2023 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival
| Location | Austin, Texas, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Festival date | March 10–19, 2023 |
| Website | www |
The 2023 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival took place from March 10 to 19 at several venues in Austin, Texas, as part of the larger South by Southwest annual event.[1] The film program opened with fantasy heist comedy film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and closed with biographical sports drama film Air.[2][3] The television program opened with satirical black comedy series Swarm and closed with comedy drama series Beef.[4]
Official Selection
[edit]Feature films
[edit]Headliners
[edit]| Title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|
| Air (closing film) | Ben Affleck | United States |
| Bottoms | Emma Seligman | |
| Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (opening film) | Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley | |
| Evil Dead Rise | Lee Cronin | |
| Flamin' Hot | Eva Longoria | |
| John Wick: Chapter 4 | Chad Stahelski | |
| Joy Ride | Adele Lim | |
| Problemista | Julio Torres | |
| Tetris | Jon S. Baird |
Narrative Feature Competition
[edit]| Title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|
| I Used to Be Funny | Ally Pankiw | Canada |
| Late Bloomers | Lisa Steen | United States |
| Mustache | Imran J. Khan | |
| Parachute | Brittany Snow | |
| Pure O | Dillon Tucker | |
| Raging Grace | Paris Zarcilla | United Kingdom |
| Scrambled | Leah McKendrick | United States |
| Story Ave | Aristotle Torres |
Documentary Feature Competition
[edit]| Title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|
| Angel Applicant | Ken August Meyer | United States |
| Another Body | Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn | |
| Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life | Dan Covert | |
| Join or Die | Pete and Rebecca Davis | |
| Pay or Die | Rachael Dyer and Alexander Ruderman | |
| Queendom | Agniia Galdanova | France, United States |
| Riders on the Storm | Jason Motlagh and Mark Oltmanns | Austria |
| You Were My First Boyfriend | Cecilia Aldarondo and Sarah Enid Hagey | United States |
Narrative Spotlight
[edit]| Title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|
| Americana | Tony Tost | United States |
| Appendage | Anna Zlokovic | |
| BlackBerry | Matt Johnson | Canada |
| Bleeding Love[a] | Emma Westenberg | United States |
| Cora Bora | Hannah Pearl Utt | |
| Deadland | Lance Larson | |
| Down Low | Rightor Doyle | |
| Fitting In[b] | Molly McGlynn | Canada |
| Frybread Face and Me | Billy Luther | United States |
| Hail Mary | Rosemary Rodriguez | |
| Hypnotic | Robert Rodriguez | |
| If You Were the Last | Kristian Mercado | |
| The Long Game | Julio Quintana | |
| National Anthem | Luke Gilford | |
| Northern Comfort | Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson | Germany, Iceland, United Kingdom |
| Only the Good Survive | Dutch Southern | United States |
| Peak Season | Henry Loevner and Steven Kanter | |
| Self Reliance | Jake Johnson | |
| This Closeness | Kit Zauhar | |
| Upon Entry | Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez | Spain |
| War Pony | Gina Gammell and Riley Keough | United States |
Documentary Spotlight
[edit]| Title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|
| A Disturbance in the Force | Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak | United States |
| The Arc of Oblivion | Ian Cheney | |
| Art for Everybody | Miranda Yousef | |
| Being Mary Tyler Moore | James Adolphus | |
| Black Barbie: A Documentary | Lagueria Davis | |
| Citizen Sleuth | Chris Kasick | |
| Confessions of a Good Samaritan | Penny Lane | |
| Great Photo, Lovely Life | Amanda Mustard and Rachel Beth Anderson | |
| The Herricanes | Olivia Kuan | |
| The Lady Bird Diaries | Dawn Porter | |
| Last Stop Larrimah | Thomas Tancred | |
| The New Americans: Gaming a Revolution | Ondi Timoner | |
| Periodical | Lina Lyte Plioplyte | |
| Satan Wants You | Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor | Canada |
| This World Is Not My Own | Petter Ringbom and Marquise Stillwell | United States |
| Who I Am Not | Tünde Skovrán | Romania, Canada, South Africa, Germany, United States |
| Wild Life | Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin | United States |
| You Can Call Me Bill | Alexandre O. Philippe |
Global
[edit]| Title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|
| Ek Jagah Apni | Ektara Collective | India |
| Kite Zo A: Leave the Bones | Kaveh Nabatian | Canada, Haiti |
| My Drywall Cocoon | Caroline Fioratti | Brazil |
| The Ordinaries | Sophie Linnenbaum | Germany |
| Sister & Sister | Kattia González Zúñiga | Panama |
Festival Favorites
[edit]| Title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|
| Fancy Dance | Erica Tremblay | United States |
| Food and Country | Laura Gabbert | |
| Fremont | Babak Jalali | |
| Going Varsity in Mariachi | Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn | |
| Is There Anybody Out There? | Ella Glendining | |
| It's Only Life After All | Alexandria Bombach | |
| Kokomo City | D. Smith | |
| Little Richard: I Am Everything | Lisa Cortés | |
| No Ordinary Campaign | Christopher Burke | |
| Plan C | Tracy Droz Tragos | |
| Polite Society | Nida Manzoor | United Kingdom |
| Robert Irwin: A Desert of Pure Feeling | Jennifer Lane | United States |
| The Starling Girl | Laurel Parmet | |
| Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie | Davis Guggenheim | |
| Theater Camp | Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman |
Midnighters
[edit]| Title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|
| Aberrance | Baatar Batsukh | Mongolia |
| Brooklyn 45 | Ted Geoghegan | United States |
| Furies | Veronica Ngo | Vietnam |
| It Lives Inside | Bishal Dutta | United States |
| Late Night with the Devil | Colin and Cameron Cairnes | Australia, United Arab Emirates |
| Monolith | Matt Vesely | Australia |
| Talk to Me | Danny and Michael Philippou | |
| The Wrath of Becky | Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote | United States |
24 Beats Per Second
[edit]| Title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|
| 299 Queen Street West | Sean Menard | Canada |
| Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary | Robert Schwartzman | United States |
| Joan Baez: I Am a Noise | Miri Navasky, Karen O'Connor, and Maeve O'Boyle | |
| Louder Than You Think | Jed I. Rosenberg | |
| Love to Love You, Donna Summer | Roger Ross Williams and Brooklyn Sudano | |
| Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes | Sam Pollard and Ben Shapiro | |
| Rebelión | José Luis Rugeles Gracia | Colombia |
| Revival69: The Concert That Rocked the World | Ron Chapman | United States |
Visions
[edit]| Title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|
| The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster | Bomani J. Story | United States |
| Anhell69 | Theo Montoya | |
| The Artifice Girl | Franklin Ritch | |
| Caterpillar | Liza Mandelup | |
| Chronicles of a Wandering Saint | Tomás Gómez Bustillo | Argentina, United States |
| Molli and Max in the Future | Michael Lukk Litwak | United States |
| Tobacco Barns | Rocío Mesa | Spain, United States |
| Until Branches Bend | Sophie Jarvis | Canada, Switzerland |
| With Love and a Major Organ | Kim Albright | Canada |
| The Young Wife | Tayarisha Poe | United States |
Television
[edit]TV Premiere
[edit]| Title | Showrunner(s) | Production country | Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Small Light | Joan Rater and Tony Phelan | United States | National Geographic |
| American Born Chinese | Kelvin Yu | Disney+ | |
| Beef (closing series) | Lee Sung Jin | Netflix | |
| The Big Door Prize | David West Read | Apple TV+ | |
| I'm a Virgo | Boots Riley | Amazon Prime Video | |
| Love & Death | David E. Kelley | HBO Max | |
| The Luckiest Guy in the World | Steve James | ESPN | |
| Lucky Hank | Paul Lieberstein and Aaron Zelman | AMC | |
| Mrs. Davis | Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof | Peacock | |
| Rabbit Hole | Glenn Ficarra and John Requa | Paramount+ | |
| Slip | Zoe Lister-Jones | The Roku Channel | |
| Swarm (opening series) | Donald Glover and Janine Nabers | Amazon Prime Video |
TV Spotlight
[edit]| Title | Showrunner(s) | Production country | Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blindspotting (season 2) | Rafael Casal | United States | Starz |
| Demascus | Tearrance Chisholm and Kirk Moore | AMC | |
| Shatter Belt | James Ward Byrkit | Amazon Prime Video |
Independent TV Pilot Competition
[edit]| Title | Showrunner(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|
| A Guide to Not Dying Completely Alone | Kevin Yee | United States |
| Chuchi & Adaliz | Ashley Soto Paniagua | |
| Grown | Jocko Sims | |
| Harbor Island | Calvin Lee Reeder | |
| Marvin? | Anton van der Linden and George Gottl | Netherlands |
| Metal Man | Tomas Pais | United States |
| Notarize Me | Erika Rankin |
Awards
[edit]The following awards were presented at the festival:[7]
Grand Jury
[edit]- Narrative Feature Competition Jury Award: Raging Grace by Paris Zarcilla
- Documentary Feature Competition Jury Award: Angel Applicant by Ken August Meyer
- Narrative Short Competition Jury Award: It Turns Blue by Shadi Karamroudi
- Narrative Short Competition Special Jury Award: Flores del Otro Patio by Jorge Cadena
- Documentary Short Competition Jury Award: Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó by Sean Wang
- Documentary Short Competition Special Jury Award: Suddenly TV by Roopa Gogineni
- Midnight Shorts Competition Jury Award: The Flute by Nick Roney
- Midnight Shorts Competition Special Jury Award: Pennies from Heaven by Sandy Honig
- Animated Short Competition Jury Award: The Debutante by Elizabeth Hobbs
- Music Video Competition Jury Award: Amanda Sum – "Different Than Before" by Mayumi Yoshida
- Texas Short Competition Jury Award: Breaking Silence by Amy Bench and Annie Silverstein
- Texas Short Competition Special Jury Award: When You Left Me On That Boulevard by Kayla Abuda Galang
- TV Pilot Competition Jury Award: Grown by Jocko Sims
- TV Pilot Competition Special Jury Award for Outstanding Performance: Josh Fadem in Harbor Island
- Janet Pierson Champion Award: Lizzie Shapiro
- Louis Black "Lone Star" Award: The Lady Bird Diaries by Dawn Porter
- Louis Black "Lone Star" Award Special Jury Award: The Herricanes by Olivia Kuan
- Thunderbird Rising Award: Paris Zarcilla for Raging Grace
- Thunderbird Rising Special Award: Brittany Snow for Parachute
- The Hope Award: Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie by Davis Guggenheim
- The Hope Special Award: Confessions of a Good Samaritan by Penny Lane
- Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award: Chronicles of a Wandering Saint by Tomás Gómez Bustillo
- ZEISS Cinematography Award: Carolina Costa for Fancy Dance
Audience Awards
[edit]- Headliner Audience Award: Flamin' Hot by Eva Longoria
- Narrative Feature Competition Audience Award: Mustache by Imran J. Khan
- Documentary Feature Competition Audience Award: Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life by Dan Covert
- Narrative Spotlight Audience Award: The Long Game by Julio Quintana
- Documentary Spotlight Audience Award: The Herricanes by Olivia Kuan
- Visions Audience Award: Tobacco Barns by Rocío Mesa
- Midnighter Audience Award: It Lives Inside by Bishal Dutta
- Global Audience Award: Ek Jagah Apni by Ektara Collective
- 24 Beats Per Second Audience Award: Louder Than You Think by Jed I. Rosenberg
- Festival Favorite Audience Award: No Ordinary Campaign by Christopher Burke
- Narrative Short Competition Audience Award: Closing Dynasty by Lloyd Lee Choi
- Documentary Short Competition Audience Award: Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó by Sean Wang
- Animated Short Competition Audience Award: Sandwich Cat by David Fidalgo
- Midnight Short Competition Audience Award: Dead Enders by Fidel Ruiz-Healy and Tyler Walker
- Texas Short Competition Audience Award: Breaking Silence by Amy Bench and Annie Silverstein
- Music Video Competition Audience Award: Drew Ashby – "HER" by Chris Scholar and Bevin Brown
- TV Premiere Audience Award: The Luckiest Guy in the World by Steve James
- TV Spotlight Audience Award: Blindspotting (season 2) by Rafael Casal
- Independent TV Pilot Competition Audience Award: Notarize Me by Erika Rankin
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Matesco, Laura (March 8, 2023). "SXSW 2023: Everything you need to know about the festival event taking place in March in Austin, Texas". EnVols. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
- ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (January 11, 2023). "SXSW Lineup Includes 'Dungeons & Dragons' On Opening Night, 'Evil Dead Rise', Eva Longoria's 'Flamin' Hot', A24's 'Problemista' & More". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
- ^ Grobar, Matt (March 13, 2023). "Ben Affleck's Nike Pic 'Air' Set To Close SXSW". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
- ^ Bergeson, Samantha (February 1, 2023). "SXSW 2023 Announces Opening and Closing Night TV Selections with Donald Glover's 'Swarm' and Lee Sung Jin's 'Beef'". IndieWire. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
- ^ Bilington, Alex (January 16, 2024). "'Bleeding Love' Trailer w/ Ewan McGregor & Daughter Clara McGregor". First Showing. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
- ^ Bradley, Laura (March 18, 2023). "Maddie Ziegler's SXSW 'Traumedy' 'Bloody Hell' Is Brilliant—With a Period Twist". The Daily Beast. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
- ^ Bergeson, Samantha (March 14, 2023). "'Raging Grace' Tops SXSW Winners List, with IndieWire's Janet Pierson Award to 'Parachute' Producer". IndieWire. Retrieved April 22, 2025.