:00:00. > :00:27.for the South by Southwest Film Festival.
:00:28. > :00:36.Hello and welcome to the South by Southwest Film Festival
:00:37. > :00:42.In today's programme we hear from hometown hero and top American
:00:43. > :00:47.director Richard Linklater on his movie made in Texas.
:00:48. > :00:56.A big comedy on opening night and I'm happy to make
:00:57. > :01:00.With more music films from Britain and Japan shown
:01:01. > :01:03.They might be the biggest band in the world.
:01:04. > :01:04.And two very different festival documentaries,
:01:05. > :01:07.one looking at a team of female bicyclists trying to reclaim
:01:08. > :01:10.the streets and another reconstructing, by way of animation,
:01:11. > :01:23.a mass shooting almost 50 years ago here in Austin.
:01:24. > :01:26.There is a sniper on the university campas firing at will.
:01:27. > :01:28.All that and more in this special South by Southwest edition
:01:29. > :01:35.A music, interactive and film festival all rolled into one.
:01:36. > :01:38.It's an event that certainly energizes and, in some instances,
:01:39. > :01:41.almost overwhelms the city of Austin every spring.
:01:42. > :01:44.Today we're going to be focusing on the film festival which came
:01:45. > :01:50.It has grown to become a highly respected showcase for independent
:01:51. > :02:00.cinema and also there's a smattering of Hollywood.
:02:01. > :02:02.For the past 30 years, Austin, the state capital of Texas,
:02:03. > :02:12.Last year it brought more than 80,000 people to the city.
:02:13. > :02:14.When it comes to film, this year some 140
:02:15. > :02:20.I think it is becoming more and more formidable as the years go on.
:02:21. > :02:22.Ever since Bridesmaids premiered at South by Southwest,
:02:23. > :02:31.it has been a very splashy festival for big comedy movies.
:02:32. > :02:34.Trainwreck too was the big one last year and it went
:02:35. > :02:39.This year, there's one called Sausage Party which is a very
:02:40. > :02:45.It has really become the landing spot for really good
:02:46. > :02:54.The festival has been the launching pad for several noteworthy films.
:02:55. > :02:57.From blockbusters like Furious 7 to the low-budget Tiny Furniture
:02:58. > :03:00.which helped put Lena Dunham on the map.
:03:01. > :03:04.It also showcases local Texas films and film makers.
:03:05. > :03:09.A case in point, the Oscar-nominated hometown hero, Richard Linklater,
:03:10. > :03:14.pleased that for the first time a film of his, Everybody Wants Some,
:03:15. > :03:16.has been selected for the opening night.
:03:17. > :03:22.It's a great tradition to have a comedy on opening night
:03:23. > :03:26.and so I am glad to have made a comedy that qualifies to be
:03:27. > :03:30.A big event on the first day of the film festival wasn't just
:03:31. > :03:32.the unveiling of that film, but President Obama being in town
:03:33. > :03:37.I don't know how to say it any better.
:03:38. > :03:41.It's an honour to have him here at the same time.
:03:42. > :03:45.Given that South by Southwest incorporates a music festival,
:03:46. > :03:47.music films have always loomed large.
:03:48. > :03:54.Documentaries are very important in the lineup.
:03:55. > :03:57.Not as important as comedies in the lineup but they are gaining
:03:58. > :04:07.There are many music documentaries, many strange
:04:08. > :04:15.Many documentaries are about eccentrics which sort of falls
:04:16. > :04:20.So where at the end of the day does South by Southwest stand
:04:21. > :04:22.in the constellation of world film festivals,
:04:23. > :04:29.falling as it does between Sundance and Cannes?
:04:30. > :04:34.Some of the locals think nothing can beat it.
:04:35. > :04:50.It's a big and influential festival but I think because it's Austin,
:04:51. > :04:52.it retains a bit of an outsider non-industry vibe,
:04:53. > :04:56.It has got a really good feel and it is really about the movies.
:04:57. > :04:59.But there are detractors who think South by Southwest shows mediocre
:05:00. > :05:02.films and that the wider event is too commercial but there are also
:05:03. > :05:08.avid fans who believe in South by Southwest and think that every
:05:09. > :05:10.March, Austin in Texas is just the coolest place to be.
:05:11. > :05:13.There was a British presence at South by Southwest this year
:05:14. > :05:15.and one British electronic music pioneer, Gary Numan,
:05:16. > :05:23.was the subject of a festival documentary.
:05:24. > :05:28.Now we go to our correspondent who reports on that film.
:05:29. > :05:31.Gary Numan is sometimes called the godfather of electro-pop,
:05:32. > :05:38.probably best known for his 1979 hit Cars.
:05:39. > :05:49.# Here in my car #
:05:50. > :05:52.He was arguably one of the most famous men on the planet.
:05:53. > :05:55.At one point he had three albums in the charts at the same time.
:05:56. > :05:58.That is kind of Beatles level of success and fame.
:05:59. > :06:01.The film is a portrait of a man who was a trail blazer
:06:02. > :06:12.He would say himself he was not the only one at the time.
:06:13. > :06:15.There are people like Bowie, of course, and Kraftwerk,
:06:16. > :06:16.all of whom experimented with electronic music
:06:17. > :06:19.and synthesizers but Gary was the first one who became
:06:20. > :06:29.I would say he was the first to become, as he says
:06:30. > :06:33.in the film, kind of the first synth-rock superstar.
:06:34. > :06:37.The documentary follows Numan at a moment of transition
:06:38. > :06:41.as he's moving his family from England to Los Angeles
:06:42. > :06:44.and trying to rekindle his career with a new album.
:06:45. > :06:46.The one I'm doing now has been six years.
:06:47. > :06:49.My career is as strong as it has ever been.
:06:50. > :06:52.We learn that the musician has Asperger syndrome and is often
:06:53. > :06:57.And at some point you lose your grip and then you find yourself
:06:58. > :07:06.in the middle of nowhere, a bit beaten up and totally lost.
:07:07. > :07:12.His mannerisms, his personality, comes across clearly,
:07:13. > :07:15.that he is really very nervous about the new album.
:07:16. > :07:18.He is nervous about moving to the States, is it going to work
:07:19. > :07:21.This documentary is generous to its subject.
:07:22. > :07:24.It's an affectionate, relatively uncritical portrait that
:07:25. > :07:26.will no doubt bring Numan fans much satisfaction.
:07:27. > :07:32.Gary Numan has suffered for his art and the same goes for another film
:07:33. > :07:44.It covers a Japanese pop group which has been plagued
:07:45. > :07:47.by troubles the last few years, all of which has been overseen
:07:48. > :08:00.I had a chance to sit down with Yoshiki.
:08:01. > :08:03.Yoshiki and his childhood friend and lead vocalist started X Japan
:08:04. > :08:09.They forged a music culture called visual kei that borrowed
:08:10. > :08:12.from the glam rock scene emerging in the West and mixed up
:08:13. > :08:17.The film shows that when it comes to Yoshiki, who is also classically
:08:18. > :08:21.trained as a pianist, personal tragedy was at the centre
:08:22. > :08:25.of his entrance to rock music and the birth of X Japan.
:08:26. > :08:32.When he was ten, his father committed suicide.
:08:33. > :08:35.I was so depressed, so angry but rock was perfect,
:08:36. > :08:39.the perfect music to just throw all my emotion and sadness into.
:08:40. > :08:42.But I didn't stop playing classical music either,
:08:43. > :08:46.so now I play both, classical and rock.
:08:47. > :08:53.What hardship has the band gone through over the years?
:08:54. > :08:59.The vocalist, Toshi, got brainwashed and then our band broke up.
:09:00. > :09:02.Our guitar player Hidei passed away and our bass player Taiji
:09:03. > :09:08.The film depicts death and pain as a villain in your life but do
:09:09. > :09:17.you think it has also fuelled your creativity?
:09:18. > :09:20.I'm not sure, the new place where you are just sad,
:09:21. > :09:26.So I started writing lyrics and composing melodies.
:09:27. > :09:35.I don't know if I would have survived otherwise.
:09:36. > :09:38.The band reunited in 2008 and has been touring since 2009.
:09:39. > :09:42.Critics have found this film rewarding although there have been
:09:43. > :09:44.complaints that it's superficial, but the live footage is seen
:09:45. > :09:56.As you heard, Richard Linklater, who is perhaps the biggest name
:09:57. > :10:00.in Texas film had a new picture released at the festival.
:10:01. > :10:04.He made an impact recently with his ingeniously structured
:10:05. > :10:06.Oscar-nominated coming-of-age drama Boyhood.
:10:07. > :10:08.His latest picture is, to some extent, a sequel
:10:09. > :10:18.Do you guys know anything about a party here tonight?
:10:19. > :10:22.The director's picture Dazed and Confused focused on Texas teens
:10:23. > :10:39.It was a well-received coming-of-age comedy and to its fans is one
:10:40. > :10:41.of the best high school comedies ever made.
:10:42. > :10:44.His new picture, Everybody Wants Some, moves on to paint a portrait
:10:45. > :10:49.You're really good at dialogue and social observation
:10:50. > :10:52.This comes across at times as a frat boy movie.
:10:53. > :11:00.Did you try to get social observation very consciously into it
:11:01. > :11:01.or were you operating on a different level?
:11:02. > :11:05.I think I had so many years to think about this movie.
:11:06. > :11:09.I started wanting to make it around 2002, so I couldn't help but see it
:11:10. > :11:11.as a social or anthropological critique of young men
:11:12. > :11:20.It's fun, they're the party and I am embracing their behaviour
:11:21. > :11:24.but at the same time, I am sort of critiquing it
:11:25. > :11:26.because I look back and it's amazing how driven
:11:27. > :11:28.by entitlement and swagger these young men are.
:11:29. > :11:36.No 2, no girls upstairs in the bedrooms.
:11:37. > :11:40.Early reviews have been very positive, but one review said
:11:41. > :11:44.Can you understand where that reviewer is coming from?
:11:45. > :11:51.There is definitely a lot, but, too much?
:11:52. > :12:01.At least the guys have some wit and humour to them.
:12:02. > :12:08.I see some of that is a critique, but I don't know about too much.
:12:09. > :12:10.It's not balanced out, it's very male.
:12:11. > :12:18.It's very much a Texas film, set in Texas and, I think,
:12:19. > :12:22.you shot it entirely within the state.
:12:23. > :12:25.What is it in terms of its content that will make it appealing
:12:26. > :12:27.to audiences who don't live in Texas, or who aren't
:12:28. > :12:43.Either over time or geography there is a point in everyone's life
:12:44. > :12:46.where they leave home and head out to the next adventure in their life,
:12:47. > :12:48.and developmentally they are in a new stage.
:12:49. > :12:54.And also the social situations you find yourself in.
:12:55. > :12:56.You're the new kid thrown in with others,
:12:57. > :13:00.whether it is your first date or a job, or...
:13:01. > :13:20.One day in Austin history will live in infamy.
:13:21. > :13:23.August 1st, 1966, when a sniper climbed to the top of the University
:13:24. > :13:26.of Texas tower behind me and started firing at random individuals below.
:13:27. > :13:28.16 people died and three dozen were wounded.
:13:29. > :13:31.It was the first mass college shooting of its kind in the US.
:13:32. > :13:36.One South By Southwest documentary artfully recreates what happened
:13:37. > :13:39.on that day, partly through the use of animation.
:13:40. > :13:48.There is a sniper on the university tower firing at will.
:13:49. > :13:50.For those old enough to remember the shootings in Austin
:13:51. > :13:53.on August 1st, 1966, it was horrifying.
:13:54. > :13:55.A 25-year-old engineering student at the top of the tower engaging
:13:56. > :14:10.This event really sliced a giant wound into the psyche of this town.
:14:11. > :14:12.You have to remember that the shooting happened three
:14:13. > :14:15.years after the JFK assassination, so the entire world had
:14:16. > :14:21.To have this happen on the heels of that really changed the way
:14:22. > :14:45.16 people were killed, so the connection points went deep
:14:46. > :14:53.The film blends animation with live-action.
:14:54. > :14:55.Using animation to simulate a mass killing may sound odd.
:14:56. > :14:58.The words come from young people recounting the oral history
:14:59. > :15:06.One student who was there that day really embraces
:15:07. > :15:07.what the director did using animation.
:15:08. > :15:16.It was so much better than acting or anything else would have been,
:15:17. > :15:18.because they had the fluidity to get the idea across much
:15:19. > :15:22.It would have been wooden with actors and actresses
:15:23. > :15:29.The purpose was to get oral history, and the animation made
:15:30. > :15:34.You could have put it together using live actors in a docudrama.
:15:35. > :15:38.What do you think animation brought to the final result?
:15:39. > :15:48.When I first pitched the animation to several producers
:15:49. > :15:51.I was rebuffed because they said, "No, this is such a personal story,
:15:52. > :15:53.and animation will keep audiences at arms length".
:15:54. > :16:00.I have worked with animation, and I know the opposite is true.
:16:01. > :16:08.There is a kind of intimacy you can't get without the tremendous
:16:09. > :16:11.production costs of live action and that I knew I wouldn't be
:16:12. > :16:19.A controversial law came into being saying that students
:16:20. > :16:35.The fact that someone next to you on this campus
:16:36. > :16:37.could have a gun in a backpack, that's absurd.
:16:38. > :16:40.I do hope Texans see this movie and it makes them feel something
:16:41. > :16:46.But Tower is not so much an overt political film as a look at how
:16:47. > :16:51.One of the most remarkable characters is Claire Wilson,
:16:52. > :16:53.who was 18 years old and pregnant at the time.
:16:54. > :16:56.Not only was she shot, but she also lost her baby.
:16:57. > :17:01.And her boyfriend, who was right next to her, died in the mayhem.
:17:02. > :17:03.Yet she has forgiven Charles Whitman, the sniper
:17:04. > :17:16.I guess I just believe that people constantly are making choices,
:17:17. > :17:19.and he made some really horrible choices that hurt all of us.
:17:20. > :17:28.I think we all have the capacity for great evil in us,
:17:29. > :17:33.but we just keep making choices to not act out that evil.
:17:34. > :17:37.Tower certainly engaged audiences at the festival and won
:17:38. > :17:42.Although it's a film showing gun slaughter it's unlikely to shift
:17:43. > :17:46.entrenched opinion on gun ownership in Texas.
:17:47. > :17:49.But it does show, without doubt, the true heartbreak that
:17:50. > :17:59.We did not know who was being killed.
:18:00. > :18:02.There is a fair amount of biking in Austin,
:18:03. > :18:18.and one of the films shown at the festival focused
:18:19. > :18:21.There is a fair amount of biking in Austin,
:18:22. > :18:24.and one of the films shown at the festival focused on a group
:18:25. > :18:26.of female cyclists whose mission is to reclaim the streets.
:18:27. > :18:29.They are also trying to dismantle a number of stereotypes.
:18:30. > :18:31.The Ovarian Psychos sprung up in East Los Angeles in 2011,
:18:32. > :18:36.A group of Latinos who were eager to reclaim streets that
:18:37. > :18:40.could sometimes be dangerous for women.
:18:41. > :18:44.The film-makers were very interested in how they presented themselves in
:18:45. > :18:53.particular. They have a very powerful look,
:18:54. > :18:55.they wear their politics on the body, they wear
:18:56. > :18:58.bandannas over their faces, Everything about them
:18:59. > :19:01.was so clever, so political The films two first-time feature
:19:02. > :19:09.directors spent two years making the documentary focusing
:19:10. > :19:11.on the Ovarian Psychos. They wanted to debunk
:19:12. > :19:15.a number of stereotypes. In the film we cover
:19:16. > :19:19.that they have been called a gang, that people have really focused
:19:20. > :19:26.on the fact that they are brown women from East LA, in this
:19:27. > :19:29.stereotypical language. I am not one of them but I can
:19:30. > :19:32.imagine that would be very frustrating, especially
:19:33. > :19:34.when the work they are doing It was a dream to have a collective
:19:35. > :19:42.of women from our neighbourhood. They wear bandanna masks,
:19:43. > :19:46.fiercely emblazoned with an image of the uterus and fallopian tubes,
:19:47. > :19:49.partly to embrace their femininity, but also as an attention-getting
:19:50. > :19:53.move to make people aware of their true commitment
:19:54. > :19:55.to community healing, It's like a Trojan horse or a tool
:19:56. > :20:04.to get people interested. But the Ovarian Psychos themselves,
:20:05. > :20:19.what they do is much more personal and internal, and about
:20:20. > :20:20.healing and sisterhood All of us have some kind
:20:21. > :20:24.of trauma in our lives. For women, bicycling
:20:25. > :20:31.can be a political act. In the US or Europe in the early
:20:32. > :20:35.20th century a woman riding a bike They have faced a backlash,
:20:36. > :20:40.as women engaging in all the fields considered the domain
:20:41. > :20:46.of men always have. Women experience street harassment
:20:47. > :20:53.so often. Yes, it's a political act to get
:20:54. > :20:59.together as a group of women For the filmmakers, earning
:21:00. > :21:02.the trust of the Ovarian Psychos I'm a white filmmaker,
:21:03. > :21:07.making a film about an organisation of women with colour, and it was not
:21:08. > :21:11.without complications. We had to have many conversations
:21:12. > :21:14.off camera in order to build Texas is a state where 37%
:21:15. > :21:25.of the population is Hispanic. But films about the lives
:21:26. > :21:27.of Hispanics or Latinos don't feature that prominently in
:21:28. > :21:33.South By Southwest's film line-up. Even then, it's about the experience
:21:34. > :21:43.of Latinos living in another state. In the US media landscape that often
:21:44. > :21:52.exploits conflict among women, such as on Real Housewives
:21:53. > :21:55.and other programmes, the Psychos and their filmmakers
:21:56. > :21:58.give what many find is a welcome portrait of female
:21:59. > :22:00.solidarity and support. You can always reach us
:22:01. > :22:09.online at our website. From everyone here in Austin
:22:10. > :22:20.in Texas, it's goodbye as we leave you with a clip from the Gary Numan
:22:21. > :23:18.documentary shown here at SXSW. I hope you are enjoying the weekend,
:23:19. > :23:19.there is a lot of righty out