South by Southwest spotlights great documentaries

Yesterday we shed light on a few of the many documentaries airing at the South By Southwest film festival the past several days. Well today, Austin360.com is taking a more general look at the awesome documentaries unveiled at this year's event. And while we hate to tell you to head to another site, we must say, the article is a good one (especially if you love documentaries).

Head on over to austin360.com to read why the SXSW film festival is proving our beloved documentary genre is hitting its stride.

South by Southwest Films

So most people know 'South by Southwest' as one of the great American music festivals in the country (especially if you are a fan of more independent artists). But you may not know SXSW also has a pretty expansive film festival as well.

Now again, the number of films (especially documentaries) screening are almost too numerous to discuss here, however, to wet your appetite we'll list the 8 selections chosen for the Documentary Feature Competition. Each of the following films are a world premier (they were also chosen out of a field of over 800 submissions!).

Definitely head to the SWSW website to learn more about these films and countless others.

Better This World
Directors: Katie Galloway & Kelly Duane de la Vega
Two boyhood friends from Midland, Texas cross a line that radically changes their lives. The result: eight homemade bombs, multiple domestic terrorism charges and a high stakes entrapment defense hinging on a controversial FBI informant. (World Premiere)

The City Dark
Director: Ian Cheney
The film chronicles the disappearance of darkness, following astronomers, cancer researchers, ecologists and philosophers in a quest to understand what is lost in the glare of city lights. (World Premiere)

DRAGONSLAYER
Director: Tristan Patterson
Killer Films presents the transmissions of a lost kid, falling in love, in the suburbs of Fullerton, California. Featuring skateboarding, the usual drugs, and stray glimpses of unusual beauty. (World Premiere)

FIGHTVILLE
Directors: Michael Tucker & Petra Epperlein
A documentary about the art and sport of fighting: a microcosm of life, a physical manifestation of that other brutal contest called the American Dream. (World Premiere)

Kumaré (U.S.A/India)
Director: Vikram Gandhi
A documentary about a man who impersonates a wise Indian Guru and builds a following in Arizona. (World Premiere)

LAST DAYS HERE
Directors: Don Argott & Demian Fenton
The film follows middle-aged rocker Bobby Liebling, lead singer of the cult hard rock/heavy metal band Pentagram, as he leaves his parents' basement in search of the life he never lived. (World Premiere)

A Matter of Taste
Director: Sally Rowe
Considered a rising star of haute cuisine, Paul Liebrandt found his career stalled in New York’s austere environment post 9/11. Paul struggles over the next decade as he tries to make his way back to the top. (World Premiere)

Where Soldiers Come From
Director: Heather Courtney
From a snowy small town in Northern Michigan to the mountains of Afghanistan and back, the film follows the four-year journey of childhood friends and their town, forever changed by a faraway war. (World Premiere)