#SXSW Better This World

All you SXSW attendees! You still have two more screenings to catch this film...do it.

So why is SXSW a completely unique experience? Part of it is location. Jake Gyllenhaal noted that this was one of the only festivals where everyone was kind. It's true. Here's what happens in a world where people are accustomed to chatting easily and naturally inclined to help:

Yesterday, I'm standing in line waiting for Better This World which happened to be at a place I was already scheduled to be at a time when I had an hour and a half to kill, so getting in line was more of a 'why not' than a purposeful decision. A sweet woman in front of me held my spot and pointed me to the bathroom. A sweet couple behind me seemed lost.

I explained to the couple how the lines work (there are three of them, it is confusing). Asked them the standard 'get to know you' question at SXSWFilm--so, what have you seen? Found out they're only here for this movie. They'd driven in from a small town about 45 minutes outside Austin. Why? The proud husband told me his lovely wife was in it.

Since Better This World is a documentary, I imagined she was one of the townspeople filmmakers found to flesh out the story. Not exactly.

Better This World is about two idealistic best friends from Midland--Brad Crowder and David McKay--who were charged with domestic terrorism during the 2008 Republican National Convention. 

The woman was Brad's mother, Twila Crowder, and the man her new husband, as of one month ago. They had never seen the film.

As it came time to enter the theater, they still didn't have the passes they needed to get in to see her son's story. I found a SXSW employee, explained to him who they were, and he rushed off to find out what he could do, helping them at the head of the line and getting them into the theatre.

(A Note: These two would never, NEVER have pulled the 'do you know who I am' card. They play by the rules, and the rules say they need a pass.)

They sat right behind me. As we waited, I looked at their wedding photos on his phone--he told me all about the wedding. He told me his politics are in polar opposite to Brad's, but he loves this woman dearly, and so he's here. And I thought about how good these people are--she taught her son to stand up for what he believes in. And while politics were never something she felt passionate about, she loved her son. She knew he was good. And her husband knew he loved this woman dearly. So here they sat together, and watched a room full of strangers watch their personal hell.

There's no way to explain watching this film with this new-found connection to three strangers. I could feel the charge in the air. The husband, the wife, the son. (Brad came to the screening.) Watching his story. Deciding if they liked the way it was told. Hitched breathing when Twila was shown crying on screen, as they relived all the emotion of that time.

We hugged when the movie was finished. I passed a note to Brad. And as I trembled, literally, from the emotion I felt from this family, this good, proud West Texas husband wished me luck. On my acting career.