SXSW Film Fest unveils lineup

South by Southwest Film has announced their 2006 features, and it's a pretty impressive lineup of over 100 films (about half of them world premieres).

This year's fest opens (3/10) with Robert Altman's adaptation of Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, and will close (3/18) with Paul Weitz's American Dreamz. A sampling of other films that grabbed my attention at first glance are Mary Harron's The Notorious Bettie Page, Jason Reitman's Thank You For Smoking, James Gunn's Slither (starring Captain Tightpants!), Yoji Yamada's The Hidden Blade, and James McTeigue's V for Vendetta (which debuted at BNAT in December, and I've been itching to see again ever since).

I'm also pleased as punch to see premieres of films by my friends Korey Coleman (2 A.M.) and Kat Candler (Jumping Off Bridges, featuring two of my other favorite people, Savannah Welch and Michael Conway) - and of course Jacob Vaughan's The Cassidy Kids. (And I've gotta see James Marsh's The King to find out if my pal Jessy Schwartz's scene with William Hurt made the cut.)

Here's the complete lineup and the press release. (Kudos, Matt!)