"PHC" to open SXSW Film Festival

Director Robert Altman's adaptation of Garrison Keillor's radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, will open the 2006 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. The movie, featuring Keillor, Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, and Lily Tomlin, will premiere on March 10, and open nationwide in June. Other SXSW premieres include a documentary on last year's Pixies reunion tour and a Bettie Page biopic starring Gretchen Mol as the 1950s pin-up model. The film fest will be followed by the 20th Anniversary SXSW Music Conference (March 15-19) featuring keynote speaker Neil Young and performances by Belle and Sebastian, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Echo & the Bunnymen, and a few hundred more acts.