Andrew Haigh's "Weekend" has become the latest film to sell at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival, with Sundance Selects picking up North American rights to the gay romance, which won the SXSW Emerging Visions Audience Award.

"Weekend," which stars Tom Cullen and Chris New, is the second feature for Haigh, a former editor whose films in that capacity include Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" and "Black Hawk Down." It details a short affair between two young men, one hesitant about coming out and the other freer and more liberal.

“'Weekend' depicts a fleeting...

The word out of South By Southwest is that "The Beaver" is good. Very good. So is its star, Mel Gibson.

But will that be enough for moviegoers and the industry to forget about the racist and anti-Semitic rants, and the death threats, and the abusive voicemails?

Could any  movie possibly be good enough to allow fans to welcome back Mel Gibson, movie star?

Those were the questions that hung over Austin's Paramount Theatre on Wednesday night, as the most intriguing film at this year's South by Southwest festival had its world premiere.

Based on initial reactions from those at the packed screening, the answer is yes, "The Beaver" just...

The SXSW film awards have been handed out, and the music people are moving in. But there's still some life in the film festival part of this shindig …

"Natural Selection" was certainly not one of the more buzzed-about SXSW films … at least not until Tuesday night, when the film from first-time feature director Robbie Pickering nearly swept the SXSW film awards. Not only did it take home the Best Narrative Feature prize from both the jury and the audience, but it won five other jury awards to boot. Until then, the film appeared to have been overlooked by most SXSW attendees – reviews are nearly impossible to find, even at sites doing the most exhaustive job of covering the festival, and news stories covering the awards couldn't agree on whether the film is a comedy, a drama or a dramedy. Still, Charles Ealy ran...

As the fest heads toward Tuesday night's awards ceremony, more news 'n' notes from South by Southwest:

There were so many rumors flying in the days leading up to Monday's surprise 15th anniversary screening from the Austin-based Ain't It Cool News that AICN founder Harry Knowles was forced to write a post saying that all the rumor-mongers – he mentioned the Hollywood Reporter, Variety and the Austin Chronicle – didn't know what they were talking about when they said he'd lined up a major summer film for his surprise screening. He came close to landing one summer and one fall release, he said, but in the end went for a vintage film with "a spectacular special guest" and "an incredibly awesome Q&A discussion." (Ain...