To be honest, of the narrative features premiering at SXSW shot by Texas based filmmakers, the two that we were immediately drawn to were Bob Byington's RSO [Registered Sex Offender] and Alex Karpovsky's Woodpecker. The first initially drew us in because we have a morbid fascination with all things criminal, especially criminal acts that traditionally allow for no possibility of redemption and the later because of the duality of a film that injects a non-fictional situation with fictional characters. Serendipitously, we recently had the chance to sit down with both Byington and Karpovsky at the same, and during a very circuitous conversation we got the chance to discuss film festival groupies, Olive Garden movie goers, fanatical birdwatchers and well, registered sex offenders....

Alex Karpovsky is fascinated with extraordinary birds, regardless of the presence of feathers or bills. Indeed he is so fascinated with them that he set his new film, Woodpecker, in the bosom of birdwatching's newest mecca, Brinkley, Arkansas, amidst throngs of Ivory Billed Woodpecker enthusiasts and the townies who have a love/hate relationship with this group of fanatical treasure hunters and the bird on which they pin all of their hopes and dreams. ...