SXSW wristbands are now on sale for Austin residents.
Photo by Daniel Cavazos
One of the benefits of giving up our city for 10 days a year is the dream of the elusive, Austinites-only SXSW wristband. On Tuesday, January 16, the festival issued its annual somewhat surprise announcement of the sale, and the news couldn't have come at a better time. As we battle the throes of these hard Austin winters, it's nice to be reminded that spring is just around the corner. (Well, in our case, it's really is just right around the corner. It's supposed to be 70 degrees on Saturday.)
Beginning at 11 am on January 16, organizers are offering SXSW Music wristbands to Austin-area residents for $169. The credentials offer secondary access to all official SXSW music showcases from March 12-18, 2018.
In order to snag a wristband, the buyer must purchase online and have a credit card with an Austin ZIP code. (A list of approved ZIP codes can be found here.) Customers may buy two wristbands, but both names must be provided at the time of purchase, and each individual must pick up their band in-person with a valid ID. Wristbands can be picked up March 12-17 at the Austin Convention Center.
In addition to gaining entry to over 100 stages, festival organizers point out that the wristbands enable locals to catch more than 2,000 international, national, and regional artists over the course of the fest.
For more information, and to purchase a wristband, go here. Be forewarned, released in limited quantities, these wristbands sell out fast.
Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes in You Can See Everything.
Elizabeth Holmes faced one of the most public downfalls in recent history after she was accused of defrauding investors in her health technology company, Theranos. Her subsequent indictment and conviction drew the interest of many, including comedian, actor, and filmmaker Nathan Fielder. Fielder somehow convinced Holmes and her husband, Billy Evans, to make a documentary about her final days of freedom, called You Can See Everything.
It’s not immediately clear why Fielder — who only has one previous feature-length documentary to his credit — is interested in profiling Holmes, but the approach that he and co-director Lance Oppenheim (Primetime) take is one that puts Fielder in the spotlight as much as her or Evans. Fielder looms over the couple — sometimes literally, sometimes from afar — as they care for their children, make meals, try to re-establish business relationships, and prepare for Holmes’ prison sentence, which is due to start about a month after the film begins in 2023.
Fielder quizzes Holmes and Evans about predictable subjects — such as how Theranos worked, her relationship with COO Sunny Balwani, and her conviction — and ones that are slightly off-kilter, including the miniseries The Dropout, which dramatized Holmes’ rise and fall. He is met with seeming openness by both of them — the title of the movie is uttered by Holmes at one point — but there are times when their idea of transparency doesn’t jibe with Fielder’s expectations.
Through it all, the quirky reputation that Fielder has from TV shows like Nathan for You, The Curse, and The Rehearsal colors his participation, as well. He appears sincere, if surprisingly intense, in his questioning, but there are more than a few moments where it’s fair to wonder if the whole thing is an act of performance art. That suspicion grows in the second half of the nearly three-hour film as Fielder and Oppenheim go down roads that stretch the definition of what a documentary is or can be.
The film is utterly fascinating as the filmmakers go on what seems to be a full-on exploration of the meaning of truth. Holmes and Evans, either intentionally or unintentionally, carry on conversations with Fielder with wide-open, unblinking eyes, something that conveys honesty and creepiness in equal measure. Fielder meets them with squinting expressions, looking like he’s trying to determine how candid they’re actually being.
One of the biggest things the film reveals (or does it?) is that — if she’s not a sociopath — Holmes might be someone who’s either oblivious or naive. As cryptic or strange as she can be in words and actions, Evans is even more so, and as the film progresses, his motives and ideas are called into question. Control over the narrative of the film wobbles back-and-forth between Fielder, Holmes, and Evans, and even at the end it’s unclear whose perspective has truly won out.
There is no way to accurately get across what it’s like to watch You Can See Everything for the first time. The motives of everyone involved are up in the air, resulting in a roller coaster ride that’s full of astonishment, laughs, and a number of surprises. It’s an audacious film that can’t be categorized, one that will challenge the thinking of voters when it comes time for awards season.
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You Can See Everything opens in theaters on October 16.
