, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and the rest. But the local landscape has changed in recent years, and we’re not just talking about the 20-story cranes that seem to be everywhere or the skyscrapers they leave behind. As the city continues to grow, we are forced to evolve as well. Those new condos are full of people that still need to be able to sleep at night. The new documentary Echotone takes a long look at the issues arising out of these new circumstances with Austin as its focus. more ›

Ironic that a documentary about darkness can wake viewers up in what ultimately amounts to "a resetting of your ego," according to astrophysicist and interviewee Neil deGrasse Tyson. An absolutely beautiful film from its quiet, nostalgic beginning to the final rapid-fire revelations from the compelling individuals we meet throughout, Ian Cheney's The City Dark takes on a variety of issues regarding light pollution and what exactly has happened to our night sky. How he neatly fits each niche point-of-view into a sleek, all-inclusive 80-minute film is beyond us. more ›

In Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner How to Die in Oregon, Director Peter Richardson sets out to document the extremely personal stories of how people's lives were actually affected when Oregon became the first state in the U.S. to pass the "Death with Dignity Act" in 1994 (Washington has since folowed suit). The act makes it possible for terminally ill patients to receive legal aid from physicians in ending their lives with a lethal dose of medication. It is what the director believes could very well be the next major medical/ethical issue we confront as a nation. more ›

Directors Joe Bailey, Jr. and Steve Mims know how you feel when you first hear the two-sentence summary of documentaries like INCENDIARY: The Willingham Case. They call them your "vegetable films" — the ones that inform, warn, provoke, and interest, but are just too heavy and heartbreaking to take home from the weekend trip to the video store. That's why Bailey and Mims have become experts at feeding you, film style. more ›

Among the arrests made at the the 2008 Republican National Convention were David McKay and Bradley Crowder, two Austin boys who had come to try and help change the world. Some call them anarchists and attempted terrorists who should be behind bars. Others say they were simply passionate kids tricked by the FBI into doing something they would never have done otherwise. Better This World peels back the layers of this complex saga. more ›

As far as new movies go, it looks like Austin is still in a tryptophan-induced coma this week. Still, we're only a week away from Black Swan and this also is a good excuse to get out and see some movies you haven't caught yet (like the Alamo's brilliant satire Four Lions). more ›

If we tried to trace the genealogy of viral video superstars, we would certainly come across Jack Rebney. In the 90s, his obscenity-laden outtakes of a Winnebago commercial went viral back when that was still just a medical term. His video became an underground hit; he became famous…completely by accident. In fact, he didn’t even know it. As the internet grew, the video was uploaded and got millions of hits. He was no longer underground—he was a worldwide superstar. more ›

We've all been THAT person. The one who misses out on the documentary or the acclaimed short screening, only to go home and curse our time management skills when we discover there is no distributor and no way of experiencing the film unless we somehow manage to get to a rural Australian Film Festival in two days. more ›

Bear Nation, a SXSW Emerging Visions documentary, explores the big, hairy, and oh-so-happy (read: real, laid back) gay subculture of Bears. The film features a slew of candid takes on body image, acceptance, and ultimately finding a way to go easier on yourself to take full advantage of this life. Yes, the documentary about the burliest of men is surprisingly touching and we still get to hear about what gets them off -- the best of both worlds! We sat down with Director Malcolm Ingram (Small Town Gay Bar) and music icon/documentary interviewee Bob Mould (formerly of Hüsker Dü and Sugar) mere hours before their world premiere to discuss the draw of niche groups, the fur of foreign lands, and why you shouldn't use the phrase "pick up on" in questions about gay communities. more ›

After hosting Saturday Night Live in December, James Franco returned to his classes at NYU Film School with SNL Creator/Executive Producer Lorne Michaels and sketch comedy on the brain. When he received a five-minute documentary assignment, he decided to chronicle one of the hellishly hectic and creative weeks of SNL production. Armed with more behind-the-scenes access than Michaels had ever granted before, the short doc project turned into the 94-minute film SATURDAY NIGHT, which has its world premiere as part of SXSW's Spotlight Premieres category on Sunday at Alamo Lamar. more ›

During the Lunar New Year, over 130 million residents of industrialized towns sardine themselves through maddening crowds to head back to their rural beginnings. In his directorial debut, Last Train Home, Lixin Fan follows one couple, Changhua and Sugin Zhang, on their journey from the factory town of Guangzhou back to the place where they left their baby daughter 16 years earlier. The Zhangs make the harrowing trip every year, once a year, but this time things are a bit different. more ›

Judging by Meghan Eckman’s doc, the Corner Parking Lot in Charlottesville, Virginia seems an awful lot like Austin. This self-described “ragtag group of fractured poets” prefers skateboards and bicycles to cars and have at best a tolerant contempt for the people they serve. The camera takes a good look at the attendants, letting us see their world and hear their stories. It’s a fun trip into a world you’ve probably never even thought to wonder about as you hand over your cash. But by the end, you won’t want to leave. more ›

Inspired by tragedy and shaped by the piercing beauty of a true artist, Everything Is Going Fine looks to be a haunting and lovely addition to this year’s festival. more ›

The sense of cohesiveness, goodwill and yes, hope, of that day managed to brighten many corners of the world - a fact that happens to be the subject of 11/4/08. This collaborative documentary will have its world premiere at SXSW 2010, screening as part of the Emerging Visions program and bringing a political and sociological component to the festival. more ›

Everyone in the last three generations can be divided into two groups—those who worshiped at the feet of anything Star Wars and considered George Lucas a deity…and those that think “Jar Jar is funny!” And both sides wonder—how can these things have come out of the same person? In the documentary The People vs. George Lucas, those people finally get a chance to speak out. more ›

In the cultural twilight that is that oh-so-short period of time after the SXSW Interactive and Film Festivals have begun but before the Music Festival has, it’s important for us Austinites not to lose our grip on what we are—Austin is primarily a music town, and while we welcome all these amazingly talented artists, we still want to keep it weird. Helping us remember our music roots while also keeping it more than just a little weird—The Weird World of Blowfly. more ›

Ten years ago this April, Mark Hogancamp was jumped from behind outside of a bar and brutally beaten into a brain-damaging coma. Amazingly, he pulled through, but his memories did not come with him. It is not unheard of for a person who has suffered life-altering trauma to create a fantasy world that they can safely inhabit, but Hogancamp took his thearpuetic outlet one step further: he created an entire tangible community in his backyard. more ›

the open road and the small towns on it have their own unique and mysterious allure. But every once in a while, you can stumble across an even more puzzling mystery—who convinced these people to hitch their boomtown dreams to a giant hockey puck? Or weasel? Or killer bee? Not to be too Seinfeldian here, but who hasn’t wondered, “what’s the deal with that thing?” more ›

Whether you consider it an invasion of privacy or a good way to catch terrorist plots before they hatch, you have to admit—there’s a lot of information in the hands of the government today. What do they know about people? What do they know about...you?That’s one of the many questions David Bond addresses in his documentary Erasing David, which makes its U.S. premiere this Friday as part of the first night of the SXSW Film Festival. more ›

Pipkin's travels offer a short, but empowering, paradigm shift for those of us who are too often fixated in our local lives. The things we take away are simple but uplifting: the majority of the world is incredibly poor; but they require comparatively little to live happily; these projects create results very efficiently, and we can help them succeed. more ›

Tattooed Under Fire, screening Wednesday night at the Alamo Ritz, is a documentary that delves into just how much tattoos can mean. Brought to you by the Austin Film Society, the film follows six soldiers at Fort Hood, as they prepare to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. more ›

Zombie Girl follows 12-year-old director Emily Hagins as she writes, shoots and produces a feature-length zombie movie called Pathogen. But as the production runs into roadblocks, and Emily’s relationship with her mother becomes increasingly strained, Zombie Girl quickly morphs from an oddball character study into a funny, weird and inspiring movie about creative energy, familial bonds and youthful determination. more ›

Since there were only two screenings of the terrifying documentary Collapse in Austin, we thought we'd let you know that if you have Time Warner Cable (yes, queue the grumbling) you can catch it in the comfort of your own home on Channel 1000 (the Movies on Demand channel). It will be available until March 2nd in the "Indies" section, and we highly recommend that you see and it then go visit these guys to start stocking up on organic seeds for the coming destruction-of-civilization-as-we-know-it. more ›

However hard it was for you to make it to your high school each morning, the teen moms at Catherine Ferguson Academy in Detroit likely have it harder. In Grown in Detroit, the principal says that it takes some girls 2 hours and multiple bus routes to get to school (especially since the auto lobby held back any progress on Detroit's mass transit system). Catherine Ferguson Academy is unique in that it is only one of a few schools in the nation geared exclusively towards pregnant teens/teen moms. Another factor that makes this school unique: they have their own urban, organic farm. more ›

The Troubadour on Santa Monica Blvd. is the cozy club that did it for us. After rock-out worshipping Beth Ditto of The Gossip, witnessing the hypnotic effect Bon Iver has on an audience, and giggle-festing with Chelsea Peretti, we were dead set on finding a way to actually live in one of the best venues on Planet Earth. We could imagine ourselves waking up under the blue glow from the light above the stage and high-fiving Joni Mitchell on our way to pay rent. There’s a unique, comfortable, respectful vibe where the performer rules and being a member of the audience can be pretty darn special. It’s an atmosphere that offers up a multitude of more than memorable nights and it was recreated by club owner and filmmaker Mark Flanagan at Largo on Sunset Blvd. No, you didn’t accidentally click on sibling site LAist; we’re just setting you up for Austin Film Festival’s documentary screening of the stellar, performance-heavy Largo at Alamo Lake Creek this Thursday. It’s a required A/V workout for all Austin music buffs. more ›

in the war-torn country of Afghanistan, there’s a TV show much like our own inexplicably popular American Idol, where anyone can compete regardless of race, age, religion, or any other factor. And people all over the country use their cell phones to vote for their favorite performer. This remarkable film (winner of Directing and Audience Awards at this year’s Sundance Film Festival) follows four finalists as they compete to become the next Afghan Star.It's sure to inform, inspire, enlighten, and entertain you. And that’s a lot more than Simon Cowell could ever do for you. more ›

Tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse S. Lamar, you can experience the tornado-like fury that surrounds the competitive Dachshund circuit in the dog-umentary Wiener Takes All. Canadian filmmaker Shane MacDougall, who apparently challenged Queen Elizabeth II to a kickboxing match or math test to win the monarchy of Canada at one point in time, spent two years following what we would assume to be a real-life Best in Show, documenting the heated rivalries, the epic speed trials, the allegations of doggie doping and the amazingness that is the Westminster Dog Show, watching as the broad field is winnowed down to one winning weenie. more ›

Anxious Wilco lovers must wait a few more weeks until the still-untitled next album is released, but a worthy distraction will soon arrive to make the suspense a little less terrible. Ashes of American Flags, a live concert film featuring performances from the band’s 2008 tour, will be released on DVD April 18 and will also be shown at the Alamo Ritz on Monday night. more ›