Robert Sodmak
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SXSW Review: Diane Warren: Relentless Writes a Prolific Portrait

©Courtesy of Broken Road Production A story is only as good as its characters. Hollywood has long embraced that mantra, particularly in crafting the ideas that are featured in its films and in the soundtracks that accompany them. Emmy-nominated documentarian Bess Kargman has done just that with her new feature, Diane Warren: Relentless, about the…

SXSW / Resynator: Interview with Director/Producer Alison Tavel

©Courtesy of Crush Pictures The immense fear of failure can at times lead to people feeling as though they won’t be accepted for who they truly are, and struggling to figure out how to be loved. Up-and-coming filmmaker Alison Tavel delved into how her late father was a hustling man who strove for success in…

SXSW Review – ‘Dandelion’ is a Soaring Showcase of a Songwriter

Becoming a successful singer-songwriter is not an easy gig. There’s so much competition and it takes connections in order to be discovered, and even then it might be difficult to truly arrive at the right time with the sound and look that those with money and access want to see. Most people just starting their…

SXSW Review – A Picture of a Maddening Marriage in ‘Magpie’

People stay in bad marriages for a variety of reasons. Chief among them is children, but there can also be hope that things will return to the honeymoon period that started the romance and has now become a distant memory. Magpie introduces its protagonist when there’s nothing resembling love left in her marriage, and the…

SXSW Review – ‘Black Box Diaries’ is a Story of Perseverance

Speaking out about sexual assault is a difficult process, in part because people don’t always believe accusations. Having to stand up to someone in a position of power with considerably more resources makes it even harder. Yet there are those who know that they must act to prevent others from suffering similar fates, and that…

SXSW Review – ‘Fly’ is a Window into the Wondrous World of Flight

It’s hard to imagine the feeling of jumping off a cliff and just letting the wind carry you. Fly, from National Geographic Documentary Films, brings audiences as close as possible to no longer needing to imagine and just getting to experience it. In its opening moments, two people leap off a ledge and are indeed…

SXSW Review: Grappling with ‘The Truth vs. Alex Jones’

There are few public personalities alive today who seem to relish being despised as much as Alex Jones. The longtime host of InfoWars, a news program that wholeheartedly embraces fringe conspiracy theories as irrefutable truth, believes that he is doing the public a great service by sharing all the things he believes to be wrong…

SXSW Review – The Scary Truth of ‘How to Build a Truth Engine’

It’s hard to know what’s true anymore. Universal access to information has not always been the gift it should have been, since it’s possible for an image or video that’s either entirely false or simply miscaptioned to reach millions of eyes and ears in a matter of seconds before any correction can be made. Perhaps…

SXSW Review – Grand Jury Prize Winner ‘Bob Trevino Likes It’

Not everyone is meant to be a parent. Children, on the other hand, don’t have any choice in the matter, and there can be very toxic relationships and dynamics that develop when a parent makes their child feel as if they owe them something for all they had to give up in order to raise…

SXSW Review – Finding Love in ‘A Nice Indian Boy’

Who doesn’t want to find the perfect person to spend their life with and have a dream wedding? That desire can be complicated by factors like family and cultural traditions, which may not, for instance, be nearly as accepting of two men getting married as they are of a groom kissing his bride. A Nice…

SXSW Review – ‘Backspot’ Shows the Side Effects of Success

The world of competitive sports is filled with extremely motivated people and a great deal of pressure to succeed. Those two elements can combine to create a toxic, unhealthy environment in which the safety and mental well-being of athletes is not adequately considered and monitored. Playing sports while in high school can increase that tension…