In the interest of full disclosure: I play a very small role in the subject of today’s SXSW preview, Natural Causes. As such, I’m going to have to pass the SXSW reviewing duties along to another member of the Spout team––and in fact, as of this writing, I haven’t even seen the film, even though parts of it were made in my apartment––but we passed along our standard 4 Questions to co-directors Alex Cannon, Paul Cannon and Michael Lerman nonetheless. Check out the Emerging Visions selection’s trailer above, and answers from the boys below.

Tell us about your movie. Who did you work with, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out.

25 words or less? Natural Causes is like the greatest hits of a relationship.

That said, we wrote it in 1 month and shot it in 11 days, some of them 23 hours long. This was our attempt to make an extraordinarily personal film about the nature of a young relationship. The three of us have gone through similar experiences and we know so many people who have as well. Natural Causes is our way of taking a look back at that and examining what it’s like to be with someone at this age and all the shit that goes along with it. We’re not blind to the fact that there are movies that resonate with us in an emotionally similar way, like David Gordon Green’s All the Real Girls or Atom Egoyan’s Calendar.

The best part of the whole experience might be the collaboration. Who better to make a movie with than two of your best friends? Combine that with a really great crew and you have the most fun the three of us have had, pretty much ever. Michael Tully is a jack-of-all-trades, Asif Siddiky is a genius and the whole cast is incomparable. We worked with some of the most dedicated and inexhaustible people around and the fact that nobody ended up screaming or in prison is a miracle, although we managed to get some stitches along the way. Literally.

Do you have a day job/a non-filmmaking occupation that raises money for your filmmaking efforts? Tell us about it.

AC: I work in publishing as a literary agent’s assistant.
ML: I’m a film programmer and a journalist.
PC: I’m in post production at New Line Cinema.

Our three glamorous occupations, along with the generosity and support of our friends and family, helped finance the film.

Have you been to SXSW before? If so, tell us about your funniest story from the experience. If not, what are you looking forward to re: the festival and/or the city of Austin?

Alex & Paul: We haven’t been before, but we’re definitely looking forward to seeing Reformat the Planet on the big screen and having Natural Causes play in the world famous Alamo Drafthouse.

Mike: The first time I ever went to SXSW was two years ago. I was greeted by the festival with open arms and a rowdy midnight screening (after a 11:40 PM arrival – I brought my bags to the Alamo Drafthouse) of District B13. I sat in the back row with half of the Magnolia office as they, I and the rest of the audience loudly ogled their fantastic purchase. The festival really does make even doing your job fun.

Let’s get hypothetical: You’re on death row. The night of your execution, you’re allowed to watch any two films of your choice. What would you pick for your last-night-on-Earth double feature?
AC: Playtime and The Dinner Game.
ML: Barton Fink and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. They’re both about systematically losing everything but your life itself.
PC: The Passion of Joan of Arc and Amelie. They’re enough to make you believe.