Austin, Texas — The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival announced today a new partnership with Fantastic Fest which will manifest through a new lineup in the official film festival program: “SXSW Presents Fantastic Fest at Midnight.” Now in its 5th year, Alamo Drafthouse’s Fantastic Fest has quickly become one of the largest genre film festivals in the United States and has been dubbed “Geek Telluride” and “one of the 10 festivals we love” by Variety. “SXSW Presents Fantastic Fest at Midnight” is a representative sample of the young festival’s signature midnight genre programming, featuring six new premieres exclusive to SXSW.

“The Alamo Drafthouse has been an eleven-year partner of SXSW,” says Fantastic Fest director and Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League. “In fact, our very first show at the original Alamo Drafthouse location was opening night of SXSW 1997. We are proud to work so closely with such a respected institution, and in 2009 with ‘SXSW Presents Fantastic Fest at Midnight,’ we plan to deliver one of the best movie experiences of the year for genre film fans.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to enhance our Midnighters section with the infusion of six badass Fantastic Fest films,” says SXSW Film Conference and Festival Producer Janet Pierson. “The Fantastic Fest, in its short life, has really added a lot of energy and fun here in Austin, and the Alamo Drafthouse is already such a natural and significant partner to SXSW, so it was a no-brainer to invite them to preview their program with us.”

SXSW is also pleased to announce over 60 Film Conference panels, which will take place Friday, March 13 – Tuesday, March 17. New major panelists added to the SXSW Film Conference include Markos Moulitsas Zúniga (founder, DailyKos.com), Bob Berney (studio head), Jeffrey Tambor (Actor), Steven Hirsch (founder, Vivid Entertainment), Gary Hustwit (director, Helvetica) and Jonathan Coulton (Musician). Other upgrades to the 2009 conference include 30% more mentor sessions and mini-meetings available and 15 joint Film and Interactive panels open to both registrants. A sampling of key panels follows below, as well as the complete panel breakdown, by date and title.

• A Conversation with Bob Berney & John Pierson
With a roster of successes including Pan’s Labyrinth, Y Tú Mama Tambien, The Passion Of The Christ, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and a career stretching from early exhibition days at the Inwood Theater, Dallas, through IFC Films, to founder/president of Newmarket and Picturehouse, calling Bob Berney an indie distribution guru seems like an understatement. We are therefore delighted to announce that UT Film Clinical Professor John Pierson will be moderating a conversation with Berney as he discusses his career, the state of cinema, and the future of independent distribution in an increasingly diffuse media landscape.

• Crash the Server — How to Market your Movie by Achieving Webisode Awesomeness
Join Zak Knutson and Joey Figueroa of Chop Shop Entertainment, along with long time collaborator Ming Chen of View Askew Productions, for an interactive workshop on achieving massive media exposure through Internet webisodes. From big budget studio films, to low budget independent projects, film distributors have come to rely on the internet and the word of mouth it generates to showcase their products and to build world wide fan bases long before their films hit theatres. View examples of both failed and successful webisodes from past projects, discuss the process of creating a webisode that will deliver butts in seats for the all important opening weekend, and learn to take full advantage of the explosion of internet video distribution that creates new celebrities on a daily basis.

• Marketing Meets New Media: Building Your Audience Online
How are filmmakers, musicians, bloggers and artists building their brand online in today’s crowded New Media environment? Increasingly, it has become an artists’ own imperative to promote themselves, as distributors pay more attention to the bottom line and less to building the profile of the filmmaker. If you have to take matters into your own hands, what are the techniques for building and maintaining a loyal audience of fans online? What resources are at your disposal and how are social networking sites like Facebook organizing a new generation? Join moderator Scott Kirsner (Editor, CinemaTech / Author, “Fans, Friends and Followers”) and learn how to capitalize on big opportunities at the click of a mouse.

• The Incredible Shrinking (Expanding?) Film Critic Profession
Long-time print film critics are being laid off left and right in the current newspaper crisis. At the same time, thousands of people are weighing in on movies on the Internet. Is this the best time ever for criticism? Or is this the end of an era, with the most qualified and literate critics being fired and retired? And what does it all mean for independent and arthouse cinema? Professional reviewers from both Web and traditional print outlets will share their optimistic/pessimistic thoughts.

COMPLETE PANEL LINEUP:
(moderators listed in parentheses)

Friday, March 13
Get the Most out of SXSW Film (Agnes Varnum, Austin Film Society)

Saturday, March 14
IM Video Journalism (David Dunkley Gyimah, University of Westminster)
The State of Distribution: What You Need to Know (David Garber, Lantern Lane Entertainment)
Mentors: Managers/Agents
The Incredible Shrinking (Expanding?) Film Critic Profession (Gerald Peary, AG Films)
Mini-Meeting: Contracts & Unions
Mentors: Distributors
I Love You, Man: Case Study
Jeffrey Tambor Acting Workshop
Mini-Meeting: Editing
Mentors: Pre-Production
Alternative Publicity: Grabbin’ Eyeballs and Sparking Buzz (Jessica Edwards, Murphy PR)
Soapbox Spielbergs: Making Hollywood FX on Indie Budgets (Tim Shey, Next New Networks)
Comedy on Television and the Web (Ricky Van Veen, CollegeHumor.com)

Sunday, March 15
BMI Presents:  Film Music, the Bastard Child of Post Production (Doreen Ringer-Ross, BMI)
Working With the Guilds (Todd Amorde, Screen Actors Guild)
Mentors: Programmers
Branded Entertainment: Brands Driving Content (Jess Search, Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation)
Self-Distribution Not All by Yourself (Scott Macaulay, Forensic Films)
From Script to Screen (Sarah Green, Tree of Life)
Mini-Meeting: Soundtracks
Mentors: Filmmakers
Building Your Team
A Stanley Kubrick Panel with Jan Harlan (Elvis Mitchell, Critic)
A Conversation with Bob Berney & John Pierson
Mentors: Writers
INSIDE THE SUBMARINE: one viewpoint with Josh Braun, Submarine Entertainment
Marketing Meets New Media: Building Your Audience Online (Scott Kirsner, CinemaTech)
No Budget to Low Budget (Meghan Scibona, Small Media Extra Large)
We Have Been Objectified: Identity, Consumerism, and the Future of Designed Objects (Gary Hustwit, Objectified)

Monday, March 16
Alpha Cine Digital to 35mm Demo: Anything in - Film out
The Elevator Pitch (Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice Media)
Deciphering Funding (Ryan Harrington, IndiePix Studios)
Mentors: Entertainment Lawyers
The Future of the DVD and Digital Distribution (Scott Kirsner, CinemaTech)
Making the Perfect Trailer Workshop
Mini-Meeting: Casting/Directing Actors
Mentors: Publicity
Delivery: Avoiding Future Nightmares
Mentors: Distributors
Managing Your Expectations: Indie Film Realities (Chris Gore, Film Threat)
Mini-Meeting: Connecting to Audiences that Care:  Filmmakers, Distributors and Activists Can Work Together
A Conversation with Col Needham (Eugene Hernandez, indieWIRE)
“Hey - You Got Your p2 In My Redcode!” (Don Downie, Small Media Extra Large)
You’re Living in Your Own Private Branded Entertainment Experience (Brian Cain, Campfire)

Tuesday, March 17
Mentors: Producers
Texas New Wave
From Framing Shots to Pushing Pixels: Crossing Between Film and Video Games (Rodney Gibbs, Amaze/Foundation 9)
Mini-Meeting: Texas Filmmaker Production  Fund (Bryan Poyser, Austin Film Society)
Mentors: Press and Bloggers
A Conversation with Richard Linklater & Todd Haynes
Mentors: Filmmakers
Vivid Entertainment – The Sex-Driven Market
Surviving the Festival Circuit (Bryan Poyser, Austin Film Society)
Graphic Design 2.0: Creating the Look and Feel of Your Film
The Future of Visual Storytelling is Interactive — Or Is It? (James Milward, Secret Location inc.)
From HEROES to HELLBOY: Inside Transmedia Storytelling (Matt Wolf, Double Twenty Productions)

Previously announced participants for the 2009 SXSW Film Conference include Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones and John Hamburg in a Conversation panel, acclaimed writer/directors Todd Haynes and Richard Linklater in conversation together, filmmakers Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, Thirteen), Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Spy Kids) and Mike Judge (Office Space, King of the Hill), longtime Stanley Kubrick producer Jan Harlan, SXSW alum and Mumblecore pioneer Joe Swanberg (Nights and Weekends, Hannah Takes the Stairs), Mark Woollen, the award-winning creator of many memorable trailers (Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), as well as a rare appearance by Col Needham, Vice President of IMDb.com Service Limited.