It’s Day Three of SXSW, and from the launch of the first music venues that will run through the week, to a talk from a leader of innovation, and the world premiere of a Hollywood Blockbuster, it was the most jam-packed 24 hours yet at the festival, snaking through Austin, Texas with irrepressible energy.
Vevo House started its epic three-day run with a headline set from Atlanta legend Ludacris, kicking us into the thick of SXSW with an intimate outdoor house party vibe that proved to be immensely popular, attracting one of the festival’s biggest queues so far. Upcoming Brooklyn rapper Thutmose was on support duties, spinning the diverse crowd with a short but potent set highlighting a young talent we’ll no doubt be hearing a lot more of in the coming months.
Elsewhere, the first ever Australia House officially opened up on Rainey Street (where it will stay for the entire week) with food from Matt Moran and music from Thandi Pheonix (pictured in feature image), while nearby the Stephen Spielberg film Ready Player One held its surprise world premiere. Another last minute surprise of the day was a Q&A session with Elon Musk, which saw more than 2,000 people fill the ACL Moody Theatre (read more about that one here).
Web platform Tumblr held their annual party, with Kelela headlining the bash at Mohawks, and Benjamin Booker closed out the night at the Capital One House at Antone’s. We even managed to catch Grandmaster Flash DJing on Rainey Street. There really was something for everyone today, and it was barely a taste of what to come when the first official SXSW Music events kick off tomorrow night.
Intriguing thriller Profile started to cause waves and rave reactions with its story about a London journalist committing herself to investigate recruitment techniques of ISIS via a fake Facebook profile. Though the (late) night seemed to belong to Hereditary, a supernatural horror that left some audience members literally shaking in their seats by the end of it, calmed only by a surprise appearance from Elijah Wood who hosted a Q&A with the film’s writer-director Ari Aster and two of the youngest cast members, Alex Wolff (who is tremendously impressive on screen) and Milly Shapiro. Hereditary also stars Toni Collette in what just may be her finest performance to date, alongside the consistently excellent Ann Dowd.
For more from the festival, stay tuned to our @AUSXSW Twitter feed, here on the webiste or visit SXSW.com.
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