South by Southwest Film 07 saw Aaron Katz (Quiet City), Ry Russo-Young (Orphans), and Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the Stairs) build upon the achievements of friends and collaborators Susan Buice and Arin Crumley (Four-Eyed Monsters), Andrew Bujalski (Mutual Appreciation), and the Duplass Brothers (The Puffy Chair). The festival this year, showcasing such stammering delights, was less a formal recognition of the cinema of the indecisive and inarticulate than it was a celebration of the democracy of moviemaking in the 21st century. While conference networking gave way to networking credits, funny, smart, and sexy stayed the course.
