THE best and worst of the South by Southwest Film Festival. Slate - United States AUSTIN,Texas—The South by Southwest Film Festival, which wraps up Saturday night, is Austin's annual reminder of its status as a new American film capital. ... <http://slate.msn.com/id/2097349/>

GIBSON breaks Hollywood's 10 Commands
Hollywood Reporter - Los Angeles,CA,USA
... Last weekend as "Passion" overtook "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" to become the biggest grossing independent film ever -- $264.5 million and still counting vs. ... <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/columns/grove_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000464071>

SXSW film awards presented
News 8 Austin - Austin,TX,USA
... helps but a lot of things that distribution companies and other festivals look at are what kind of awards they got,” said Louis Black, the director of SXSW. ... <http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=101073&SecID=2>

THE flamboyant Little Richard comes calling on SXSW
Dallas Morning News (subscription) - Dallas,TX,USA
... There's a big generational gap with him," says SXSW director Roland Swenson. "If you're in your 30s, you might go, 'Little Richard? ... <http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/texasliving/stories/031604dnlivrichard.31081.html>

POPCORN worker awarded $20 million in lung damage lawsuit
North County Times - Escondido,CA,USA
... Making the film for XXXchurch.com, he ... led some members of the porn industry ... to begin airing their latest effort in New York ... Carmichael on the steps of City ... <http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/03/16/backpage/3_15_0421_43_54.txt>

INDIE poster boy apologizes for going mainstream
Fort Worth Star Telegram - Fort Worth,TX,USA
... talk had all that the slacker, indie edge fans have come to expect from the director of Clerks and Chasing Amy, but Jersey Girl is his most mainstream film yet ... <http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/entertainment/8193207.htm>

IFC documentary looks at changing role of women in independent ...
San Francisco Chronicle - San Francisco,CA,USA
... With the advent of `Jaws' and `Star Wars' Hollywood was moving toward these big blockbuster films, and there was suddenly this space in the independent film ... <link>

TIMES REGAINED
New Yorker - New York,NY,USA
... people who bought from the porn industry ... s why they still feel very New York ... refract it; they imply that the city ... the thriving world of the independent film ... <http://www.newyorker.com/critics/atlarge/?040322crat_atlarge>

SOUTH by Southwest (SXSW) Web Awards: Winners Revealed at Seventh ...
PRNewswire (press release) - USA
AUSTIN, Texas, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- South by Southwest (SXSW) is proud to announce the winners of the seventh annual SXSW Web Awards, the competition that ... <link>

THE success of `Passion' gives majors, indies pause at SXSW Houston Chronicle - Houston,TX,USA ... mention Austin-based Richard Linklater. SXSW is one of the premiere festivals for independent film. One hot topic of discussion ... <http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/features/2449107>

A 'real' portrait of the artist
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA
... an exhilaratingly personal piece of cinema, is to validate all the claims so often made, and so often proved false, about current American independent film. ... <link>

BEST Academy Awards For Years,” Says Media Expert Ted Baehr NewsMax.com - USA ... Next year, I want an independent film, Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of the Christ’ to do well. I don’t think ‘The Passion ... <http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/3/4/144950.shtml>

FOCUS on festival films
Sofia Echo - Sofia,Bulgaria
... The Brazilian film The City of God, which has been nominated for several Oscars and won the award for best foreign film at the British Independent Film Awards ... <http://www.sofiaecho.com/art.php?id=8939&catid=47>

FILM festival features high-tech wrinkle
San Jose Mercury News - San Jose,CA,USA
... And you just know the big Hollywood distribution guys will be watching how the independent filmmakers are on their way to becoming independent film distributors ... <http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/8103096.htm>

RISE and fall of the indie
Wilmington Morning Star - Wilmington,NC,USA
... Many of these start-up video companies were so hungry for product to put on their shelves," said film ... The age of the independent feature, the "indie" was born ... <http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040304/COLUMNIST18/403040307/1010/STATE>

AND the breast actress Oscar goes to...
The Sun - UK
... Charlize, then 20, bared all in the 1996 indie film 2 Days In The Valley. As in Monster, she played a killer — but as these pictures ... <http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004102334,00.html>

DIRECTOR Likes The View From The Outside
Hartford Courant (subscription) - Hartford,CT,USA
... After Roger Dodger, I'm getting offered all these callous roue types," he says of his award-winning turn in the 2001 indie film about a smart, bar-cruising ... <link>

SUPER Size is no more
Aspen Times - Aspen,CO,USA
... in the Chicago Tribune and The New York ... a story in yesterday’s Kansas City ... has “nothing to do with that [film ... mixes commentary on the fast-food industry ... <http://www.aspentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040304/AE/40303003>

EXPORTING JOBS TO MIDDLE EARTH
New York Post - New York,NY,USA
... So does this mean it's a race to the bottom for the US film industry
- including New York City's own efforts to attract movie producers and directors? ... <http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/19672.htm>

STRAND Gets Two New Films: Berlinale Winner "Head On" and ...
Indie Wire - USA
... Gegen Die Wand" (Head On), which won the Golden Bear at the 2004 Berlinale, was directed by 30-year-old filmmaker Akin who was born to Turkish parents in ... <http://www.indiewire.com/biz/biz_040304strand.html>

EUROPEAN Union Film Festival
Chicago Tribune (subscription) - Chicago,IL,USA
The festival premieres 36 new films from throughout Europe that make their US runs later in the year. Films include "Bookshelf on ... <http://entertainment.metromix.chicagotribune.com/top/1,1419,M-Metromix-Movies-mmxfront!EventDetail-104229,00.html>

THE man who wouldn't be king
San Jose Mercury News - San Jose,CA,USA
... It was a small, character-driven film made before independent film had its breakthrough, and the studio tried to market it like a regular Hollywood movie. ... <http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/movies/8096374.htm>

IS Gibson's "Passion" An Independent Film?
Indie Wire - USA
... Monday (in its first six days of release), inspired another installment in an occasional indieWIRE office discussion about the definition of independent film. ... <http://www.indiewire.com/biz/biz_040303passion.html>

MORE Religious Films May Follow 'Passion'
ABC News - USA
... Berney was among several independent film distributors who spoke Saturday during the South by Southwest film festival. He said "The ... <http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Entertainment/ap20040314_284.html>

ARAB filmmaker wins Harvard award
Boston Globe - Boston,MA,USA
... VOLUNTEERS GET READY: The second annual Independent Film Festival of Boston is slated for April 29 to May 2. Critics and film buffs alike hailed the debut year ... <http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/03/14/arab_filmmaker_wins_harvard_award>

GETTING a read on Jim Carrey
Long Beach Press-Telegram - Long Beach,CA,USA
... This cast is so stellar. It's bizarre -- it's like this cavalcade of stars gathered together for this real down and dirty, independent film. ... <http://u.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,218~24207~2015828,00.html>

FILM awards honor Texans in filmmaking
News 8 Austin - Austin,TX,USA
The event honors some key players in the state's filmmaking arena and the ceremony kicks off the South By Southwest Film Festival. ... <http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=100724&SecID=2>

A reel deal?
The Tennessean - Nashville,TN,USA
... 'They have socialized film ... They have literally taken control of their destiny in that industry,'' Bennett said. Now, more movies set in New York City ... <http://www.tennessean.com/business/archives/04/03/48303108.shtml?Element_ID=48303108>

JOHN Hamann's Weekend Wrap-Up
Box Office Prophets - United States
... this weekend's gross, The Passion of the Christ leapfrogged former top indie grosser My Big Fat Greek Wedding to become the biggest independently produced film ... <http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/hamann/mar1404wrapup.asp>

MR. Invisible and the Secret Mission to Hollywood
New York Times - USA
... It opens with a black-and-white version of the film's signature shot, a ... In effect, it's an indie giant-robot movie, taking the digital-video revolution to ... <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/14/magazine/14CONRAN.html?ex=1079845200&en=eb70419a8b477f77&ei=5062>

MUSLIM Film Festival Opens Window on Muslim World in US and ...
New California Media - San Francisco,CA,USA
... These are scenes from two of the films, “Oil Children,” and “Born in the USA,” among more than a dozen being featured at the Muslim Film Festival March ... <http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=02a6540db016e5748f7f4e4449ff722e>

“ Little Bird - Boy ” Wins Award at Cairo Film Festival
Merh News Agency - Tehran,Iran
TEHRAN March 14 (Mehr News Agency) –- The movie “Little Bird-Boy” by Rahbar Qanbari won a special jury award at 14th Cairo International Film Festival ... <http://www.mehrnews.com/wfNewsDetails_en.aspx?NewsID=65778&t=Cultural>

GOOD Golly, Little Richard to Keynote SXSW
Reuters - United States
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Little Richard will deliver the keynote speech at the South by Southwest Music Conference (SXSW) March 18 in Austin, and he has no ... <http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=musicNews&storyID=4560032>

CREATIVITY is king at SXSW Interactive
News 8 Austin - Austin,TX,USA
"Joe Trippi is the ex-campaign manager for Howard Dean and he did a lot of really innovative stuff with the Internet, in terms of organizing the Dean campaign. ... <http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=100688&SecID=2>