25 recommended titles to check out at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV festival
If you’ve been paying attention to the movie business over the last year or so, you’ve probably noticed: movies are back!
And the South by Southwest Film & TV Conference offers stunning proof of the health of the creative industries that were rocked first by Covid and then by writers and actors strikes.
The festival, which celebrates its 37th anniversary this year, will centerpiece big budget films starring A-list Hollywood talent. It will also introduce audiences to emerging artists.
This year’s festival features an eclectic array of genre films, with action, horror and comedy fans all served in equal measure, while also capturing the mood of the nation with stirring documentaries and personal narratives.
More: Who's coming? What's free? We have all the answers to your SXSW questions.
And who better than the programmers of the festival to give you a little cheat sheet on what films to check out during the festival that runs March 8-16. We sat down with them (virtually) to run down some of their picks for must-see films and TV shows. Of course, they programmed the festival, so they recommend all of the titles, but we tried to pin them down with some handy categories we created for your schedule making purposes.
As a reminder: Film festival wristbands are available online for $120 (walk-up rate $150). Wristbands can currently only be purchased via the SXSW website using a credit card with with an Austin-area billing address. During the festival, locals and visitors will have the opportunity to purchase wristbands at the SXSW merch truck which will be cruising downtown. There's a rough schedule of where the truck will be on the SXSW website.
Individual tickets sales are also available, with larger venues and those further afield usually offering the non-badge-holding public's best opportunity to catch a screening.
Star power
"Civil War"
Sometime Austinites Jesse Plemons and wife Kirsten Dunst star in a film about a bloody division in a (theoretical?) future America that is sure to give some viewers pre-election PTSD. 6 p.m. March 14 at Paramount Theatre.
“The Fall Guy”
Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt will be coming in hot from the Oscars (pun intended), so the stars will probably be excited to have some fun away from the Hollywood horse race. The duo have charm to spare, and SXSW Film & TV vice president Claudette Godfrey says the remake of the iconic 80’s TV show is “one of my favorite films of the year, but also just the most fun ride.” 6:15 p.m. March 12 at Paramount Theatre.
"The Idea of You"
Previous SXSW-award-winning filmmaker Michael Showalter's story of unexpected love stars Anne Hathaway as a 40-year-old single mother who falls in love with the star of a boy band. 7 p.m. March 16 at Paramount Theatre.
"Immaculate"
Rising star and bona fide bombshell Sydney Sweeney plays a nun who, after being impregnated, faces holy hell in “Immaculate,” directed by Michael Mohan, who helmed the 2021 Sweeney-led thriller “Voyeurs.” 10 p.m. March 12 at Paramount Theatre
“Road House”
Godfrey says this reframing of the Patrick Sawyze 80’s classic is “more of a reinvention” than a direct remake. And seems those muscles of star Jake Gyllenhaal came in handy. “The fights in it are so real. It’s pretty rowdy,” Godfrey said. 6 p.m. March 8 at Paramount Theatre.
Big feature directorial debuts
“Babes”
Godfrey says they’ve been eagerly waiting a couple of years for this feature directorial debut from actress Pamela Adlon, which she calls "a best friend comedy couched in parenthood.” 6:30 p.m. March 9 at Paramount Theatre.
“Monkey Man”
The reaction of film Twitter when the action-packed revenge film from director-star Dev Patel hit the Internet earlier this year: “Movies are back!”
“The thing that sort of struck me this year is filmmakers of all levels, whether it’s at the studio level or the tiny-budget ones seemed to shake off the Covid-level productions,” SXSW Film & TV programmer Peter Hall told the American-Statesman. “We were in a zone where things had shrunk down a bit and it was ‘three friends in a house in the woods kind of thing’ or everything was set in one apartment. This year is the year where the movies are back in a way that the productions were no longer having to lean on that and could go back to to a sense of normalcy and scale that I think we had been lacking a little bit.”
“Monkey Man” is Exhibit A. 9:30 p.m. March 11 at Paramount Theatre.
“Y2K”
Sweet and absurd “Saturday Night Live” alumnus Kyle Mooney jumps behind the camera for a comedic sci-fi take on Y2K through a teenager’s eyes. “It is definitely, I think, going to surprise a lot of people,” Godfrey said. 10 p.m. March 9 at Paramount Theatre.
Austin connections
“An Army of Women”
Norwegian filmmaker Julie Lunde Lillesæter tells the story of 15 women in Austin who bonded together to fight a criminal justice system they feel does not support women, specifically rape victims. 2 p.m. March 8 at Zach Theatre; 2:45 p.m. March 12 at Rollins Theatre at Long Center; 6 p.m. March 15 at AFS Cinema.
“Clemente”
LeBron James and Richard Linklater served as executive producers of this documentary about legendary Puerto Rican trailblazer Roberto Clemente whose life was cut short by a plane crash in 1972.
“I don’t even care about baseball but that one made me cry,” Godfrey said.
3:30 p.m. March 11 at Alamo South Lamar; 11 a.m. March 14 at Stateside Theatre.
“Faders Up: The John Aielli Experience”
Austin filmmakers David Hartstein and Sam Wainwright Douglas deliver a colorful portrait of the beloved late Austin public radio icon. 2:30 p.m. March 10 at Paramount Theatre; 11 and 11:30 a.m. March 13 at Alamo South Lamar.
“The In Between”
University of Texas alumnus Robie Flores tells a coming-of-age tale set in her native Eagle Pass. 6:45 p.m. March 9 at Alamo South Lamar; 9 and 9:30 p.m. March 11 at Alamo South Lamar; noon March 15 at Alamo South Lamar.
“Sasquatch Sunset”
Brothers David and Nathan Zellner return to their absurdist story of the mythical sasquatch, this time starring Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg. The Octopus Project provides the score. 11:45 a.m. March 11 at Paramount Theatre; 5 p.m. March 12 at AFS Cinema.
Documentaries
“Dickweed”
A heist gone wrong leads to one man losing his penis in this offering from SXSW alumnus Jonathan Ignatius Green.
“The craziest true crime story of things that just escalate and escalate that kind of feels really Southby in terms of how funny it ends up being,” Godfrey said. “It’s a funny story, but with a too-weird-to-be-true vibe.”
2:30 p.m. March 9 at Alamo South Lamar; 6:45 and 7:15 p.m. March 12 at Violet Crown Cinema; 5:45 and 6:15 p.m. March 14 at Violet Crown Cinema.
“Preconceived”
The film documents misleading pregnancy crisis centers and the damage they cause as part of the anti-abortion crusade. 11:30 a.m. March 9 at Zach Theatre; 11:30 a.m. March 10 at Violet Crown Cinema; noon March 10 at Violet Crown Cinema; 2:45 p.m. March 16 at Alamo South Lamar.
“Secret Mall Apartment”
It’s all right there in the name: A group of artists turn a 750-square foot crawl space in a shopping mall into a communal living space and document the whole thing.
“This one, I think, is very Austin,” Godfrey said.
9:45 and 10:15 p.m. March 8 at Alamo South Lamar; 10:45 p.m. March 10 at Alamo South Lamar; 11 a.m. March 16 at Alamo South Lamar.
“Stormy”
Former adult film actor Stormy Daniels attempts to put her life back together after living in the white hot center of Trump scandal for several years. 5:15 p.m. March 8 at Stateside Theatre; 11:45 a.m. March 13 at Alamo South Lamar.
“Whatever it Takes”
“On some broad level it’s about tech or tech intrusion, but it takes it to such a macabre direction,” SXSW Film & TV consulting programmer Jim Kolmar said. “I don’t want to say too much about what happens in it, but it’s basically two regular, middle-aged, Etsy-type, craft-loving, lovely people against a massive tech giant that seeps into their daily lives in the most astonishing way.”
6:30 and 7 p.m. March 9 at Alamo South Lamar; 2:15 and 2:45 p.m. March 11 at Alamo South Lamar; 2:45 p.m. March 15 at Alamo South Lamar.
TV
“Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show”
The SXSW veteran debuts his new small-screen show that explores the comedic performer’s “tumultuous quest for love, sex, and truth.” 9:15 p.m. March 10 at Zach Theater.
“Ren Faire”
Located just north of Houston, the Texas Renaissance Faire is the nation’s largest. And when its founder, King George Coulam, decides to retire, a battle for control reaches comedically dramatic heights.
“This guy is very eccentric. It’s such an Austin vibe,” Godfrey said of the show from HBO.
6:30 p.m. March 9 at Zach Theater.
Triumphantly returning alumnus
"It's What's Inside"
Director Greg Jardin, who won a SXSW music video competition a decade ago, returns with this high-concept edgy thriller that was the biggest seller out of the Sundance Film Festival 5 p.m. March 15 at Paramount Theatre.
Emerging filmmaker
“Bob Trevino Likes It”
This feature debut from non-binary filmmaker Tracie Laymon stars Barbie Ferreira and John Leguizamo in a story based on Laymon’s real-life online search for her father and the unexpected friendship that was born from it. 3 p.m. March 9 at Zach Theatre; 10:45 and 11:15 a.m. March 12 at Alamo South Lamar; 2:15 p.m. March 16 at Alamo South Lamar.
The world is one fire (and these films prove it or serve as antidote to the feeling)
“Grand Theft Hamlet”
“It’s about some people having sort of an existential crisis but in the most entertaining way possible because they are trying to put on a performance of ‘Hamlet’ inside the ultraviolent world ‘Grand Theft Auto,” Hall said. “It’s great to see the contrast of how their absurd world is versus what their altruistic goal is.”
“It’s better than even what it sounds like,” Claudette adds.
11:45 a.m. March 10 at Alamo South Lamar; 11:30 a.m. March 12 at Rollins Theatre at the Long Center; 10 and 10:30 p.m. March 13 at Alamo South Lamar.
“How to Build a Truth Engine”
“That one’s kind of both (proof the world’s on fire and the antidote to the idea),” Godfrey said of this film about disinformation and its spread. “It’s, like, this is terrible, but, also, how are we going to figure this out in the future and be able to know. So it kind of has some hopeful notes to it.”
10:45 a.m. March 9 at Alamo South Lamar; 11:15 and 11:45 a.m. March 11 at Violet Crown Cinema; 3:30 p.m. March 16 at AFS Cinema.
“Plastic People”
“It gets really into the nitty gritty of how every human in the world’s body is basically made up of microplastics,” Kolmar said.
Sounds light.
3:45 and 4:15 p.m. March 9 at Alamo South Lamar; 8:45 and 9:15 p.m. March 12 at Alamo South Lamar; 11:15 a.m. March 14 at Alamo South Lamar.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Here's what to see from the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival lineup
