Cinema Scholars breaks down the most anticipated film and TV projects at SXSW 2025. The annual event runs from March 7-15 in Austin, Texas.
Introduction
It’s almost that time of year. As the last gasps of winter make way for the promise of spring, Austin, Texas prepares for one of the year’s biggest events. Every March, South By Southwest (SXSW) takes over the capital city with a festival like no other. What started as a grassroots showcase for indie bands in 1987 has morphed into a lollapalooza of all things entertainment over the decades. With branches including Music, Film and TV, Tech, and everything in between, the mammoth event aims to scratch nearly every niche itch.
Each year, the Film and TV arm of the fest presents a wide array of key film categories. From Narrative Headliners, Competitions, and Spotlights to Midnighters, Short Films, and XR Experiences, the programming always offers a variety of formats and genres. Staying true to its musical origins, SXSW Film and TV also features a healthy amount of music-centric movies to coincide with the music festival, with the 24 Beats Per Second category.
SXSW Film and TV 2025 kicks off on Friday, March 7, and runs through Saturday, March 15. Here’s the breakdown of a few of our most anticipated projects screening at SXSW Film and TV 2025.
Headliners
SXSW boasts an honorable lineup of past opening night films, including A Quiet Place, Ex Machina, and last year’s raucous premiere of Jake Gyllenhaal’s Road House reboot. This year’s opener will see Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively lead the cinematic charge with the thriller Another Simple Favor. The follow-up to the 2018 critical darling, A Simple Favor, the new story finds our favorite schemers on a new twisted mission that will hopefully live up to the original.
On the TV side of things, Seth Rogan and Adam Goldberg return to SXSW. This time, with the Original Apple+ TV series The Studio. The series, about the nuts and bolts of producing television, will surely benefit from the recent success of behind-the-scenes TV stories like September 5 and Saturday Night. And with comedy rock star Rogan as writer, EP, and star, The Studio is looking extremely promising.
And this is just the beginning. Other Headliners/World Premieres include Ben Affleck’s return as an ass-kicking CPA in The Accountant 2. Sci-fi thriller Ash, starring Aaron Paul and Eiza González, also makes its debut. Death of a Unicorn features an all-star cast including Jenna Ortega, Paul, Rudd, and Richard E. Grant. And Nicole Kidman will grace Austin’s historic Paramount silver screen in the Mimi Cave thriller, Holland. With most leading performers expected to be in attendance, the SXSW red carpet will be buzzing.
Narrative Feature Competition and Spotlight Films
Speaking of buzzing, the Narrative Feature Spotlight category is teeming with intriguing projects. Jess Varley’s sci-fi chiller The Astronaut stars Kate Mara as a rocket woman who may have had an unwanted stray follow her home from outer space. Clown In A Cornfield, director Eli Craig takes on a familiar and beloved horror trope which is sure to add some scares to the lineup. And Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink goes rock opera in Geremy Jasper’s much-anticipated post-apocalyptic musical O’Dessa.
On the Narrative Competition side, Fantasy Life features an ill-advised May/December love story with an all-star cast including Amanda Peet, Judd Hirsch, Alessandro Nicola, Bob Balaban, and… just go check the incredible IMDB cast list. Andre Gaines’ The Dutchman, starring André Holland, Zazie Beetz, and Kate Mara (again!), tells the story of a troubled businessman whose chance encounter with a woman on the subway sends him into a tailspin.
And in Amy Wang’s sci-fi/comedy Slanted, starring Ghostbusters Afterlife’s McKenna Grace and Shirley Chen, a Chinese-American teen gets an extreme white-girl makeover to be popular.
Feature Documentary Competition & Spotlight Films
Over in the Documentary world, the Spotlight program is incredibly well-rounded. The Age of Disclosure is an “unprecedented feature film” about government leaders’ confirmation of non-human intelligence.
In Are We Good?, director Steven Feinartz goes in-depth with comedian and podcast rockstar Marc Maron as he processes the loss of his longtime partner while still navigating the demanding world of comedy. And In Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror, the origins and subsequent cult phenomenon of the Rocky Horror Picture Show is lovingly chronicled.
The Documentary Competition section features a roster of impressive titles too. Among them, Xander Robin’s The Python Hunt tickles the stranger-than-fiction funny bone with the story of a state-sponsored snake hunt deep in the Florida Everglades.
In Remaining Native, a college-bound competitive runner wrestles with the juxtaposition of his ambition and the generational trauma surrounding his grandfather’s reeducation and eventual escape from an Indian boarding school. In Elaine Epstein’s Arrest The Midwife, Amish and Mennonite women become unlikely heroes in the fight for reproductive rights.
Midnighters and Visions
In SXSW’s genre category Midnighters (which mercifully aren’t all scheduled at midnight) there are many standout titles. In Ben Leonberg’s Good Boy, a dog-eye’s-view reveals that the monsters under our bed may not just be our imagination after all.
Rosalind Pike and Matthew Rhys race to their daughter’s aid after a distressing late-night phone call in Babek Anvari’s Hollow Road. And in Julia Max’s The Surrender, a mother and daughter perform a ritual to resurrect their beloved husband and father. What could possibly go wrong?
Speaking of resurrections, in the wildcard Visions program, Dead Lover tells the story of a bereaved grave digger who finds unlikely love when she tries to bring her late sweetheart back from the dead.
In the documentary We Are Storror, director Michael Bay (yes, THAT Michael Bay) follows seven elite parkour athletes through the trials and tribulations of the global stage. And in Ghost Boy, the incredible story of a 12-year-old’s journey from a three-year coma back to life is sure to be a stunner.
24 Beats Per Second and Festival Favorites
In the music-centric 24 Beats Per Second, both narrative and documentary features take center stage. In Reza Dahya’s Boxcutter, Ashton James stars as an aspiring rapper who goes on a wild goose chase in search of his stolen laptop in time for a life-changing show.
The Makings of Curtis Mayfield dives into the career and cultural influence of the legendary artist. And Dave Grohl, Henry Rollins, and Ice T (among many others) appear in the rock doc The Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt about the iconic Austin band.
SXSW Film and TV also showcases favorite releases from other festivals. This year in the category, Nick Cage returns to SX in The Surfer to take on a gang of territorial surfers on his hometown beach.
In the documentary, The Perfect Neighbor, director Geeta Gandbhir explores the story of a neighborly conflict that turned to murder. And in another neighbor story, Paul Rudd’s attempts to strike up a new friendship cause a calamity for all parties, including Tim Robinson and Kate Mara (again!!) in Friendship.
TV Premieres and Spotlights
In addition to the aforementioned opening night debut for The Studio, SXSW Film and TV will also host several more TV premieres throughout the fest. Among them, the much-anticipated Michael Showalter-produced series Happy Face, inspired by the daughter of the Happy Face Killer, will have its first outing at the fest.
In #1 Happy Family USA, a patriotic Muslim family navigates a post-9/11 ‘Merica with a star-studded cast that includes Mandy Moore, Ramy Youseff, Kieran Culkin, and Alia Shawkat. And the docuseries Spy High, produced by Mark Wahlberg, dives into the digital privacy debate after a boarding school student discovers his school’s online surveillance system.
In the TV Spotlight realm, Mix Tape, starring Jim Sturgess and Teresa Palmer, tells the serialized story of teenage crushes who reunite 20 years later to reconsider their enduring bond over music and life. Stars Diner finds an eclectic ragtag staff running a greasy spoon amid a volcano eruption in the screwball comedy series.
In the TV Spotlight realm, Mix Tape, starring Jim Sturgess and Teresa Palmer, tells the serialized story of teenage crushes who reunite 20 years later to reconsider their enduring bond over music and life. Stars Diner finds an eclectic ragtag staff running a greasy spoon amid a volcano eruption in the screwball comedy series.
And in Cigarettes, a college-bound woman bails on an important day to help her new cigarette-bumming pal on a money mission.
Conclusion
And this list barely scratched the surface! The vast Shorts Competition Programs include narrative, documentary, animated, Texas-made, Midnight, and even Music Videos. In addition to traditional film, in recent years SXSW has also embraced XR projects. With both Competition and Spotlight categories, the burgeoning and engaging art form is well-represented.
There is truly something for everyone at SXSW Film and TV 2025. The festival runs from March 7-15 in Austin, TX. Check for information about badges, ticketing, and the history of the festival here.
