South by Southwest’s official name may be the SXSW Music and Media Conference, but according to iW’s Eugene Hernandez, the film side of things took over center stage this year with an explosion. I was unable to make it, but I’ve been pouring over the titles in the couple weeks since and here is what caught my eye and had people talking.

COMPETITION WINNERS

TINY FURNITURE – The big Narrative Jury Prize was won by 23 year old Lena Dunham for her very well received semi-autobiographical offbeat New York comedy. Check out the trailer at the site.

BROOTHERHOOD – Will Canon’s college frat thriller won the Narrative Audience Award, claimed some of the very highest critics’ marks, and scored international distribution. Congrats guys.

MARWENCOL – This Docu Jury winner is about a man who creates a 1/6 scale WWII era village in his back yard. It is directed by Jeff Malmberg, who you probably remember as editor on 2008 Paris Hilton hit The Hottie and the Nottie.

WAR DON DON – This heavy duty looking docu about the International Criminal Court system (with a focus on Sierra Leone) won the prize for Docu Jury runner-up. Trailer here.

FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE – The Audience Docu Award went to this inspirational story of a group of disabled musicians. Looks pretty amazing from the trailer.

PREMIERES

ELEKTRA LUXX – This movie about a porn star quitting the biz features Joseph Gordon Levitt, Timothy Olyphant, and Emmanuelle Chriqui (as a porn star – but not the title porn star). Even more interesting, this is the second film in a trilogy (the first is titled Women in Trouble) by Sebastian Gutierrez, screenwriter of Snakes on a Plane.

COLD WEATHER – It seemed everyone was a big fan of this Atmospheric looking crime drama by young director Aaron Katz. I mean if Jason Reitman digs it, it has gotta be good.

LEAVES OF GRASS – Ed Norton stars as identical twins in actor/director Tim Blake Nelson’s pot growing comic thriller. I’ve been hearing very good things about this one which is set for a late summer release.

CARGO – This low budget Swiss sci-fi thriller had a good deal of buzz – mostly because there aren’t a lot of low budget Swiss sci-fi thrillers. However the critics have been pretty underwhelmed. The movie seems to have quite a few similarities to Sunshine – just check out the trailer. It is bound to be the best Swiss sci-fi thriller trailer you watch this week.

DOCUMENTARIES

PELADA – This competition docu is about some soccer fans that traveled the globe looking for the untold stories of the game. Check out the official site which includes the trailer. Looks amazing!!

SATURDAY NIGHT – James Franco directs a docu about hosting SNL. With behind the scenes action rarely captured, I’m pretty excited to catch this one.

THUNDER SOUL – It sounds like people loved Mark Landsman’s docu that tells the story of a 1970s high school band that became a funk sensation.

AIN’T IN IT FOR MY HEALTH: A FILM ABOUT LEVON HELM – Jacob Hatley’s docu follows The Band great as he reemerges into the spotlight after 25 years in the shadows.

THE THORN IN THE HEART – This charming looking partially animated docu by Michel Gondry about his school teacher Aunt premiered at Cannes and opened in NYC last Friday. Trailer

HEADLINERS – Like most fests, SXSW has a special out of competition section for hot titles from studios or indies that might not be making their premiers. The section featured Sundance holdovers The Runaways, Cyrus, Four Lions, and Get Low (Winter’s Bone and a number of others screened in the “Festival Favorites” section while Tucker and Dale vs. Evil and Enter the Void were in with the Midnighters). Here are a few non Sundance notables:

MICMACS – It has been five years since Jean-Pierre Jeunet gave us A Very Long Engagement (his follow up to Amelie). This film promises to offer another glimpse into his comic-romantic whimsy.

KICK ASS – Most of the pre-fest buzz was for this SXSW opener directed by Matthew Vaughn (Stardust). By now you’ve probably seen the ads for this comic book action comedy starring the dream team duo of Nic Cage and McLovin. It hits theaters April 16.

MACGRUBER – It’s hard not to be excited about the latest SNL spinoff starring Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, and Val Kilmer (as villain Dieter Von Cunth). The film – which only cost a surprising $10M – drops April 23.

MR. NICE – Bernard Rose’s interesting sounding British crime comedy stars Rhys Ifans alongside Chloe Sevigny. The film had the critics relatively happy.

WHAT ELSE?

MARS – Mumblecore in space! Mark Duplass stars in Geoff Marslett’s (yep, that’s his name) rotoscoped love comedy sci-fi. Trailer.

CHERRY – This film in the “Emerging Visions” category had many people talking. It’s a witty looking college sex comedy written and directed by unknown TV director Jeffrey Fine. The trailer looks great.

MONSTERS – One of the quick sales at the fest was this cool sounding sci-fi road movie by Gareth Edwards.

CENTURION – Screening as a SXSW/Fantastic Fest midnight surprise, this Roman-Brit epic is directed by Neil Marshall. As a bit of a fan of Marshall’s, I’m excited to hear that the film retains some of Marshall’s B-movie charm that made both The Descent and Doomsday such fun. It also stars Bond girl ultra-hottie Olga Kurylenko. Trailer.

Apologies for so much time in between posts. Watch for a Tribeca preview and look ahead at the Summer fests soon enough.