There were numerous ways to spend my Spring Break; however, the opportunity to wander throughout the streets of downtown Austin was perfect. I had the opportunity to immerse myself in the South by Southwest Conferences and Festivals for a week. When I initially learned about SXSW, I was not familiar with the festival and what it was about; I just knew that it was during spring break. Therefore, before I knew it SXSW was already in full force and that meant it was time to pack the camera, recorder, notebook, pen and iPhone.
Upon arriving to the festival, I immediately noticed how much publicity was posted on the walls of the Austin Convention Center. There were movie posters placed all over the area since the film portion was currently taking place. As a result, I was able to attend interesting panels for up and coming filmmakers. It was definitely an opportunity to learn more about the passion of film from an experts’ perspective.
As a result, one could not leave without watching the movies the festival had selected. There were movie showing at every hour and the decision process was definitely difficult. The movie genres ranged from comedy, drama, true-crime, historical to action. It was the ideal opportunity to see what independent filmmakers had created and inspired others, including myself, to want to make a movie.
The festival also was the place to meet people, or what some people consider as networking. There were people from all across the globe who came to take part in the festival either in the film, interactive or musical portions. The ability to start conversations with people you did not know was very easy and you would be surprised to discover that the person either starred, produced or directed a film in the festival or they were a film critic or a journalist.
There was so many things going on in Austin that there was no time to be bored at all. The SXSW Files will give an insight as to what this reporter did throughout the week, hope you enjoy!