This year’s South by Southwest Film Festival lineup will include some of the biggest names in Hollywood: Melissa McCarthy, Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Judd Apatow, Ryan Gosling, Paul Feig, Oscar Isaac, Russell Brand, Al Pacino, Lena Dunham, Steve Carell and Amy Schumer. But that robust lineup of stars fits with the huge festival itself: 145 total features, 60 titles from first-time filmmakers, 100 world premieres, 13 North American premieres and 11 U.S. premieres. South by Southwest saw a record number of submissions for 2015, with 7,335 in total.
“The final number is more than ever,” Head of SXSW Film Janet Pierson said in an interview with HuffPost Entertainment. “It’s kind of a mixed blessing for us. We were actually trying to cut back. We’ve been at around 133 features the last couple of years, and we were trying to cut it down to 125, but instead we went in the other direction. It’s just because we saw too much that we liked. We saw too much that we felt like we had to show and that our audience will love. We programmed films with different things in mind: films that are so entertaining right off the bat, films that are so provocative, films that are the mark of a new filmmaker, films that are just a fascinating subject. There are all these different ways that we look at the work. Even at this increased number, we turned away a fair amount of high quality stuff.”
Which is saying something based on the “stuff” actually screening at the Austin, Texas-based festival in March. In addition to previously announced films like “Ex Machina” (with the aforementioned Isaac), “Brand: The Second Coming” (a Russell Brand documentary) and “Hello, My Name Is Doris” (with Sally Field and Max Greenfield), SXSW 2015 will include premieres of high-profile studio comedies like “Get Hard” (with Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart) and “Spy” (with Melissa McCarthy). A work-in-progress cut of the Judd Apatow and Amy Schumer comedy “Trainwreck” will also screen. Other comedies include Sundance faves “The Overnight,” “Results” and “Unexpected” and SXSW debuts like “Fresno” (with Natasha Lyonne) and “Night Owls” (with Adam Pally).
“I don’t know that it feels different to us than normal,” Pierson said when asked about the major comedy lineup. “There are plenty of films that are really serious here. I wouldn’t say there has been an increase in comedies this year — that’s not true. But we certainly like them!”
Other major features screening at SXSW include Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut, “Lost River,” documentaries on Gamergate (“GTFO: Get The F% Out”), Steve Jobs (“Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine”) and Kurt Cobain (“Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck”), and television series debuts such as “Angie Tribeca” (co-written and directed by Steve Carell) and “iZombie” (from “Veronica Mars” creator Rob Thomas). SXSW Keynotes will feature presentations from Ava DuVernay, Mark Duplass and RZA.
“We intentionally think about who’s current, who has something to say about the industry or creativity that would work well for us now. We figured with someone like Ava, we so admire everything she’s doing,” Pierson said about the keynote speeches. “We knew she’d have something to say no matter how the last six months played out.”
As a complement to having a bigger lineup than ever, SXSW also expanded its narrative and documentary competition sections from eight to 10 films. Highlights there include “6 Years” (with Taissa Farmiga), “Manson Family Vacation” (with Jay Duplass) and the documentary “She’s The Best Thing In It,” about Broadway legend Mary Louise Wilson.
The 2015 South by Southwest Film Festival runs from March 13 through March 21. Check out the feature and documentary lineup below, via a press release from SXSW. (The Midnighters feature section and the Short Film program will be announced on Feb. 10; the complete conference lineup and schedule is out Feb. 17.)
The 2015 SXSW Film Festival will feature:
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Ten world premieres, ten unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,372 films submitted to SXSW 2015.
6 Years
Director/Screenwriter: Hannah Fidell
A young couple bound by a seemingly ideal love begins to unravel as unexpected opportunities spin them down a volatile and violent path and threaten the future they had always imagined. Cast: Taissa Farmiga, Ben Rosenfield, Lindsay Burdge, Joshua Leonard, Jennifer Lafleur, Peter Vack, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Molly McMichael, Jason Newman (World Premiere)
THE BOY
Director: Craig Macneill, Screenwriters: Craig Macneill, Clay McLeod Chapman
THE BOY is an intimate portrait of a 9-year-old sociopath’s growing fascination with death. Cast: David Morse, Rainn Wilson, Jared Breeze, Bill Sage, Mike Vogel, Zuleikha Robinson, Aiden Lovekamp (World Premiere)
Creative Control
Director: Benjamin Dickinson, Screenwriters: Benjamin Dickinson, Micah Bloomberg
In near future Brooklyn, an ad executive uses a new Augmented Reality technology to conduct an affair with his best friend’s girlfriend…sort of. Cast: Benjamin Dickinson, Nora Zehetner, Dan Gill, Alexia Rasmussen, Reggie Watts, Gavin McInnes, Paul Manza, Himanshu Suri (World Premiere)
Funny Bunny
Director/Screenwriter: Alison Bagnall
Funny Bunny is a serious comedy about a friendless anti-obesity crusader and a trust fund manchild who vie for the heart of a reclusive animal activist and incest survivor, releasing her demons and forming an unlikely ‘family’ in the process. Cast: Kentucker Audley, Joslyn Jensen, Olly Alexander, Anna Margaret Hollyman, Josephine Decker, Louis Cancelmi, Grace Gonglewski, Nicholas Webber, Caridad de la Luz (World Premiere)
The Grief of Others
Director/Screenwriter: Patrick Wang
Based on Leah Hager Cohen’s critically-acclaimed novel, a family struggles with a tragic loss when an unexpected visitor arrives. She stirs the pain of past betrayals but might also offer an unforeseen gift: a way out of their isolating grief. Cast: Wendy Moniz, Trevor St. John, Oona Laurence, Jeremy Shinder, Sonya Harum, Mike Faist, Rachel Dratch, Chris Conroy (World Premiere)
KRISHA
Director/Screenwriter: Trey Edward Shults
When Krisha returns for a holiday gathering, the only things standing in her way are family, dogs, and turkey. Cast: Krisha Fairchild, Robyn Fairchild, Bill Wise, Chris Doubek, Olivia Grace Applegate, Chase Joliet, Alex Dobrenko, Bryan Casserly, Augustine Frizzell, Trey Edward Shults (World Premiere)
Manson Family Vacation
Director/Screenwriter: J. Davis
The story of two brothers: one who’s devoted to his family, the other who’s obsessed with the Manson Family. Cast: Jay Duplass, Linas Phillips, Leonora Pitts, Tobin Bell, Adam Chernick, Davie-Blue (World Premiere)
Quitters
Director: Noah Pritzker, Screenwriters: Noah Pritzker, Ben Tarnoff
A teenager’s family falls apart, so he goes in search of a better one.
Cast: Benjamin Konigsberg, Mira Sorivno, Greg Germann, Kara Hayward, Kieran Culkin, Morgan Turner, Saffron Burrows, Scott Lawrence (World Premiere)
Sweaty Betty
Directors/Screenwriters: Joseph Frank, Zachary Reed
On the border of Washington DC, two stories of big dreams take place – a family is determined to turn their 1000 pound pig into the Redskins’ football team mascot, and two teenage fathers scheme a better life for themselves and their children. Cast: Rico Mitchell, Seth Dubose, Floyd Rich III, Chris Rich, Tarich Rich, Floyd Rich V, Chrissy Rich, Charlotte the Pig, Cassy the Dog (World Premiere)
Uncle John
Director: Steven Piet, Screenwriters: Erik Crary, Steven Piet
Uncle John is an intimately told story that revolves around the struggle to keep a mysterious disappearance unsolved. Cast: John Ashton, Alex Moffat, Jenna Lyng, Ronnie Gene Blevins (World Premiere)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
Selected from 1,018 submissions, ten world premieres, ten real world stories that demonstrate innovation, energy and bold voices.
Breaking a Monster
Director: Luke Meyer
Breaking a Monster chronicles the break-out year of the band Unlocking The Truth, as the 12 and 13-year-old members first encounter stardom and the music industry, transcending childhood to become the rock stars they always dreamed of being. (World Premiere)
Deep Time
Director: Noah Hutton
Ancient oceans teeming with life, Norwegian settlers, Native Americans and multinational oil corporations find intimacy in deep time. (World Premiere)
FRAME BY FRAME
Directors: Alexandria Bombach, Mo Scarpelli
After decades of war and an oppressive Taliban regime, four Afghan photojournalists face the realities of building a free press in a country left to stand on its own – reframing Afghanistan for the world and for themselves. (World Premiere)
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City of Gold
Director: Laura Gabbert
City of Gold is a documentary portrait that takes us into Jonathan Gold’s universe to tell the improbable story of a revolution inspired by the pen, but driven by the palate.
Entertainment
Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Rick Alverson, Gregg Turkington
En route to meet his estranged daughter and attempt to revive his dwindling career, a broken, aging comedian plays a string of dead-end shows in the Mojave desert. Cast: Gregg Turkington, John C. Reilly, Tye Sheridan
Finders Keepers
Directors: Bryan Carberry, Clay Tweel
Finders Keepers follows recovering addict and amputee John Wood in his stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction.
Heaven Knows What
Directors: Joshua Safdie, Benny Safdie, Screenwriters: Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie
Cast: Arielle Holmes, Caleb Landry Jones, Buddy Duress, Necro
The latest from acclaimed sibling directors Josh and Benny Safdie (Daddy Longlegs) blends fiction, formalism and raw documentary as it follows a young heroin addict who finds mad love in the streets of New York.
The Last Man on the Moon (UK)
Director: Mark Craig
One man’s part in mankind’s greatest adventure… (North American Premiere)
The Look of Silence (Denmark/Indonesia/Norway/Finland/UK)
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Director Joshua Oppenheimer’s follow-up to the earth-shattering, Academy Award® nominated The Act of Killing.
Lost River
Director/Screenwriter: Ryan Gosling
A family tries to hold on to their home in the ruins of a disappearing city. Cast: Christina Hendricks, Iain De Caestecker, Saoirse Ronan, Matt Smith, Reda Kateb, Barbara Stele, Eva Mendes, Ben Mendelsohn (US Premiere)
Ned Rifle
Director/Screenwriter: Hal Hartley
Ned Rifle is the third and final chapter of Hal Hartley’s tragicomic epic begun with Henry Fool (1998) and continued with Fay Grim (2007). In this swiftly paced and expansive conclusion, Henry and Fay’s son, Ned, sets out to find and kill his father. Cast: Liam Aiken, Martin Donovan, Aubrey Plaza, Parker Posey, Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniak, Robert John Burke, Bill Sage, Karen Sillas (US Premiere)
The Overnight
Director/Screenwriter: Patrick Brice
Two families meet at the park and set up a playdate that has unexpected outcomes for all. Cast: Adam Scott, Jason Schwartzman, Taylor Schilling, Judith Godrèche
Results
Director/Screenwriter: Andrew Bujalski
A take on self improvement culture in America – with all it’s promise and absurdity – stuffed into a peculiar romantic comedy. Cast: Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, Kevin Corrigan, Giovanni Ribisi, Anthony Michael Hall, Brooklyn Decker, Constance Zimmer
* SXsports screening
Salt of the Earth (France)
Director: Wim Wenders, Juliano Riberio Salgado, Screenwriters: Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, Wim Wenders
For the last 40 years, photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, which is a tribute to the planet’s beauty.
Unexpected
Director: Kris Swanberg, Screenwriters: Kris Swanberg, Megan Mercier
An inner-city high school teacher discovers she is pregnant at the same time as one of her most promising students and the two develop an unlikely friendship while struggling to navigate their unexpected pregnancies. Cast: Cobie Smulders, Anders Holm, Gail Bean, Elizabeth McGovern
The Visit (Denmark/Austria/Ireland/Finland/Norway)
Director/Screenwriter: Michael Madsen
This film documents an event that has never taken place – man’s first encounter with intelligent life from space.
Welcome to Leith
Directors: Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker
A white supremacist attempts to take over a small town in North Dakota.
Western
Directors: Bill Ross, Turner Ross
For generations, all that distinguished Eagle Pass, Texas, from Piedras Negras, Mexico, was the Rio Grande. But when darkness descends upon these harmonious border towns, a cowboy and lawman face a new reality that threatens their way of life.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Experiential cinema, cult re-issues & much more. Our Special Events section offers unusual, unexpected & unique one-off film events.
7 Days In Hell
Director: Jake Szymanski, Screenwriter: Murray Miller
A fictional documentary-style expose on the rivalry between two tennis stars who battled it out in a 1999 match that lasted seven days. Cast: Andy Samberg, Kit Harrington, Michael Sheen, Will Forte, Lena Dunham, Fred Armisen, Mary Steenburgen, Karen Gillan, John McEnroe, Serena Williams (World Premiere)
* SXsports screening
Doug Benson & Master Pancake interrupt Leprechaun 3 (1995)
Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith
“The directness with which this movie went to video is apparent in nearly every single element.” Tim Brayton, Antagony and Ecstasy. Cast: Warwick Davis, John Gatins, Lee Armstrong
Jonathan Demme Presents Made In Texas
Directors: Louis Black, Mark Rance
The restoration of six films made in Austin in the early 1980s including David Boone’s Invasion of the Aluminum People. The program was originally curated by Jonathan Demme and presented at the Collective for Living Cinema in NYC. (World Premiere)
The Road Warrior (Australia)
Director: George Miller, Screenwriters: Terry Hayes, George Miller
In the post-apocalypse future, where humans fight over the few remaining stores of gasoline, Mad Max offers to drive a tanker through a gauntlet of psychos to safety on the coast. Special Q&A to follow with George Miller. Cast: Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Virginia Hey, Emil Minty, Kjell Nilsson, Max Phipps, Vernon Wells, David Slingsby, Steve J. Spears
A Space Program
Director: Van Neistat, Screenwriters: Van Neistat, Tom Sachs
The artist Tom Sachs and his team of bricoleurs build a handmade space program and send two female astronauts to Mars. Cast: Sam Ratanarat, Mary Eannarino, Tom Sachs, Evan Murphy, Chris Beeston, Pat McCarthy, Nick Doyle, Kevin Hand, Jeff Lurie, Jared Vandeusen (World Premiere)
Trainwreck
Director: Judd Apatow, Screenwriters: Amy Schumer, Judd Apatow
Blockbuster filmmaker Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, This Is 40) directs Universal Pictures’ Trainwreck, starring breakout comedic actress Amy Schumer (Inside Amy Schumer). Cast: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson, Colin Quinn, Vanessa Bayer, Tilda Swinton, Lebron James, John Cena (Debut of a Work in Progress)
Vertical Cinema
Director: Sonic Acts
Vertical Cinema is a series of ten newly commissioned large-scale works by experimental filmmakers and audiovisual artists, which are presented on 35mm celluloid and projected vertically with a custom-built projector. (North American Premiere)
