Photo courtesy Erin Fotos

Director Catherine Hardwicke conducts a Film workshop as part of SXSW 2011.

The South by Southwest Film Conference opens March 9, kicking off nine days of film screenings, panels, parties and events.

Overall submissions for the festival increased by 7 percent, even though SXSW organizers moved up submission deadlines by one month. The festival will screen 132 features, which includes 74 world premieres, 17 North American premieres and 11 US premieres. About 2,000 feature films were submitted to the 2012 festival, according to film organizers.

Attendees will have their pick of nearly 275 features films to view at 10 different venues, including the Paramount Theatre on Congress Avenue, Vimeo Theater at the Austin Convention Center and four Alamo Drafthouse locations.

Two of the Alamo theaters will serve as satellite venues, the Village and the new Slaughter Lane theater, which opens March 8, giving locals the opportunity to view screenings and avoid SXSW traffic. SXSW began offering satellite venues last year.

"For people who don't want to go downtown, you can see a lot of programming," said Claudette Godfrey, who is in charge of the SXSW shorts program.

This is also the first time SXSW will use two theaters at the Violet Crown Cinema, which opened in 2011 at 434 W. Second St. The theaters are smaller with capacity for 39 and 50 and will offer a more intimate movie-going experience for second-runs of films and extra screenings, Godfrey said.

Last year, the SXSW crew launched its venue status boards to indicate if the venue still has seats available during the screening. Godfrey said the boards were only posted at the venues last year but this year users of the SXSW Go app will be able to access that information on their smartphones.

"If you're at the Paramount and want to go to the Alamo Lamar location, you can see if [the screening] is already sold out," she said.

The SXSW Film organizers also have been encouraging locals to attend events open to the public or by purchasing an $80 film wristband that grant access to screenings or purchasing single-admission tickets for $10.

Godfrey said the best bet for locals wanting to use the wristband or purchase single-admission tickets is to try the larger theaters, like the Paramount, which holds 1,200 people.

Wristbands are still on sale by visiting Waterloo Records, 600A N. Lamar Blvd., Alamo Ritz, 320 E. Sixth St., Alamo South Lamar, 1120 S. Lamar Blvd., or Alamo Village, 2700 W. Anderson Lane. They are not available online.

Single-admission tickets will be available for purchase 15 minutes before the start of the screening at the venue. Arriving early is encouraged.

Additional information, schedules and the 2012 film lineup is available at www.sxsw.com/film.