The 24th annual SXSW Film Festival will be hitting Austin, Texas on March 10th, and today they’ve announced the majority of the 125 feature films set to screen during the 9 day event.
The full lineup will include 51 films from first-time filmmakers, 85 World Premieres, 11 North American Premieres and 5 U.S. Premieres. These films were selected from 2,432 feature-length film submissions, with a total of 7,651 films submitted this year.
“It’s exciting for us to unveil the talent reflected in this year’s line up. We intentionally curate a wide-ranging program reflecting unique and new voices that examine, explore, and celebrate the creative process, the cultural zeitgeist, and glimpses of the universal through deeply personal stories,” said Janet Pierson, Director of Film. “Whether genre, big crowd pleasers, quiet meditations, hard hitting docs, or microbudget indies, we can’t wait to share these films with our smart, passionate audiences.”
New for 2017, the Interactive, Film, and Music badges will now include expanded access to more of the SXSW Conference and Festivals experience. Attendees will still receive primary entry to programming associated with their badge type, but can now enjoy secondary access to most other SXSW events. This means the exchange between SXSW’s creative industries can now curate and discover their SXSW experience like never before. SXSW’s next registration deadline is February 10, 2017 at 11:59pm PT. Early registrants benefit from discounted rates.
Feature films in the SXSW lineup screen in 12 sections: Narrative Feature Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Headliners, Narrative Spotlight, Documentary Spotlight, Visions, Midnighters, Episodic, 24 Beats Per Second, Global, Festival Favorites, and Special Events.
Midnighters, the Short Film and VR Program will be announced on February 7. All feature categories, with the exception of Special Events, will be eligible for category specific Audience Awards.
The Narrative Feature Competition includes: A Bad Idea Gone Wrong directed by Jason Headley; A Critically Endangered Species directed by Zachary Cotler and Magdalena Zyzak; Dara Ju directed by Anthony Onah; Fits and Starts directed by Laura Terruso; La Barracuda directed by Julia Halperin and Jason Cortlund; The Light of the Moon directed by Jessica M. Thompson; Like Me directed by Rob Mockler; MFA directed by Natalia Leite; Most Beautiful Island directed by Ana Asensio; The Strange Ones directed by Lauren Wolkstein and Christopher Radcliff.
The Documentary Feature Competition includes: The Australian film Bill Frisell, A Portrait directed by Emma Franz; Dealt directed by Luke Korem; I Am Another You directed by Nanfu Wang; Let There Be Light directed by Mila Aung-Thwin; Maineland directed by Miao Wang; Mommy Dead and Dearest directed by Erin Lee Carr; Served Like A Girl directed by Lysa Heslov; The Blood is at the Doorstep directed by Erik Ljung; The Secret Life of Lance Letscher directed by Sandra Adair; The Work directed by Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous.
A selection of other highlights include: Baby Driver directed by Edgar Wright (pictured in header); Becoming Bond directed by Josh Greenbaum and starring Australia’s Josh Lawson; Free Fire directed by Ben Wheatley; Gemini directed by Aaron Katz; Hot Summer Nights directed by Elijah Bynum; Lemon directed by Janicza Bravo; May it Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio; Mr. Roosevelt directed by Noël Wells; Muppet Guys Talking directed by Frank Oz; Prevenge directed by Alice Lowe; Stranger Fruit directed by Jason Pollock; The Big Sick directed by Michael Showalter; Unrest directed by Jennifer Brea; Win it All directed by Joe Swanberg; in Episodics, I LOVE BEKKA & LUCY directed by Rachel Holder and The Son directed by Tom Harper.
Plus previously announced highlights: Song to Song directed by Terrence Malick; American Gods directed by David Slade; Residente directed by René Pérez Joglar; Small Town Crime directed by Ian and Eshom Nelms; Signature Move directed by Jennifer Reeder; and Spettacolo directed by Jeff Malmberg.
In addition to the screenings, SXSW Film brings together creatives of all stripes over nine days to experience a diverse lineup and access to thousands of Conference sessions with visionaries from all corners of the entertainment and media industries. Previously announced Keynotes and Featured Speakers include Lee Daniels, Gareth Edwards, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Jill Soloway, the Game of Thrones showrunners and more.
For more details on the festival, head to sxsw.com/film
Photo Credit: Baby (ANSEL ELGORT), Bats (JAMIE FOXX), Darling (EIZA GONZALEZ) and Buddy (JON HAMM) decide on doing the heist in TriStar Pictures’ Baby Driver. | Credit: Wilson Webb
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