Celebrating 25 Years of SXSW Film Festival

In Dante Harper’s Delicate Art of the Rifle, Bruce Sterling plays a “Non-Linear Weatherman” who tries to impart the complex, unpredictable and chaotic nature of weather, while John Sayles treats SXSW Film to a sneak preview/world premiere of Lone Star.

Total film submissions grow from 638 to 1015. Notable Talent: Sandra Bullock, Mike Judge, Matthew McConaughey, Michael Moore

The day after its L.A. premiere, Ron Howard, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson attend SXSW with EDtv.

Highly anticipated U.S. premiere of Ron Mann's Grass.

Controversial documentary on Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, sells out the Paramount Theatre on Closing Night.

The audience could barely hear the dialog through the laughter at the work-in-progress screening of Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up.

Doug Benson premieres his pot doc Super High Me. Meanwhile, Barry Jenkins’ first feature Medicine For Melancholy has a great world premiere.

Joe Swanberg’s Alexander the Last has first ever day-and-date release at festival & on VOD. Lena Dunham debuts with Creative Nonfiction and meets future collaborators for 2010’s Award Winning Tiny Furniture.

The Paramount Theatre goes wild for the world premiere of HBO’s series’ Girls, followed by the world premiere of 21 Jump Street and a raucous Q&A with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum.

Episodics launch to recognize innovative films/stories told episodically. Plus, SXSports® goes live to address convergence between the entertainment, creative and sporting worlds.

Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck and Trey Edward Shults’ KRISHA represent two fresh talents on the ascent, along with the world premiere of Hello My Name is Doris, the North American Premiere of Ex Machina, and the 30th Anniversary Screening of The Breakfast Club. Episodics continue to reign supreme with the world premiere of Mr. Robot and Unreal. SXSW also presented a last minute surprise World Premiere of Furious 7.

SXSW cements its reputation as a launching pad for comedic content in film, TV, and beyond, while an innovative documentary on the 1966 UT Tower shootings (TOWER) captivates audiences to win both the Jury and Audience Awards. Work-in-progress screenings of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele’s Keanu and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s R rated animated Sausage Party.

SXSW 2017 launched a number of this year’s soon-to-be-most loved films. Audiences got a first look at Edgar Wright’s electric, Baby Driver, James Franco’s comedy masterclass, The Disaster Artist, and the Charlize Theron stunner, Atomic Blonde. SXSW Feature Film Jury Award Winners, Most Beautiful Island and The Work continue to wow audiences around the world and can both be found in theaters this Fall. Also launched this year was the Festival’s Virtual Cinema, which presented 38 VR/AR projects to more than 10,000 participants.

For the first time the SXSW Conference was a unified event with 24 tracks, open to all badgeholders in primary or secondary lines. The Film Tracks included Entertainment Influencers, Film & TV Industry and Making Film & Episodics, plus Convergence Tracks including Experiential Storytelling, VR/AR, News & Journalism, Social Impact, and more.