This is the fourth in a series of reports from the SXSW Film/Interactive Festival in Austin, TX. Scene-Stealers hosted the Bacon-Flavored Interactive Afterparty, the Harpoon Happy Hour, and the free SenoReality screening, all of which were held at the coolest bar in town, Red 7. While we were down there, Dustin (our executive producer) and I attended several screenings and did lots of cool interviews with the directors and stars as we could. Enjoy!

Sunday, March 15

Another late night, another early morning. Most of the day was spent putting out fires for everything surrounding the Bacon-Flavored Interactive Afterparty, the Harpoon Happy Hour, and the free SenoReality screening, all held at Red 7. Bacon Shoe was hitting it hard again, performing the last of their “street attacks” to build up hype for the show, which started at 9pm. During the day, I was in and out of the Red 7, which was showing a loop of award-winning short films from Lawrence, KS-based production house SenoReality Pictures. (Here’s a link to a coverstory I wrote about SenoReality, MK12, and the burgeoning Lawrence/KC production scene for Digital Content Producer magazine).

The SenoReality free screening featured nine suspenseful short films, all made in the last three years by this prolific team of filmmakers. Writer/director Patrick Rea and editor/sound mixer Ryan S. Jones (above, at the screening) have quietly built up an impressive resume, including the regional Emmy-winning short “Women’s Intuition.” SenoReality comes from the “less gore, more suspense” mode of storytelling, although one of their funniest and most popular films is a parody of the so-called “torture porn” genre called—appropriately enough—“Torture Porn.” (I’ve embedded the entire movie in two parts below. Again, this is not really suitable for work. But it sure is funny.)

One thing you may be surprised about is the great production value of most of the shorts. When I interviewed the Seno guys for the article, it was obvious that they have an enormous grasp of how to use technology in service of the story. Because they are from Kansas, the team is also able to get way more bang for their buck. “When we go to film festivals, we stick out a little more,” Rea says. “It’s a good thing, especially when they see our production value is slightly better sometimes. They’re like, ‘Wow, you guys are doing that stuff in Kansas?’ and we tell them how much we’re doing it for and people become more interested in shooting in Kansas.”

It was great to see an hour-and-a-half program and be able to see the natural progression in quality and storytelling prowess of the films. SenoReality is currently finishing up another short and raising money for a full-length feature film called “Nail Biter.” Here’s a photo (above left) of the monster from that upcoming flick, as designed by artist Alan Holt.

“Adventureland” also screened at SXSW on Saturday and, although I have seen it, I’m not able to post a full review of it yet due to a review embargo until its nationwide release date on April 3. Let’s just say this: The movie is a great coming-of-age romance set in 1987 that feels as natural as anything I’ve ever seen in this genre. It stars Jessie Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart. I did an audio podcast interview with writer/director Greg Mottola (”Superbad,” “The Daytrippers”) back in January for the movie’s premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, and you can catch that here. Unfortunately, I missed getting a video interview with Mottola and co-star Bill Hader because everything was going crazy around the party and my phone was ringing off the hook. (Or, vibrating in my pants, I guess.) So I had to (gulp!) cancel the interview. Oh, the sacrifices I make.

In the meantime, if you live in Kansas City area and you want to see a funny, accurate, and affecting tale of post-teen/early adult romantic confusion set in the late 80s but not full of obvious cultural touchstones like parachute pants and breakdancers, we are giving away tickets to a screening of “Adventureland” right here. Enter before Wed. March 25 and good luck!

At 6pm, the SenoReality screening morphed into the Harpoon Happy Hour, where our good friends at Harpoon Brewery donated enough kegs of delicious IPA and Hefeweizen beer to power a thirsty crowd for two hours. The $5 cover at the door all went to the Children’s Music Fund. We had a live Twitter feed of anybody who was tweeting about the bacon party, Scene-Stealers, or anything party-related that night. (I remember seeing a photo on Twitter of one girl who won a prize, tweeted about it, waited for it to show up on the big screen, and then took a picture with her phone and teeted that!) We also watched some very cool video content from Boston-based independent online video network Plus1TV.com, who feature Scene-Stealers as one of their online TV channels, as well as other cool channels that specialize in humor, food, and music.

The smell of hot, fresh bacon donated from Internet retail badasses Bacn.com wafted out of the bar from the outside porch and the outside stage area, beckoning—nay, daring—passersby to enter the domain of bacon-flavored madness. Das Foods donated 200 delicious Man Bait maple-bacon lollipops as well, not to mention the all the cool raffle prizes that were generously donated by all of our sponsors. The insanity of Bacon Shoe hit the outside stage sometime after 9pm, and jaws pretty much completely dropped.

Not only do Lethal D and Toine bust out some mad rapping chops, but Mr. Ruggles (a DJ of sorts, wearing a large dog’s head or something to that degree) grills bacon onstage, which is also mic’ed up to give everyone the pleasure of hearing the sizzle as well as smelling it. Bacon Shoe rapped for two solid 40-minute sets, performed some very funny between-song sketches, and helped give away all the cool raffle prizes for the night. I’m also pretty sure Lethal D and Toine got married onstage.

Thanks to everyone involved in the parties for all their hard work and helping to make the night a success! Now here’s the full SenoReality short film “Torture Porn,” as promised:

Next SXSW 2009 entry>> 

Tags: adventureland, bacon party, bacon shoe, film, greg mottola, screening, SenoReality, showcase, SXSW, SXSW 2009

This is the second in a series of reports from the SXSW Film/Interactive Festival, which is still taking place in Austin, TX. Scene-Stealers hosted the Bacon-Flavored Interactive Afterparty, the Harpoon Happy Hour, and the free SenoReality screening, all of which were held at the coolest bar in town, Red 7. While we were down there, Dustin (our executive producer) and I attended several screenings and did lots of cool interviews with the directors and stars as we could. Enjoy!

Saturday, March 14

Dustin went down the convention center to check out some cool film/interactive panels. He saw Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Jon Favreau, Jaime Pressly, and Rashida Jones on the “I Love You, Man” panel. The movie premiered at the festival the night before, but we’d already seen it, so we skipped that. (Our full video review is up here.)

I went to the airport to pick up our new heroes, the winners of the 2008 Pitch Award for Best Avant-Garde/Experimental Band, Kansas City’s own Bacon Shoe. To see a video of their journey (which began very, very early that morning), click here. First, my second Mexican restaurant in two days. Delicious. If you’re eating anything else besides Mexican/Tex-Mex or BBQ in Austin, you are a very silly person.

We realized we needed different speakers (sorry, Chris!) and some mics and cords, so it was back to the rental store. After some careful reassurance that we’d bring all this stuff back before the music portion of the festival started (and some careful avoiding of any questions about what we were actually using this for), we got the goods and headed out. Bacon Shoe went to the parking lot of the Hampton Inn with the power inverter and remote PA in the back of the rented SUV and did a soundcheck to make sure everything was working OK. I dropped myself off at the convention center. Since the car wasn’t insured for any driver but me, I have to admit was a bit  nervous, especially since what the band is doing is illegal and usually gets busted by cops.

We were only at the Jeffrey Tambor Acting Workshop for about 30 minutes before it was time for Bacon Shoe’s first “street attack” of the day. It was strategically placed right outside of the Austin Convention Center. As convention-goers were leaving the building to head up to 6th St. for all the parties, Bacon Shoe illegally parked the SUV in front of the Hilton Hotel, pulled up the hatchback to reveal two PA speakers, and launched into a song. For just over a minute. (start at 5:19!) Just as a crowd was starting to gather, a policeman from a nearby tent swooped in and the fun was over. It may have been short, but it was obvious the band was going to make an impression.

We followed them down 6th St. for another “street attack” that lasted a good 4 songs or so and attracted a much bigger crowd. Toine also got his junk grabbed by a homeless fan who apparently dug more than his lyrics. (See the video below–not safe for work!)

Then the band was off into the night to do some more guerrilla street performances to promote tomorrow’s benefit show. Dustin and I headed to the Alamo Drafthouse Lamar 1 to interview the director and stars of “Best Worst Movie.”

Next SXSW 2009 entry>>

Tags: 2009, bacon party, bacon shoe, dirty hilarious, funny, insane, rap, street performance, SXSW, SXSW 2009