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SXSW Interview: Evan Mather, ‘Scenic Highway’
Director: Evan Mather
Film: Scenic Highway
Category: Documentary Shorts
Site: SXSW
Screenings: 4:30 p.m. Saturday, March 10; 11:30 a.m. Monday, March 12; 11:15 a.m. Friday, March 16, all at Alamo South
Film synopsis from SXSW.com: Due to the recent unpleasantness, Baton Rouge has eclipsed New Orleans as the largest city in Louisiana. Is the city destined for greatness? Scenic Highway is the name of US Highway 61 as it passes through northern Baton Rouge. It is also this trip to the city and such landmarks as Huey Long’s art deco State Capitol building and Buckminster Fuller’s hidden geodesic dome. This darkly affectionate memoir is also an expose of the city’s colorful history, told through the use of animated motion graphics, archival Super 8 footage, and re-created & faux-created elements.
Is this your first time at SXSW? If not, what has your experience been like in previous years?
This will be my first time in person to SXSW, although a few films of mine have played in previous years — “Fansom the Lizard” and “Red Vines” in 2002, and “Icarus of Pittsburgh” in 2003.
Why should audiences be excited to see your film?
In my autobiographic-mockumentary short film, “Scenic Highway,” they will be treated to a tour of that other midsized college town/state capital in the south-central United States — Baton Rouge, my hometown. There has always been a bit of a rivalry between the two cities — not the least of which involved Baton Rouge standing in for Austin in the 1975 television movie “The Deadly Tower” about the Charles Whitman killings.
Are there any other films screening that you hope to see?
Gary Hustwit’s “Helvetica” film.
When you think of Texas and the movies, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
The Zapruder film.
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