Earlier this evening, I was commenting to Dr. Cole Abaius about the nature of the film festivals here in Austin, Texas. While Fantastic Fest (one of the great film festival experiences in the world, in its own right) is certainly the center of the universe for a focused group of geeks, I would argue that South by Southwest (SXSW) is the essential Austin fest, if only because of its wild diversity. It often more accurately represents the whole of Austin culture (and weirdness). And a lot of said weirdness comes from two categories: the SX Fantastic line-up, programmed by Fantastic Fest’s Tim League, and the SX Midnighters, programmed by Jarod Neece. Jimmy Tupper vs. The Goatman of Bowie is one such SX Midnighter, a category that has put the perfect amount of weird in the SXSW 2010 line-up. Seeing as I have no better way to describe it, I will leave you to the official synopsis and trailer for director Andrew Bowser’s movie, included below.

Synopsis:

Part modern horror documentary and part old school monster movie, Jimmy Tupper vs. The Goatman of Bowie is an innovative and quirky film that challenges the notion of found footage and what it means to be scared in the woods. Jimmy Tupper (Andrew Bowser) is a no one, he’s nothing. He spends his days working at a Starbucks in Suburban Maryland and his nights drinking and playing Rock Band. His friends see him as the resident stoner and waste of space. One night they decide to pull a prank on poor Jimmy and, while he is passed-out drunk, they leave him in the middle of the woods of Bowie, Maryland.

The next day Jimmy is nowhere to be found. When he finally emerges from the woods he is beaten and bloodied and making outlandish claims. He says he’s seen a monster, the famed “Goatman” of Bowie. His friends believe this to be the drunken ramblings of an overexcited nitwit, but Jimmy knows better. He heads to the woods determined to capture footage of the elusive creature and prove what he knows to be real.

Was Jimmy only dreaming? Did he really see a monster? Only time, and Jimmy’s video camera, will tell.

Trailer: