Interview:
Peter Hall,
senior programmer,
SXSW Film & TV Festival
This is a year of change for the SXSW Film & TV Festival. Running March 12-18, the festival is two days shorter than prior years—just seven days, reduced from nine days—and will run concurrent to the music, comedy, and innovation tracks. An abbreviated SXSW partially stems from the closure of the Austin Convention Center, with the conference’s keynotes, conversations, and panel being held at such hotels as the Austin Marriott Downtown, the Hilton Austin Downtown, and the Omni Downtown. Screenings will continue to be held at the Paramount Theatre, the State Theatre, the ZACH Theatre, the Rollins Theatre at The Long Center, the Alamo South Lamar, the Violet Crown Cinema, the Fairmont Hotel, and the AFS Cinema. New this year: SXSW will host a Film & TV Clubhouse at 800 Congress Ave., opposite the Paramount and State Theatres, for events and meetings. One casualty of a 7-day SXSW: the Closing Night Film, axed to prevent a conflict with the Film & TV Awards ceremony and wrap party on March 18. The festival also will not include any secret screenings. But a shorter SXSW does not mean less films. The number of features has jumped from 114 last year to 120 this year, with 93 world premieres, three more than last year. The festival opens March 12 with the new Boots Riley comedy I Love Boosters. Headliners comprise of Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, Over Your Dead Boy, Pretty Lethal, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, and They Will Kill You. The festival includes multiple entries with Austin ties, including John Valley’s American Dollhouse, Matty Wishnow’s The Last Critic, Austin Sayre’s The Man with the Big Hat, Macon Blair’s The Shitheads, the Charley Crocket documentary A Cowboy in London, and Eric Geadelmann’s TV music series They Called Us Outlaws – The Cosmic Cowboys, Honky Tonk Heroes and Rise of Redneck Rock. Returning Austinites include First They Came for My College documentary filmmaker Patrick Bresnan and Grind co-director Brea Grant. The Austin-raised actress Sydney Chandler of Alien: Earth fame brings her sci-fi dramedy Anima to the festival. World premieres include Basic, Chili Finger, Dreamquil, Family Movie, Forbidden Fruits, Hokum, Kill Me, Love Language, Pizza Movie, The Saviors, Wishful Thinking, and the Elle Fanning-Michelle Pfeiffer TV series Margo's Got Money Troubles. Other notable films include Buddy, Chasing Summer, Erupcja, Leviticus, Obsession, and Power Ballad. The festival also includes narrative and documentary competitive and non-competitive features, festival favorites, international selections, Midnighters, TV premieres and pilots, shorts packages, music videos, and extended, virtual, augment, and mixed reality projects. The SXSW Conference, which runs March 13-18, includes a keynote conversation with Steven Spielberg, featured sessions with Sender’s Jamie Lee Curtis and Rooster’s Steve Carell, and multiple Crunchyroll anime events. Aired: Feb. 25, 2026. Web site: https://sxsw.com/festivals/film-tv-festival/ |
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