SXSW, the fan-favorite Austin-based competition, introduced their lineup for Movie and TV part, together with some top-notch expertise, documentaries, shorts, and extra. Whereas the occasion has been round since 1987, the movie competition side shall be occurring its thirty second 12 months and run from March seventh to March Fifteenth in 2025.
SXSW continues to be an incredible platform for folks of all backgrounds to showcase their work to giant audiences. The quantity of visibility that comes from collaborating within the competition has the potential to be life-changing for lots of people within the business. We check out the Black-led tasks which can be must-sees on this 12 months’s ticket.
Meeting
Documentary Characteristic
Administrators/Producers/Screenwriters: Rashaad Newsome and Johnny Symons
Artwork meets AI when Rashaad Newsome when transforms an area that was as soon as a navy facility right into a Black queer utopia. He makes use of eye catching visuals together with dancers, musicians, and poets to enhance his storytelling. He incorporates performances to that give a highlight to Black trans ladies and the AIDS disaster amougst different artistic artwork varieties. Meeting highlights how artwork brings about solidarity, liberation, and energy inside many communities.
The Dutchman
Narrative Highlight
Director: Andre Gaines
Solid: André Holland, Kate Mara, Zazie Beetz, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Aldis Hodge, Lauren E. Banks
A Black businessman attends remedy along with his spouse in hopes of saving their marriage however issues take a flip when the therapist begins to look to him exterior of their scheduled classes. Whereas on a practice, Clay encounters a seductive white lady that begins to tamper along with his life. In an effort to determine what’s going on, Clay searches for the explanation for them crossing paths, all whereas attempting to outlive and get again to his spouse.
Seen and Heard
Documentary Characteristic
Administrators: Giselle Bailey and Phil Bertelsen
That includes Tracee Ellis Ross, Swizz Beatz, Twine Jefferson, Lena Waithe, Oprah Winfrey, Shonda Rhimes, Tyler Perry, and Ava Duvernay
Issa Rae is on a roll with no indicators of slowing down as she is an government producer on Seen and Heard, a two-part documentary that goals to seize Black leisure creatives from the previous to in the present day. After producing One among Them Days which has been very effectively obtained, Rae hyperlinks again up with HBO to convey us an inside look via the angle of writers, producers, creators, and actors connected to a few of the most profitable Black TV sequence. It’ll have its world premiere within the Documentary Highlight class by way of her Issa Rae Productions workforce. It can discover the evolution of Black storytelling via the lens of those that watched it unfold in actual time and takes a take a look at what these people are to date.
Cotton Sweet Bubble Gum
Narrative Highlight
Director/Screenwriter: J. Pinder, Producer: Cole Dabney
Solid: Nick Darnell, Morgan Jay, R. Marcus Taylor, JadaPaige, Jack Stone, Ben Scattone, Mildred Marie Langford, Rodney J. Hobbs, Jecobi Swain, Sophia Renee Sherman
Carter, a 21-year-old mama’s boy nonetheless dwelling at dwelling, should land a paid promotion at his internship by the tip of the day or discover a new place to dwell. To get the job, his boss provides him a seemingly unattainable checklist of duties to finish: get his Jeep detailed, babysit his teenage son, arrange his celebration,, and get well a intercourse tape. Every part that may go mistaken does but when Carter can conquer this wildly chaotic day, he could be prepared for the true world in spite of everything.
New Jack Fury
Narrative Characteristic
Director/Screenwriter: Lanfia Wal, Producers: Van White, Mariah Morgenstern, Denaun Porter, Lanfia Wal, Akino Childrey
Solid: Andre Corridor, Web page Kennedy, Dean Morrow (aka Michael Trapson), Paul Wheeler, Ally Renee, Shawn Nathan, Wrekless Watson, Ace Vane, James Markham Corridor, Jr., Vincent M. Ward
Going down within the 80’s, a former cop should search the assistance of two illegal R&B eccentrics to assist save his girlfriend after she is kidnapped by a ruthless kingpin. Alongside the way in which, he units out to take down a robust crime group referred to as the Kinds Syndicate whereas arch rivals Moon and Leslie attempt to not kill one another.
The Infinite Husk
Narrative Characteristic
Director/Screenwriter: Aaron Silverstein, Producers: Aaron Silverstein, Mitchel McKenzie, Christine Sohail
Solid: Peace Ikediuba, Foreste Jean Feely, Circus-Szalewski, Michael Jon Murphy, Geena Alexandra, Gary Lee Reed, William Thomas Jones, Smaran Harihar, Jyl Haruye Kaneshiro
An alien consciousness is shipped to Earth and her solely hope of ever getting again house is to simply accept a seemingly unattainable mission: spy on one among her personal sort, uncover his analysis, and report her findings. This isn’t simple process for her as she is pressured to inhabit a human physique the place she discovers the thrill and sorrows of what it means to be human, all whereas her goal weaves his personal sport of intrigue within the title of a brand new and really harmful type of science.
Denim
Unbiased TV Pilot Program
We discover the highly effective journeys of three LGBTQIA+ creatives who’re form shifting their industries via self-expression. Kidd Kenn lays out his personal path as a queer rapper in hip hop and speaks boldly about remodeling the music scene. Mission Runway’s Bishme Cromartie opens up for the primary time about being a homosexual designer from Baltimore and navigating the style world. Every oh the trailblazers featured is pushing boundaries whereas driving the change the artistic world wants.
Evening Combat
Documentary Characteristic
Director: Khary Saeed Jones
Producers: Khary Saeed Jones, Kendra T. Subject, Tiye Amenechi
It’s been seven years since I used to be adopted by a vigilante down again roads in rural Canada. Throughout that point, I’ve sought to doc — at first, unwittingly — the emergence of the variations of myself that have been born on that day and within the weeks and months afterward. Now, as I return to the city, I start to wonder if I need solutions to my many questions or one thing else. Evening Combat explores this secret life and the unattainable process of sharing it with my younger son.
The Makings of Curtis Mayfield
Documentary Characteristic
Director: H.E.R., Producers: Peter Afterman, Mari Keiko Gonzalez, Sarah Haber
That includes Curtis Mayfield, H.E.R., Dr. Dre, Mary J Blige, John Legend, Lena Waithe, Stephen Marley, Maxwell, Tom Morello, Ernie Isley
Directed by and that includes Grammy Award-winning musical artist and actor, H.E.R., The Makings of Curtis Mayfield explores the legacy and deep musical and cultural affect of singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, and entrepreneur Curtis Mayfield. It focuses on his influential songwriting, progressive guitar enjoying, movie soundtrack work, and his potential to put in writing from completely different views.
Newbies
Narrative Quick
Administrators/Screenwriters: Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence, Megan Trufant Tillman,
Producers: Stephanie Roush, Melissa Louis-Jacques
Two damaged strangers wrestling with their queer identities meet on the subway simply after midnight. By way of a poetic journey that spans previous a number of hours via their night time, a lot is revealed about how they obtained right here and what broke them.
Vibrant movies showcasing the sounds, tradition and affect of music and musicians.
forty second Road (Dominican Republic)
Director/Producer: José María Cabral
Screenwriters: José María Cabral, Miguel Yarul
A sensory dive into the lives of dancers and artists hungry for fame, clashing with police ways and unorthodox views. forty second Road unveils a defiant counter-culture within the Dominican city scene—all unfolding on a daring, unrelenting 600-meter forty second avenue. That includes Demetal, Natasha Dancer, Maco Boba, Ricardo La Música (World Premiere)
Boxcutter (Canada)
Director: Reza Dahya, Producers: Soko Negash, Reza Dahya, Screenwriter: Chris Cromie
After his laptop computer is stolen, an aspiring rapper goes on a quest throughout the gentrifying streets of Toronto to get well his music in time for the occasion that might change his life – a gathering with a Grammy Award profitable producer.
Solid: Ashton James, Zoe Lewis, Viphusan Vani (Worldwide Premiere)
La Salsa Vive (Colombia)
Director/Screenwriter: Juan Carvajal, Producers: Diego Ramirez, Kevin Lopez, Juan Carvajal
La Salsa Vive is a vibrant cinematic exploration of Afro-Cuban music’s historical past, tracing its roots from New York’s full of life streets to Cali, Colombia, now the worldwide salsa capital. That includes Rubén Blades, Henry Fiol, Willie Rosario, Angel Lebron, Johnny Rodriguez, Luis Eduardo Mulato, Samuel Formell, Francia Elena, Yuleissy Montano, Kevin Santiago Quiñones (World Premiere)
Authorities Cheese
Showrunners/Screenwriters: Paul Hunter, Aeysha Carr, Director: Paul Hunter, Producers: Paul Hunter, Aeysha Carr, David Oyelowo, Charles D. King, Jelani Johnson, Ali Brown
Authorities Cheese is a seemingly surrealist household comedy set in 1969 San Fernando Valley that tells the story of the Chambers, a unusual household pursuing lofty and unattainable desires, superbly unfettered by the realities of the world.
Solid: David Oyelowo, Simone Missick, Jahi Di’Allo Winston, Evan Ellison, Bokeem Woodbine (World Premiere)
Exodus
Director: Nimco Sheikhaden, Producers: Nimco Sheikhaden, Sara Chishti
Exodus is an intimate portrait of two ladies who face distinctive challenges following many years of incarceration. The movie bears witness to their impassioned makes an attempt to rebuild their lives and finally restore their humanity. (World Premiere)
Murewa (United Kingdom)
Director: Ché Scott-Heron Newton
Producer: Matt Houghton
What in the event you had a second likelihood at a childhood friendship? (World Premiere)
The 2025 SXSW Movie & TV Competition will run March 7-Fifteenth in Austin, TX.