In this, our trigger-happy state, it makes sense that At the Death House Door – an exploration of the death penalty through the eyes of Rev. Carroll Pickett, a former death-row chaplain, now an anti-death penalty advocate – will have its world premiere at SXSW. But the filmmakers Steve James and Peter Gilbert (Hoop Dreams, Stevie) want to get you talking now.

Sad news: Gary Gygax, the man behind Dungeons and Dragons, has died at his Lake Geneva home, aged 69.

The truth is that every role-playing game, whether tabletop or electronic, owes a huge debt to Gygax. Less an innovator than a visionary that could see the potential of fusing dice-rolling with high fantasy, he realized halflings were cool 30 years before Peter Jackson. He was a co-creator of Chainmail, the system that he later turned into D&D. The original Gen Con, now a series of massive gaming conventions around the world, was held in Gygax's basement in 1967. And, yes, it was Gygax that changed the business model of role-playing games, so that instead of buying one game, fans would buy supplement after supplement, rule book after rule book, and then when the new edition came out, the fans would leap for those updated stats.

But maybe Gygax will be best remembered as the man who made geekiness a communal activity. For that, we, the nerdy teens who had something to do on a Friday night other than read comics, and the imaginative adults that they became, salute him.

Following on from the news that SXSW '05 breakouts the Duplass Brothers will be getting their new movie Baghead shown at this year's festival (plus, as revealed here, a midnight sneak preview), another SXSW veteran is re-emerging: Darkon, which won the SXSW '06 audience award for documentary feature, has finally got a DVD release.

The film about the weird and wonderful world of LARPing (that's live action roleplaying to you) got its world debut at the Convention Center that year, with cast and crew in attendance. When I spoke with co-directors Luke Meyer and Andrew Neel at the time, they pointed out the value of film festivals: They'd spent over a year dedicated to making this film, hanging out with the Darkonians (as they call themselves) and standing in cold, wet fields in Maryland. But because they'd been living the film, they both said they weren't sure whether it was any good or not. Talking to them after a screening, they seemed struck by both surprise and elation that a room full of strangers (who all could have found something else to do) not only sat through their movie, but gave them a standing ovation afterwards. Which has to be nice.

To call the Maysles Brothers (Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens) iconic in the world of documentary filmmaking is a little bit like calling the sun yellow, the grass green, the price of oil outrageous... Well, you get our point. So it was a particularly ballsy move on the part of Celia Maysles to pick up a camera and dig into the backstory of her deceased father David and somewhat-estranged uncle Albert.

We haven't seen her new film, Wild Blue Yonder, yet, but we hear Al doesn't come off that great in it... and apparently, Al agrees. "[A]s you see in the film, I come off as the bad guy," he told The Reeler in a piece published two weeks ago. (Thanks to SpoutBlog for the link.)

Check out the Chronicle's SXSW Film issue (on the streets and the web next Thursday) for Anne S. Lewis' interview with Celia Maysles, and about a gadjillion other SXSW Film-related pieces.

With SXSW Film less than a week away, it's inevitable people will start talking – and arguing – about mumblecore again. UT alum and Variety associate editor Peter Debruge has a good primer here on the DIY film movement that caught traction and its marblemouth name back at SXSW '05.

Our favorite part of the piece? "But new equipment, like the DVX100 cameras these mumblecore pals FedEx back and forth to one another, means they can keep making films with or without the studios."

They FedEx a camera back and forth? Say what you will about mumblecore – we'll say it's produced some real winners and a few dogs – but that's just about the nicest thing we've heard all day.

SXSW '05 was where the Duplass Brothers broke big with The Puffy Chair, which went on to a successful theatrical run and netted some serious Hollywood attention. They already premiered their latest, Baghead, at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was bought by Sony Picture Classics, but Austin's got major love for its former native sons, so a showing at SXSW '08 was inevitable. Alas, only one showing, at least according to the program book. But a little birdie tells of us there's a midnight sneak next weekend, open to anybody (meaning non-badgeholders) but requiring a ticket. Want more? The guy at the right's got all the details.

SXSW Film passes are now on sale at Waterloo Video (600 N. Lamar) for $70. They're guaranteed to sell out, so if you want one, you better hop to it... Or just walk. You know. But either way, you'll have to do it in-person – no online purchase. and no reserving either.

We've never been huge fans of Ernest Hemingway – the effect of too many fiction workshops with tortured boys-who-would-be-Papa, writing "muscular" prose. But we are big fans of free books, and the makers of SXSW film The Matador, which screens in the doc competition, will be giving away copies of Hemingway's bullfighting book The Dangerous Summer to the first 200 in line at The Matador's March 10 premiere. Another 100 will be given away at the second screening on March 11. Olé!

The Texas Hall of Fame Awards are always a good time, boozy and freewheeling, with an "anything goes" attitude. Well, something's up and gone already, actually – previously announced inductee Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) had to cancel for the March 7 ceremony. Additionally, the Austin Film Society has announced a new drop-in: Those famously hairy hellcats ZZ Top will accept the AMD LIVE! Soundtrack Award, with Billy F. Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard in attendance.

Other honorees include Mike Judge, Morgan Fairchild, Jayne Mansfield (accepted by her daughter, Mariska Hargitay), and the film Urban Cowboy (accepted by Debra Winger).

Dan Rather will host, and Tess Harper and Luke Wilson will present awards.

For more info, check out austinfilm.org.