Photo via Twitter.
People come back from Austin’s South by Southwest inspired to become “makers”—launch a new app, animate a film about groceries, adopt 3D printing as their lord and personal savior. President Barack Obama is no exception. After his visit to the “convergence of the interactive, film, and music industries” in March, he announced this fall that the White House was doing its own version of the festival, called “South By South Lawn.”
Now, a week before the event kicks off on October 3, the White House released information about who’ll be attending SXSL.
Obama will have a conversation with Leonardo DiCaprio and climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe before the actor’s new documentary Before The Flood screens on the White House lawn. (While D.C. features a ton of outdoor film screenings, the South Lawn is not normally one of the locations.) Leo says he’s “looking forward” to it.
For those still in thrall of the opening of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture, the building’s architect, David Adjaye is holding a conversation with artist James Turrell at the Newseum to begin the festival.
Also notable: the kids from Netflix hit Stranger Things will make an appearance during the screening of three picks from the White House Student Film Festival. Delightful Los Angeles Times columnist Jonathan Gold is hosting an afternoon session about his city, and Congressman John Lewis is introducing a panel about making change. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and The Lumineers are among the musical performers.
There will also be a ton of interactive stalls, including one from the National Park Service that’ll let attendees experience the national parks in a minute, with the help of their “Find Your Park Machine.” Another virtual reality-abetted stall will give people a sense of what it’s like to be in a 6-foot by 9-foot cell for solitary confinement. If you’re looking for a new Facebook photo, artist Chuck Close will be taking portraits with a 20-by-24-inch Polaroid camera.
If you can’t make it to the South Lawn, the entire thing will be streamed live on WhiteHouse.gov.
Rachel Kurzius