I really wasn’t set on going this year.  Last year in March, during the long flight back home to Belgium, I had decided I would skip Austin a year.

Though SXSW08 was as packed and geeky as ever, me spending 3 days in bed with the famous South-by-Souhtwest-flu didn’t make it that good an experience.  And eventhough I love Derek and all his geekyness, the added Lightdsaber sounds (he was extracting bits from the original dvd’s for his session) during the little moments I was awake were not the ones I wanted to hear.

Thus, I would skip 2009.  Along came Producer’s Utopia.  The project actually started at SXSW08 when I met our US partner.  We launched the first beta of our main app during AFM in Santa Monica in November 08 and we’re working hard to improve and expand our universe towards a new release at Cannes 09.

The great team at Producer’s Utopia decided we couldn’t let Southby escape.  Not having booked a hotel or any flights became a nice added puzzle, but we figured it all out and indeed: on March 12th, Christopher Buckeridge and myself will be travelling back to Bush Country, or, Obamaland as it is now called (nbe: We were all together in LA on election day!).

On the way home (the 19th for me, the 21th for him), I won’t actually be flying back to Brussels.  Instead, I’ve taken this insane bet with our CFO that I would participate in the Monaco Marathon on March 24th.  I will only be starting in the 10km race, but still.  Not an easy task for a geek with my physique.

So, there it is.  Big plans for another big trip to the big land.  Excited as always and eager to learn what insane stuff the community has come up with this year.  I shall be sporting a Gold Badge, as I will be combining the Film and the Interactive festival.

My wonderful businesspartners and personal friends at Producer’s Utopia came to my office today bringing a wonderful gift, as a thank you for the hard work at the Berlin Film Festival last weekend: a brand-new Macbook Air!

I’m so lucky to have these people to work with.  Let the unwrapping party begin!

I just got home from a wonderful 4 days in Berlin. The team from Producer’s Utopia has been attending the 59th Berlinale, the Berlin Film Festival, to expand our network in the real world. And what a welcome in the real world it was.
The AFM in Santa Monica was a first launch but we hadn’t really tasted the European market so far. The wonderful organizers of the Berlinale gave us an excellent opportunity, welcoming us with 4 partner badges (thanks again!) and 2 days of behind-the-scenes tours and introductions, to do just that.
And tasting, we have done. Not of the local dishes and tastes, which dissapointed me bigtime, but of the unknown land to the east of Belgium. Really, I had no knowledge of what Germany was like: I had been there only a couple of times, but not in my “adult life”. It was no less than a surprise.
And I got my share of famous faces: Thilo Kuther, a local boy, dragged us along to Michelle Pfeiffer’s launch party for Chéri in the Ritz Carlton and we stumbled upon Nicole Kidman in the Hyatt’s hallways . Thilo is the only person I’ve ever met who responded on me saying “Ecto Gamat“, he’s truly the first to know what I’m talking about. Saddening and comforting at the same time.
More to come!