SXSW is going to look a little (maybe a lot?) different this year thanks, in part, to construction on the new convention center in Austin. The festival has been compressed to seven days with all festivals running concurrently. The film footprint is more contained, which I’m personally excited about. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the film festival programming, which seems just as promising—and quirky—as ever.
Here—in no particular order—are ten films that I’m looking forward to screening at the Festival later this week:
Power Ballad: OK, I lied. Except for this one, the rest are in no particular order. I’m a huge fan of writer/director John Carney’s films Once, Sing Street, and Flora & Son. I can’t wait to see what he has in store with this one, “starring Paul Rudd as Rick, a past-his-prime wedding singer, who meets fading boy-band star Danny (Nick Jonas) during a gig. The two bond over music and a late-night jam session. But when Danny turns one of Rick’s songs into the hit that reignites his career, Rick sets out to reclaim the recognition he believes he deserves—even if it means risking everything he cares about.“
Cornbread Mafia: I was hooked by the title. I had the opportunity to interview director Evan Mascagni and subject Joe Keith Bickett in advance of the festival. The stories are wilder than you’re imagining, and the film, in its entirety, is a work of prophecy, speaking truth to power about injustices and inequities in the criminal justice system without being heavy-handed or once losing hits hilarious appeal. This is the “unbelievable true story of the Cornbread Mafia, a group of Kentucky farmers who built the largest domestic marijuana syndicate in U.S. history. Sons of tobacco farmers, moonshiners, and bootleggers, they turned to pot to keep their families fed. What followed was straight out of Kentucky folklore: lion cubs on the farm, backroad police chases, and a code of silence that baffled prosecutors. Part true crime and part cartoon, the film blends community, the War on Drugs, and a whole lot of weed with the humor and heart of the folks who lived it.” Oh…and there’s a bear-in-a-car sequence that had me laughing harder than I’ve laughed in a long time.
Black Zombie: An interrogation of the most popular film genre (and sub-genre) in the world? Yes please! “From the flickering screens of Hollywood horror, to the haunted cane fields of colonial Haiti, Black Zombie unearths the buried origins of the zombie, reclaiming it as a symbol of survival and spiritual resistance. […] Born from enslavement, spiritual belief, and resistance, it first emerged in Haiti before becoming one of pop culture’s most profitable monsters. The film traces its evolution from Vodou, to White Zombie, Night of the Living Dead and The Serpent and the Rainbow. Part cultural reckoning, part horror remix, Black Zombie is a bold reclamation of Haitian Vodou and celebration of the only nation forged through a successful slave uprising.” I’m interviewing writer/director Maya Annik Bedward later this week, so stay tuned for more on this one.
I Love Boosters: Boots Riley? Keke Palmer? La Keith Stanfield? This is all we’ve gotten by way of synopsis (but you’ve likely seen a trailer for the film, which will release in theaters nationwide-wide on May 22nd): “A crew of professional shoplifters take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven. It’s like community service.” Sounds more like a party to me!
Amazing Live Sea Monkeys: One of my favorite things about comics as a kid and revisiting old back issues now are the ads, especially the weird mail-order stuff like x-ray glasses and, you guessed it, sea monkeys. “From her crumbling estate on the Potomac, Yolanda Signorelli von Braunhut is engaged in a David-and-Goliath battle to wrest control of her late husband Harold’s iconic toy Amazing Live Sea Monkeys! back from the corporate men who she insists stole them from her. Harold von Braunhut and Yolanda Signorelli worked together for forty years before Harold—a genius magician, scientist and inventor—passed away and left his iconic novelty toy in Yolanda’s care. Yolanda alone possesses the true Sea-Monkeys secret formula and she alone must free them, not only from their captors, but also from the stain of her husband’s dark legacy.”
Kill Me: “Jimmy wakes up in a bathtub filled with his own blood, his wrists slit and his life rapidly nearly completion. This would be a textbook failed suicide attempt, only…Jimmy didn’t do it? At least, he’s pretty sure he didn’t. Alongside Margot, the 911 operator who took his call that faithful night, Jimmy begins an amateur-hour murder investigation, desperate to prove that this is a whodunnit and not a hedunnit. The list of suspects who might be happy if Jimmy wasn’t around anymore is fairly long—angry ex-girlfriends, frustrated siblings, exasperated psychiatrists, and resentful stepfathers. But the prime suspect is Jimmy himself.” Always excited to see Charlie Day in a lead role, and he’s got a great supporting cast here with the likes of Allison Williams and Giancarlo Esposito.
The Fox: “Nick (Jai Courtney), affable heir to a wealthy rural landowner, discovers his fiancée, Kori (Emily Browning), is cheating on him and wants nothing more than to just fix the problem. One night, he captures a rogue Fox (Olivia Colman), and she offers him a trade-off: if Nick lets her live, the Fox will help him save his relationship. All he has to do is push Kori into a magic hole with the power to change her into the perfect partner. Nick follows the Fox’s advice and the Kori who re-emerges seems to be everything he ever wanted. Until her strange new quirks make him question his decision.” This is from the same company that produced Talk to Me and The Babadook, two horror films that took the world by storm. Hopefully their taste proves itself again!
See You When I See You: I love how SXSW gives viewers the opportunity to catch buzzy titles from previous festivals that attendees missed or couldn’t get to. This is one of those for me. Several friends and colleagues caught See You When I See You when it premiered at Sundance a couple of months ago and raved about it. In this Jay Duplass-directed and -produced film, “[with] the help of his family, a comedy writer battles PTSD after the tragic death of his sister.” See You… also stars David Duchovny, Kaitlyn Dever, and Cooper Raif.
And Her Body Was Never Found: “What happens when a couple makes a movie about their troubled relationship…using their real arguments as the script?” I don’t know, but I’m ready to find out! Camping alone in the wilderness with limited gear, this two-person crew shot a psychological thriller drawn from their own marital conflicts. I love how this sounds like a smart prompt for young filmmakers on a budget.
The Saviors: This still sells it for me. What a pairing with Adam Scott and Danielle Deadwyler, and an even more intriguing storyline! “Sean and Kim Harrison are a suburban couple about to divorce. By renting their guest house to a quiet Middle Eastern brother and sister, Amir and Jahan Razi, they find a perfect solution: raise money to fix and sell their house, then separate. But when bizarre occurrences begin to add up—mysterious lights, missing animals, glimpses of unexplainable tech—in the days before the President’s upcoming visit to town, their guests’ strange behavior starts to seem suspicious and potentially dangerous.” Ron Perlman, Theo Rossi, and Greg Kinnear also star.
The 2026 SXSW Film Festival takes place in Austin, TX, March 12-18.
