Fog at Heathrow…
...is an announcement you don’t want to hear in transit to catch two quite tightly scheduled flights to the SXSW Film Festival. Arriving 24 hours after setting off Mandy and I had a cup of tea and a brief snooze, then up and at ‘em – Bring it On Austin!
We pick up our badges in a hangar-sized hall in the Austin Convention Centre. Hundreds of staff and volunteers are bustling about, and thousands of delegates. A quick coffee outdoors, then straight to our sound check at The Alamo Drafthouse Lamar, the setting for our first showing of Seven Songs.
Mandy and I are beyond excitement as the cinema begins to fill up; our waiter appears and explains how to order food during the screening…we’re not in Kansas anymore Dorothy.
The audience love it, hearty guffaws and exclamations at appropriate times and genuinely warm applause is followed by a Q&A.
Of course we pose for some pics first....
Afterwards we watch an extraordinary film Mr Gaga by well known Israeli director Tomer Heymann, about the stunning choreographer and dancer Ohad Naharin. Now we're faced with the overwhelming programme on offer at the festival, and planning our week ahead. Next up is our first workshop "Singing Dancing Dying" on Monday, before our second screening on Tuesday.
