South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals today unveiled the final additions to the 33rd edition of its Film & TV Festival lineup, taking place March 12–18, 2026.
Among the 13 new titles are the world premiere of Joy Power’s Love Language, starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Anthony Ramos, Manny Jacinto, Isabel May, Lukas Gage, Billie Lourd and Chloe Fineman, and the Texas premieres of Chasing Summer and the Girl Scouts doc Cookie Queens, both out of Sundance. SXSW will also host the international premiere of Dario Russo’s comic folktale The Fox, starring Jai Courtney, Sam Neill and Olivia Colman.
The additional projects bring the line up to 120 Features including 90 World Premieres, 2 International Premiere, 5 North American Premieres, 6 U.S. Premieres, 16 Texas Premieres + 52 Short Films and 20 Music Videos. The TV Program includes 13 TV projects, with 4 TV premieres, 3 TV Spotlight and 6 Independent TV Pilots. There are 31 projects in the XR Experience Program, including 17 in XR Experience Competition, 13 in XR Experience Spotlight and 1 XR Experience Special Event.
“With these final selections, the 2026 Film & TV lineup is one of our most exciting yet,” said Claudette Godfrey, VP of Film & TV at SXSW. “These projects capture the creative fearlessness and storytelling ambition that filmmakers bring to SXSW year after year. Each film stands on its own, but together they create a program that’s bold, surprising, and built for discovery. We’re proud to showcase this work and to share it with audiences who show up curious, engaged, and ready to champion new voices.”
NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT
Unforgettable features receiving their World, North American, or U.S. premieres.
Dead Deer High
Director: Jo Rochelle, Producer/Screenwriter: Joshua Roark
Created by teachers, Dead Deer High follows a team of high school slam poets and their English teacher as they prepare for a national poetry competition one year after a tragic shooting changed their lives forever. Cast: Zack Kozlow, Holden Goyette, Kyla Brown, Christian Cruz, Ayanna Berkshire, Joseph Bertót, Madelyn Grace, Aaron Cammack, Julia Prud’homme, Audrey Kennedy Kozlow (World Premiere)
The Fox (Australia)
Director/Screenwriter: Dario Russo, Producers: Kristina Ceyton, Samantha Jennings, Carly Maple
In this darkly comic folktale, an affable foxhunter encounters a talking Fox who offers him an opportunity to transform his fiancée into the perfect woman. Cast: Jai Courtney, Emily Browning, Damon Herriman, Claudia Doumit, Sam Neill, Miranda Otto, Olivia Colman (International Premiere)
Love Language
Director/Screenwriter: Joey Power, Producers: Bert Hamelinck, Allison Hironaka, Ari Lubet, Colin Jost, Jeff Grosvenor
An aspiring author with a side hustle writing wedding vows for other people reconnects with her long-time crush, only to learn he is the fiancé of one of her new clients. Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Anthony Ramos, Manny Jacinto, Isabel May, Lukas Gage, Billie Lourd, Chloe Fineman, Zach Zucker, Morgan Jay, Bobbi Althoff, Marchánt Davis, Dan Perrault (World Premiere)
A Safe Distance (Canada)
Director: Gloria Mercer, Producers: Nic Altobelli, Aidan West, Gloria Mercer, Screenwriter: Aidan West
After a woman is abandoned by her boyfriend in the forest, she befriends a pair of notorious fugitives on the run from the law, and becomes dangerously entangled in their relationship. Cast: Bethany Brown, Tandia Mercedes, Cody Kearsley, Chris McNally (World Premiere)
DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
Incredible features receiving their World, North American, or U.S. premieres.
Baby/Girls
Directors: Alyse Walsh, Jackie Jesko, Producers: Melissa Leardi, Alex Waterfield
Set in post-Dobbs Arkansas, baby/girls follows three teens living in a Christian maternity home as they navigate pregnancy and early motherhood. The film offers an intimate, unfiltered look at girlhood and motherhood colliding in the American South. Featuring Grace Dulaney, Ariana Green, Olivia Malott, Audra Dulaney, Brian Rivera, Paula Woods (World Premiere)
FESTIVAL FAVORITE
Acclaimed standouts from festivals around the world.
Big Girls Don’t Cry (New Zealand)
Director/Screenwriter: Paloma Schneideman, Producers: Vicky Pope, Thomas Coppell
Rural New Zealand, 2006. Over one transformative summer, 14 year-old Sid Bookman discovers desire, identity and the internet, as she imitates the people she longs to be loved by. Cast: Ani Palmer, Rain Spencer, Noah Taylor (Texas Premiere)
Chasing Summer
Director: Josephine Decker, Producers: Rob Guillermo, Ray Maiello, Nihaar Sinha, Houston King, Sam Pressman, Paula Paizes, Screenwriter: Iliza Shlesinger
After losing both her job and boyfriend, Jamie retreats to her small Texas hometown where friends and flings from a fateful high school summer turn her life upside down. Cast: Iliza Shlesinger, Garrett Wareing, Lola Tung, Tom Welling, Megan Mullally, Aimee Garcia, Cassidy Freeman, Jeff Perry (Texas Premiere)
Cookie Queens
Director: Alysa Nahmias, Producers: Gregory Kershaw, Michael Dweck, Alysa Nahmias, Jennifer Sims
It’s Girl Scout Cookie season, and four tenacious girls strive to be a top-selling “Cookie Queen,” navigating an $800 million business in which innocence and ambition collide. Featuring Nikki B., Olive G., Shannon Elizabeth S., Ara E. (Texas Premiere)
Joybubbles
Director: Rachael Morrison, Producer: Sarah Winshall
In the 1950s, a boy discovers he can control the global telephone system by whistling a magic tone. Born blind and hungry for connection, his obsession with the telephone sparks a subculture that shapes the future of hacking in the 20th century. Featuring JoyBubbles, Steve Wozniak, Toni Engressia (Texas Premiere)
VISIONS
Audacious, risk-taking artists who demonstrate innovation and creativity.
Sinner Supper Club
Directors: Daisy Rosato, Nora Kaye, Producers: Sophie Sagan-Gutherz, Jackie Monoson, Screenwriters: Nora Kaye, Daisy Rosato
An NYC friend group reunites to throw an “eviction funeral” for Genevieve; as the night progresses and a heat wave traps them together, their long-ignored problems boil over. An improvised gay mumblecore ghost story shot on an iPhone in six days. Cast: Ashil Lee, Elise Kibler, Genevieve Simon, Jayae Riley Jr., Nora Kaye, Sophie Sagan-Gutherz, Daisy Rosato (World Premiere)
24 BEATS PER SECOND
Vibrant films showcasing the sounds, culture, and influence of music and musicians.
Stages
Director: Ryan Booth, Producers: Val Hill, Morgan Stevenson Cooper, Russell Wayne Groves, JOLENE, Screenwriter: Bradley Jackson, Dan Steele
A year after the tumultuous break-up of his band, Ben Garza sets off on his first ever solo tour. Life on the road is different now, as Ben learns alongside his ride-or-die tour manager, Rita and his spotlight-stealing opening act, Jessie. Cast: David Ramirez, Leslie Grace, JOLENE, Jake McMullen, Rafael Casal, Abner Ramirez, Amanda Sudano Ramirez, Jerry Ferrara, Marc Menchaca, David Strathairn (World Premiere)
The Man with the Big Hat
Director/Screenwriter: Austin Sayre, Producers: Stephanie Moore, David Broad, Aaron Colussi, Jay Newberg, Diana Zuniga, Cherry Brown, Austin Sayre
Experience the unraveling of fame’s illusions as 1970’s Texas singer-songwriter Steven Fromholz embarks on a soul-stirring journey of self-discovery and the true meaning of success. Featuring Lyle Lovett, Ray Benson, Terry Lickona, Butch Hancock, Bobby Bridger, Mike Williams, Dan McCrimmon, Janey Lake, Darcie Jane Fromholz, Felicity Rose Fromholz (World Premiere)
TV PROGRAM
TV SPOTLIGHT
Exciting new series from around the world
Woodstockers
Showrunner: Corbin Bernsen, Director: Oliver Bernsen, Producer: Zoe Rosenberg, Screenwriters: Corbin Bernsen, Joshua Michael Stern, Henry Bernsen
When his marriage collapses and his best friend dies, an aging hippie who went to Woodstock in 1969 and never left must finally reckon with a life shaped by peace, love, and too much weed. Cast: Corbin Bernsen, Stephen Tobolowsky, Barbara Hershey, Susan Ruttan, Maggie Lawson, Willie C. Carpenter, John Glover, Lee Wilkof, Lea Delaria, Jilian Medford
(World Premiere)
Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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