Hayes Carll has key moments in 'Country Strong'

Texas songwriter called upon for key moments in 'Country Strong'

Music supervisor Randall Poster picked David Bowie songs for Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic" and combed through Bob Dylan's catalog for "I'm Not Here." When it came to selecting the tunes for Nashville melodrama "Country Strong," Poster turned to a gifted Austin, Texas, singer-songwriter named Hayes Carll to provide some of the film's most compelling musical moments.

"I basically acted the part of a bank robber and got some of Hayes' best songs while he was working on his next album," says Poster, who listened to more than 1,000 songs during the weeding-out process.

Hayes' rough-hewn tunes fit the bill for Garrett Hedlund's character. "He's this cowboy poet grounded in the legacy of Hank Williams, Kris Kristofferson and Townes Van Zandt," says Poster. "We needed to define each primary character in the movie with a distinctive sound."

Though Poster has supervised music for nearly 60 movies since 1995, he never tapped into Nashville's songwriting community until director Shana Feste recruited him for "Country Strong." Poster notes, "I love country music, but oftentimes people have a certain allergy to the twang, which is why I didn't get the opportunity to dig into the world of country music before now."

Poster, who fell in love with country music through the songs of Neil Young, prepared for "Country Strong" by making seven trips to Nashville. Hobnobbing with the town's top producers and songwriters only deepened Poster's regard for the genre. "Country music mines adult emotions," he says. "Some of these songs leave you a bit teary and you're like, 'It's kind of great to cry every day.' "

To balance the tear-jerkers, "Country Strong" also includes examples of Nashville's fondness for catchy song titles. A self-described "obsessive" record collector since the age of 11, Poster says, "One of my favorite country songs in the movie is called 'She's Acting Single, I'm Drinking Doubles.' That kind of says it all."

Pairing of Hitchcock, Claude Chabrol in S.F.

The Pacific Film Archive this month pairs French auteur Claude Chabrol with mystery master Alfred Hitchcock. Chabrol started his career writing about movies rather than making them. His masterpiece came in 1957 when he penned a study of Hitchcock's career. "Suspicion: The Films of Claude Chabrol and Alfred Hitchcock" begins Thursday with a screening of "Suspicion" followed Friday by Chabrol movies "Le Beau Serge" and "Les Bonnes Femmes." Other screenings include "A Double Tour" (next Sunday), by Chabrol, and Hitchcock's 1929 "Blackmail." (Jan. 21).

Activists help on film about Palestinian village

Julia Bacha decided in 2007 to make a documentary about the construction of a separation barrier that would have split a Palestinian village in two. There was just one problem: When protesters from the town of Budrus confronted Israeli military back in 2004, the demonstrations had received little in the way of TV coverage. Official footage was scarce.

The Brazilian historian-turned-filmmaker went into full-bore "investigation" mode, working from a handful of videotapes. "I'd freeze frame on images of everybody who had a camera. Then I e-mail blasted images of those faces to people in the activist community to find out if anybody knew them." The networking paid off. Bacha tracked down about a dozen activists who contributed their boots-on-the-ground video of confrontations between Israeli military forces and Palestinian protesters.

"Budrus," winner of the 2010 San Francisco International Film Festival Audience Award, was an important project for Bacha, she says. By revisiting the nonviolent success story featuring 15-year old Iltezam Morrar and her father, Ayed, Bacha wanted to bring attention to the region's grassroots peace process. {sbox}

E-mail Chronicle correspondent Hugh Hart at pinkletters@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page Q - 23 of the San Francisco Chronicle