This year's South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin presented an array of independent films.

Since some of the celebrity filmmakers already had secured financial backing for their most recent projects, they casually waltzed through Austin's 10th annual film celebration shaking hands with the other big shots.

Meanwhile, the world's unknowns desperately sought distribution and door openings for their completed films, in the hopes that they too may one day reach the apexes of their successors.

The vastly accomplished Robert Duvall headlined with Assassination Tango, his second film to write, direct and star in. Actor Peter Fonda followed by promoting his newly restored 1971 western The Hired Hand.

Assassination Tango, having already received allocation from United Artists, is not only painful to watch but is also destined to be a box office flop.

Sadly enough, refreshing and inspirational low-budget films shown in the same weekend are also doomed for failure. Why?

These independent filmmakers may never find the opportunity to meet the right people.

The studio representatives may be too interested in spending their time at a luncheon with the critic of the New York Times rather than discovering a unique film on their own.

Most of all, Hollywood is not all that interested in the SXSW Film Festival, and many of these nobody filmmakers will not receive admission to the more prestigious festivals held in Toronto or Park City, Utah.

While the dreadful Assassination Tango rests comfortably in the arms of UA, newcomer Alex Holdridge stays a starving artist while seeking exposure for his brilliant comedy Sexless.

An English major dropout, Holdridge and his UT entourage tell the stories of two 20-something relationships in a charming Austin backdrop. Holdridge, with his sarcasm and narcissistic outlooks on life, is a total throwback to classic Woody Allen (Manhattan, Annie Hall).

Whether Holdridge gets a break this go-around or not is beside the point; he will eventually reach success.

Another Texas devotion, Evenhand, deserves attention.

Shot in San Antonio, director Joseph Pierson's film shows the boredom of cops with a wonderfully wry sense of humor.

Having already been shown at two other festivals, however, the hilarious Evenhand would be lucky to find itself on the Sundance Channel late night six months from now.

However, not all of these independents' films are deemed worthy of praise.

The festival's Web site described The Nature of Nicholas as "a surreal fable that follows 12-year-old Nicholas with an intense attraction to his best friend Bobby."

The film sounded promising to me, but I was mistaken.

Forty minutes in, Nicholas' crush on Bobby goes sour, and a zombie duplicate of Bobby appears under his bed.

Nicholas gives Zombie Bobby comics to read and feeds him breadcrumbs and soup.

I was completely lost at this point and have no idea what the rest of the film meant, but writer/director Jeffrey Erbach was available for Q & A afterward.

However, my personal safety is always at interest, and I thought it best to get as far away from this guy as possible, and quickly.

A Midsummer Nights Rave was another complete bust. I am not sure how I sat through this one, even though it was only 85 minutes. Before the reel started, director Gil Cates Jr. shared with us his visionary of the film, calling it "This generation's Fast Times at Ridgemont High." Though the high definition photography and production design looked impressive (and expensive), A Midsummer Nights Rave resembled more of a Beverly Hills 90210 episode on crack.

Later, I learned that Cates Jr.'s father is the hotshot producer for the upcoming Oscar telecast and, hence, the movie's backing for its top-notch visual effects.

It's too bad Cates couldn't hit up his daddy for some cash to distribute Sexless or Evenhand, or better yet, purchase some straight jackets for the creators of The Nature of Nicholas.