I found David Lowery's answer to this question from Karina Longworth re:
her sxsw preview interview on Spoutblog.com amazing. Just beautiful and so apt. Cool series - Karina, thanks. And David - thank you for a great perspective....
Karina: There’s been some criticism that the only way to get into SXSW is by being a part of an “incestuous scene where everybody knows everybody.” So who did *you* have to sleep with to get in? Metaphorically or literally: are there any SXSW filmmaker(s) past or present that you’re close with personally and/or professionally, and how have those relationships helped or hurt the process of producing your film and getting it seen? David: Why apply a pejorative? I like to think that film festivals both foster relationships with individual filmmakers, and engender a sense of community amongst those filmmakers. It’s a beautiful thing, and it’s only natural that, within a given festival lineup, there will be a few works by people who have screened there in the past, and works by their friends, and perhaps even a bit of cross–pollination in the credits. This doesn’t by any means create a veil of exclusivity. I have five friends with feature films in the festival this year whose work has screened here in years past. That is five films out of 108, meaning there are 103 other features I’ll be walking into blindly, and 103 filmmakers I’m looking forward to making friends with.
