All Posts Tagged With: "2009"

My SXSW 09 Picks

March 3rd, 2009 • Agnes Varnum • Comments Off • Related Posts • Tags
St. Nick by David Lowery

St. Nick by David Lowery

I’m a bad blogger, very behind in posting about SXSW, but trust me, I’m very excited. You know the line-up (hopefully) so I’ll skip right to my picks. Here is what I’ll definitely be lining up to see:

Know Your Mushrooms
I don’t know if director Ron Mann would say that he is a hippie or not, but he sure does share my hippie sensibility. Mushrooms? Oh yea, I’ll see that.

Winnebago Man
While this doc is directed by Ben Steinbauer and produced by Joel Heller, two guys who are my friends and wonderful people, festival buzz is that the film is great. And I’m certainly a sucker for potty mouth.

St. Nick
I’ve read the description but truthfully, David Lowery just intrigues me. I’ve read his blog, which alternates between astute and incomprehensible (to me), his photos are amazing and in person, he is as sweet as apple pie. Can’t wait to finally see a Lowery film. This one also involved a whole Ft. Worth contingent of folks, so I’m getting a sense of the Tejas film scene. (Narrative)

Sundance 09 Exeunt

January 25th, 2009 • Agnes Varnum • Comments Off • Related Posts • Tags
Shouting Fire by Liz Garbus

Shouting Fire by Liz Garbus

2009 comes to a close. It was my second year attending the festival while the fest itself celebrated 25 years. I have to be honest and say that I’m not as enamored with the festival as those who have been going since the early days. I have this image in my mind of those days as a quirky spot where a bunch of rag tag artists descended on a resort town and took it by storm with their cutting edge work and thought.

My impression of more recent years, before I attended, was that it was an over-hyped, corporate A-list party. But it isn’t really either of those things… for me. The work is solid. Too solid. While there are more filmmakers than I can name off the top of my head whose new work was presented and I was as eager as anyone to see, there were few surprises. As many others are saying, I appreciated the mellow atmosphere so I didn’t have to fight crowds or miss out on screenings I really wanted (except The September Issue) but there wasn’t any film that wowed me with its exceptionalism.

Offline? No Way!

January 6th, 2009 • Agnes Varnum • 7 comments • Related Posts • Tags

I’m flattered to be mentioned in AJ Schnack’s recent post, Wither the Doc Blog Cabal? It means that someone is reading and wondering where I am. Let me see… I just recently finished an for an upcoming Documentary issue and I’ve been consulting on a new project with the Institute’s Documentary Film Program, in addition to my day job with the Film Society and my regular contributions to Tribeca Film Institute’s Resources . On a personal note, I went home for the holidays and took a break from my online life. I’m sad to say that my dog Jasmine passed away while I was traveling – she was 12 years old and she was with me her whole life. She was a good friend and I’m sad that she is gone.

I think that it has come up here and there, but it is important for readers to note that the economics of are not on the blogger’s side. I’ve been very fortunate to land other gigs based on the work I do. I feel confident that I wouldn’t have my fingers in so many pies now if I hadn’t started writing here. Some bloggers are lucky to land sponsors and advertisers as well. And while getting a free press pass to a festival is a nice perk, for most of the writers I know, the cost of travel and lodging to a festival is barely offset by the money earned covering the fest. Most folks need other means of making a living. I know filmmakers are no stranger to this sad song so I won’t cry you a river on this one, but I guess I’m not surprised that bloggers come and go. I agree with AJ, it’s depressing.

Anytime you can, you should click on ads on sites and offer tips when there are options to do so on websites you like. And as for me, I’ll be at from January 20th to the 25th checking out films, taking pics and . I’ll be manning the Film Society outreach table on Wednesday, Jan. 21 from 10 – 2 PM in the Filmmakers Lodge – stop by and say hello!