Like many other under the radar film festivals before it, South by Southwest seems to be going the way of "Hollywoodization". This is evidenced by Altman's premiering on opening night of the star studded Prairie Home Companion, as well as Charlize Theron's appearance to promote the film she recently produced, East of Havana, which is a doc on Cuban rappers.

I don't think SXSW end up like Sundance, though, which seems to have lost a lot of its independent spirit (I mean you've got celebs whorring themselves for promotional Polo shirts and Ray-Bans). At least SXSW has their mostly underground music fest to ground them. And actually, this Hollywood influence can'tbe all bad. The films I mentioned before ain't the usual studio fare at all.