Paramount Theatre
I was lucky to attend a screening of God Spoke, the Al Franken documentary, at the lovely Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin during SXSW. We sat in the mezzanine and marveled at the period details surrounding us, even as folks were drinking Lone Star in the rows in front of us. The film was engaging and ranged from utterly hilarious to depressing to supremely rage-inducing, as a pair of filmmakers followed Mr. Franken through a book tour, the launching or Air America, and his hopeful announcement that he was running for office. If anything, the film is entertaining simply because of Al Franken's magnetic presence and never-ending slew of comedy.
Also wonderful was Kirby Dirk's controversial film, This Film Has Not Yet Been Rated, which screened at the Alamo Downtown the night previous, kicking off SXSW Film. Dirk hires a private investigator to unveil the secret identities of the raters employed by the MPAA's ratings board, meanwhile talking to fellow filmmakers about the hypocrisies of the system, the death-kiss of the NC-17 rating, and the institutional sexist and homophobic prejudices solidified by the ratings systems. It's a must-see if you care at all about Hollywood's grip on culture. And the shenanigans of combing through other people's trash, tailing cars on the highway, and following raters into fast-food joints is also highly amusing.
Photographs on this site are © Kathryn Yu. Don't steal.
