SXSW 2012 film lineup announced, Gasland director arrested | Film news

21 Jump Street

Two wildly divergent bits of news in the indie-film world today: First, South by Southwest announced the bulk of its 2012 movie lineup, adding everything from its narrative competition (mostly unknown quantities) to 21 Jump Street. Thanks to the generosity of an Unnamed Individual with a Couch, I'm making a trip down there this year, and am looking forward to my crash course in distinguishing my Seimetzes from my Dunhams and The Babymakers from Gayby. Of the lineup, I've already seen three of the films at Toronto (William Friedkin's great Killer Joe; Guy Maddin's not-at-all-great Keyhole; and Bobcat Goldthwait's somewhere-in-between God Bless America). Although it already premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the title I'm most keen to check out is Bernie, from Austin favorite son Richard Linklater.

In less welcome news, word is that Gasland director Josh Fox was arrested today while filming a hearing for his follow-up film, which will address the further fortunes of hydrofracking in the legislative process. I can't speak to the merits of what happened or to ins-and-outs of congressional press credentialing, but I do remember getting at least one weirdly defensive comment when I blogged about Gasland's Oscar nod last year. In what sounded distinctly like corporate language, the commenter implied that the film was misleading and invited readers to discuss it with her in a "fact-based manner." (This comment, it seems, has been lost to a prior iteration of the site, unfortunately.) There are some facts, however, you can't argue with.