South by Southwest is the whirlwind of activity that takes over Austin for about two weeks each March. It's a massive film, music, and interactive super festival, plus an education summit, plus a video game expo, plus a job fair, and so much more. It's a full-time job just attending the festival and figuring out what to check out next, so needless to say putting together a SXSW 2018 recap over 2.5 hours long took some time to put together.

I got do my first-ever live show of The nsavides Podcast a couple of weeks ago, and I was honored to get to do that as an official event at SXSW 2018. Last episode, I posted the audio from my live podcast at SXSW. On this episode, I will discuss some of the installations, key notes and sessions, films, and music shows that stuck out for me. 

I'm combining those seemingly disparate areas because I believe they're all interconnected. Techniques musicians use to get attention can also relate to filmmakers, technologists at SXSW were taking cues from filmmakers and musicians, and so on. Plus, the festival itself declares that it is dedicated to "helping creative people achieve their goals," and so we might learn a few things about collaboration by exploring all the different ways that SXSW does that.

A large part of this episode includes discussions about the various film, music, and interactive keynotes and sessions that I heard either at the festival, or after the fact through videos and audio files uploaded to the SXSW YouTube and Soundcloud pages.

 

SXSW 2018 Recap sections

This episode is over 2.5 hours long, so I'm including time stamps for the start types of some of the different categories. Note that sometimes the timestamp may vary somewhat on the web player.

• Installations: 9:31
• Film keynotes & sessions: 23:40
• Interactive keynotes & sessions: 55:24
• Music keynotes & sessions: 1:41:45
• Films: 1:48:47
• Music shows: 1:54:20
• My take: 2:02:38

Scroll down to RELATED THINGS to get my favorite discoveries from the festival.  Next episode, I'll include an interview with another music discovery I made at the festival. 

Want more coverage from SXSW? If so, you might be interested in the interactive and music coverage I did at SXSW 2017. That episode also includes my recap of my festival experience that year.

Show notes for that episode are here.

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In the episode, I mentioned that I was impressed by the band description for Joshua Burnside. Some music industry professionals like Wade Sutton actually specialize in helping bands write bios. To learn more about how Wade works with musicians to make their shows more engaging, check this interview I did with him.

Show notes for that episode are here.

 

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Sponsor for this Episode nsavides productions – I make videos and tell stories. My new video portfolio is here! # The Fable House team were my guests at SXSW 2018. We're partnering together to produce distinguished music videos for bands who want to share their music in personable and unforgettable ways. # Based in Louisiana, Fable House is a production company that has produced millions of dollars worth of content. Their team has done effects work on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Game of Thrones, and Star Trek: Into Darkness, and some of the recording artists they've worked with include Dr. John, Kendrick Lamar, and Jared Leto’s Thirty Seconds to Mars. #

Let’s discuss how we can help your music stand out: [email protected]

Related Things

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iu9_8Vsmtk

 

• Esther Perel's speech (above) was my favorite session from SXSW 2018
• Other favorite sessions 
  • Film - Darren Aronofsky
  • Interactive - Elon Musk
  • Music - Keith Urban
• Other festival discoveries
  • App - Otter Voice Meeting Notes
  • Book - Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue
  • Film - Agave: Spirit of a Nation
  • Music - Wye Oak
  • Podcast - This Song

 

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• Patrick Mulhearn, the former executive director of Celtic Studios in Louisiana, shared his thoughts about HBO's Westworld exhibit. (These days he is working over at Louisiana Economic Development.)
• Vanity Fair's write-up about the Westworld exhibit at SXSW
• New York Times Op-Ed about repealing second amendment
• ReasonTV's People Will Die political satire video
• The musicians awarded the SXSW 2018 Grulke Prize

Music for the show provided by Rob Costlow

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SXSW 2018 Sessions Discussed

• Ari Herstand
• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Barry Jenkins
• Bernie Sanders
• Chris O'Neill
• Daniel Glass
• DANIELS
• Darren Arronfosky
• Elon Musk
• Esther Perel
• Ethan Hawke
• Ezra Klein
• Keith Urban
• Ray Kurzweil
• Rian Johnson with Mark Hamill
• Tim Ferriss
• Tim Gray
• Sadiq Khan
• Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Whurley

 

Books Mentioned

• Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue
• Quantum Computing for Babies
• The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
• Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator

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Films & Shows Mentioned

• Agave: The Spirit of a Nation
• Black Panther
• Blaze
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
• Damsel 
• Dead Poets Society 
• The Director and The Jedi
• Everything is a Remix
• Jacob’s Ladder
• Jerry Maguire 
• Moonlight
• Mother!
• Oblivion
• Pitch Perfect
• Ready Player One
• Spheres (VR)
• Sriracha
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi 
• Swiss Army Man
• Together (VR)
• Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 
• Westworld 
• Wild Honey Pie!#

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Musicians Mentioned

• Ari Herstand
• Childish Gambino
• Chvrches
• The Givers
• Jade Bird
• Joshua Burnside
• Keith Urban
• Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam
• Tank and the Bangas
• Todd Rundgren
• Vampire Weekend
• Wye Oak

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