If you’ve ever attended a film festival, you’ll be familiar with the concept of the film festival bumper. If you haven’t been witness to such occurrences, allow me to explain: when you sit down to watch a film at a film festival, more often than not there is a few minute long bumper that plays prior to the film. It usually serves as a bit of fun (in the case of SXSW or Fantastic Fest) or it indicates the fest’s theme (a la Sundance). Either way, it’s usually an enjoyable reminder of where you are. Last year at SXSW, one bumper stood alone. A 20-something girl takes a casual hike through the woods, only to encounter every movie monster you can imagine. This gem was directed by a talented Austinite named Joe Nicolosi, whose work you no doubt know from Star Wars: Retold. This year, the programming team at SXSW went back to Joe for not one, but five bumpers for the 2011 festival. And with that brought the street-level meme “did you hear about the Mario bumper?” to Austin’s big spring bash. All fan favorites, we are pleased to present to you the bumpers of SXSW 2011.