SXSW for Civilians

For locals not in possession of an almighty badge, SXSW can sometimes feel like a giant party in your backyard that you can't gain admittance to. Well, SXSW Film wants to help you hop the fence.

There have always been general admission tickets available for purchase 15 minutes before screening time – at least in theory, but some of the venues are so small there's virtually no chance of anyone not packing Platinum getting in.

But this year, the fest will make available a limited number of advance single tickets to select Paramount screenings.** For any film showing at the Paramount (save Kick-Ass, Cyrus, When I Rise, MacGruber, or The Runaways), tickets are available for purchase for $12 (the regular $10 plus a $2 service charge). What films does that leave? Plenty, like Steve James' Allen Iverson doc, the super-hyped high-school funk band film Thunder Soul, local Bryan Poyser's Lovers of Hate, the White Stripes performance film, and American: The Bill Hicks Story, to name a few.

Tickets are already on sale exclusively at the Paramount box office, so get cracking. And if you're at all bewildered by the complicated badge/pass/ticket hierarchy, check out this highly informative video.

**Read the fine print, though: In the "unlikely event" that a screening reaches capacity before ticketholders can get in the door, you'll be refunded at the box office, so long as you show up within 30 minutes of showtime.