Beto, Bellingcat, Bluebird, the Border and more at SXSW 2019

Mark took the plunge once again and joined me at this year’s South By Southwest. Politics was big with “Running with Beto” and “Knock Down the House” with Ocasio-Cortez leading the way. “Bellingcat” was chilling but incredibly inspiring with its team of citizen investigative journalists seeking “Truth in a Post-Truth World.” Immigration and the Border were on everyone’s minds, and “The River and the Wall” actually showed us physical realities we didn’t know. Among the musical docs, Mark missed “Bluebird” on the legendary Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, which was sad considering the live performances by singer-songwriters after the film. (I include a favorite from one of the best songwriters of all time — and in honor of Matthew’s upcoming birthday. See next post.) “The Gift” covered “The Journey of Johnny Cash,” and other documentaries told the stories of Creem Magazine and Jimi Hendrix. Somehow we missed “I Am Richard Pryor” which we really wanted to see. Fortunately, we didn’t miss “Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins” with Cecil Richards’ introduction, and “A Hell of a Story” with Kathy Griffin. She was graciously on hand to talk about the film and answer audience questions, as candidly and hilariously as you might expect. Elizabeth Holmes in “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley” both intrigued and repulsed us, and we wondered how anyone could have gotten as far as she did with such brazen fraud. And though we didn’t make the cut for the big headliners like Jordan Peele’s “Us” and “The Highwaymen”, it was fun to be part of the buzz. It’s no secret that SXSW is my favorite festival in Austin. This year did not disappoint. I include at the end the photo from Andrew’s birthday when we celebrated at Caracol, a restaurant we hope to visit often when we live in our apartment nearby.