SXSW 2012 Film Program
This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere.
Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are:
- Director & Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin
- When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted.
- Cast: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Megan Griffiths | Screenwriters: Richard B. Phillips & Megan Griffiths | Story by: Richard B. Phillips & Chong Kim
- A young Korean-American girl, abducted and forced into prostitution by domestic human traffickers, joins forces with her captors in a desperate plea to survive.
- Cast: Jamie Chung, Matt O'Leary, Beau Bridges, Jeanine Monterroza, Scott Mechlowicz
- (World Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Jonathan Lisecki
- Jenn and Matt, best friends since college who are now in their thirties, decide to have a child together, the old-fashioned way - even though Matt is gay and Jenn is straight.
- Cast: Jenn Harris, Matthew Wilkas, Mike Doyle, Anna Margaret Hollyman, Jack Ferver
- (World Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Adam Leon
- When Malcolm and Sofia’s latest graffiti masterpiece is buffed by a rival gang, these two determined Bronx teens must hustle, steal, and scheme to get spectacular revenge and become the biggest writers in the City.
- Cast: Tashiana Washington, Ty Hickson, Meeko, Zoe Lescaze, Sam Soghor
- (World Premiere)
Los Chidos (Germany / Mexico / USA)
- Director & Screenwriter: Omar Rodriguez Lopez
- The Gonzales family tries hard to hold on to their beautiful Latino traditions of misogyny and homophobia when a tall, white, industrialist stranger appears, challenging their place in the exploitative food chain.
- Cast: Kim Stodel, María De Jesús Canales Ramírez, Manuel Ramos, Cecillia Gutiérrez
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Martha Stephens | Screenwriters: Martha Stephens & Karrie Crouse
- A pink-slipped music teacher ponders his stalled relationship and place in the world during an arduous trek across Kentucky’s Sheltowee Trace Trail.
- Cast: Timothy Morton, Bryan Marshall, Karrie Crouse, Harrison Cole, Michael Abbott Jr.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Sean Baker | Screenwriters: Sean Baker & Chris Bergoch
- The film explores the unlikely friendship between 21-year-old Jane (Dree Hemingway), and 85 year-old Sadie (Besedka Johnson), two women whose worlds collide in California's San Fernando Valley.
- Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Stella Maeve, James Ransone, Karren Karagulian
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Mark Jarrett | Screenwriters: Mark Jarrett, Jordan Heimer, Mitchell Jarrett
- Two Ex-Pat Kindergarten teachers in Taiwan embark on a quixotic odyssey to bury a fellow countryman.
- Cast: Billy Harvey, Jeff Palmiotti, Leonora Lim
- (World Premiere)
This year’s 8 films were selected from 845 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere.
Films screening in Documentary Feature Competition are:
- Director: Annie Eastman
- As the last of the notorious water slums is demolished in Bahia, Brazil, will three single mothers face homelessness or rally for a better life?
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Jay Bulger
- Ginger Baker is the original rock ‘n roll madman junkie drummer superstar who everyone thought was dead but somehow survived 50+ years of drug abuse, disastrous experiments, and 4 marriages on 3 continents.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Jeffrey Kimball
- The film reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds who grace Manhattan’s celebrated patch of green, and the equally colorful, full-of-attitude New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Chris James Thompson
- A documentary about the people around Jeffrey Dahmer during the 1991 summer of his arrest for the murder of 17 people in Milwaukee.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Debbie Lum
- When an American man with "yellow fever" meets a Chinese woman half his age online, documenting their attempt to build a marriage from scratch reveals hilarious and troubling complications for the couple and the filmmaker.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Caveh Zahedi
- Commissioned by a Middle Eastern Biennial to make a film on the theme of "art as a subversive act," independent filmmaker Caveh Zahedi (I am a Sex Addict) is threatened with a fatwa.
- (World Premiere)
- Directors: Jodi Wille & Maria Demopoulos
- The Source Family was a radical experiment in '70s utopian living. Their popular restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women made them the darlings of Hollywood; but their outsider ideals led to their dramatic undoing.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Avi Zev Weider
- Upon fathering triplets, filmmaker Avi Zev Weider explores the nature of technology, seeking answers about what it means to be human.
- (World Premiere)
Big names, big talent: Headliners bring star power to SXSW, featuring red carpet premieres and gala film events with some major and rising names in cinema.
Films screening in Headliners are:
- Directors: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller | Screenplay by: Michael Bacall | Story by: Michael Bacall & Jonah Hill
- Police officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) get sent back to high school as undercover cops in the action-comedy 21 Jump Street.
- Cast:Cast: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, with Ice Cube
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Emmett Malloy
- Emmett Malloy’s latest film invites us aboard a train ride unlike any other with Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Drew Goddard | Screenwriters: Joss Whedon & Drew Goddard
- Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods. Bad things happen. If you think you know this story, think again. From fan favorites Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard comes The Cabin in the Woods, a mind-blowing horror film that turns the genre inside out.
- Cast: Kristen Connolly, Fran Kranz, Anna Hutchison, Chris Hemsworth, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, and Bradley Whitford
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Gotham Chopra
- Filmmaker Gotham Chopra spends a year on the road decoding his father and spiritual icon Deepak Chopra.
- (World Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Lena Dunham
- Created by and starring Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture), the HBO show is a comic look at the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of girls in their early 20s.
- Cast: Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver
- (World Premiere)
The Hunter (Australia)
- Director: Daniel Nettheim | Screenplay by: Alice Addison | Novel by: Julia Leigh | Original Adaptation by: Wain Fimeri
- A mercenary is dispatched from Europe to the Tasmanian wilderness by a mysterious biotech company to search for the last surviving Tasmanian tiger.
- Cast: Willem Dafoe, Frances O'Connor, Sam Neill
- (U.S. Premiere)
- Director: William Friedkin | Screenwriter: Tracy Letts
- A garish, Southwestern tale - a violent black comedy about a desperate Texas debtor (Hirsch) who plots to kill his mother with help of his family (Haden Church, Gershon). They hire a crazy Dallas cop who moonlights as a contract killer (McConaughey) to do the job, but Killer Joe asks for their teenage daughter (Temple) as a retainer. The film is based on Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts' (August: Osage County) award winning play.
- Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Gina Gershon, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church
- (U.S. Premiere)
MARLEY (UK / USA)
- Director: Kevin Macdonald
- The definitive life story of Bob Marley - musician, revolutionary, legend - from his early days to his rise to international superstardom. Made with the support of the Marley family, the film features rare footage, incredible performances and revelatory interviews with the people that knew him best. Directed by Academy-Award-Winner Kevin Macdonald.
- (North American Premiere)
High profile narrative features receiving their World, North American or U.S. Premieres at SXSW.
Films screening in Narrative Spotlight are:
- Director: Jay Chandrasekhar | Screenwriters: Peter Gaulke & Gerry Swallow
- Unable to impregnate his wife, Tommy and friends rob a sperm bank - to get Tommy's long-ago donated sperm back. The crazy plan goes hilariously awry and shows how far a couple will go to create a new life.
- Cast: Paul Schneider, Olivia Munn, Kevin Heffernan, Wood Harris, Nat Faxon
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Steve Taylor | Screenwriters: Donald Miller, Steve Taylor, Ben Pearson
- A Texas college student flees the hypocrisy of his religious upbringing for life in the Pacific Northwest at ‘the most godless campus in America.’ Based on the New York Times bestseller by Donald Miller.
- Cast: Marshall Allman, Claire Holt, Tania Raymonde, Justin Welborn, Eric Lange
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Adam Sherman | Screenwriters: Adam Sherman, Dave Reeves & Rachel Hardisty
- Just another story about love.
- Cast: Lukas Haas, Madeline Zima, Jake Busey, Tania Raymonde, Regine Nehy
- (World Premiere)
- Directors & Screenwriters: Jay Duplass & Mark Duplass
- Two brothers compete in their own private 25-event Olympics.
- Cast: Mark Kelly, Steve Zissis, Jennifer Lafleur
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Matthew Lillard | Screenwriters: Michael M.B. Galvin, Peter Speakman
- Troy, a depressed overweight teenager, gets sucked into the punk rock world by Marcus, a charming street musician. But when Troy discovers Marcus’ drug addiction, he suddenly must figure out the true boundaries of friendship.
- Cast: Jacob Wysocki, Matt O'Leary, Billy Campbell, Lilli Simmons, Dylan Arnold
- (World Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Jordan Roberts
- a flik by bruce about his little brother frank who's a crybaby fuck who shudnt do lame-ass emberrissing shit if he doznt want people 2 see it on the internet
- Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Chris O'Dowd, Lizzy Caplan, Ron Perlman, Chris Noth
- (World Premiere)
Hunky Dory (UK)
- Director: Marc Evans | Screenwriter: Laurence Coriat
- From the producer of Billy Elliot comes this funny, coming of age film featuring songs from artists such as David Bowie, Lou Reed, The Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Dusty Springfield and Electric Light Orchestra.
- Cast: Minnie Driver, Aneurin Barnard, Danielle Branch, Robert Pugh, Haydn Gwynne
- (North American Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Brian Savelson
- Taking place over a single weekend, an estranged father and son accidentally end up in the same country house with their two girlfriends.
- Cast: Zach Gilford, Jena Malone, John Slattery, Gabrielle Union
- (World Premiere)
Keyhole (Canada)
- Director: Guy Maddin | Screenwriters: Guy Maddin & George Toles
- I'm only a ghost... but a ghost isn't nothing.
- Cast: Isabella Rossellini, Jason Patric, Udo Kier, Kevin McDonald, Tattiawna Jones
- (U.S. Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter Todd Rohal
- Polar-opposite brothers Randy (Oswalt) and Kirk (Knoxville) never saw eye-to-eye, but their rivalry is taken to a new level when Randy hijacks Kirk’s son’s sleepover, taking the boys on a Scout Trip to remember.
- Cast: Patton Oswalt, Johnny Knoxville, Rob Riggle, Maura Tierney, Patrice O’Neal, Darrell Hammond
- (World Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Nate Meyer
- What happens when a 30-something woman allows life's "what ifs" to overwhelm her appreciation for what life actually is. Disregarding her current obligations, she digs into her romantic past in hopes of invigorating her present.
- Cast: Robin Tunney, Adam Scott, Jeremy Strong, William Sadler, Josh Hamilton
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Jonas Åkerlund | Screenwriter: Chris Millis
- When Franklin Franklin accidentally kills his landlord, he must hide the body; but, the wisdom of his beloved brother and the quirks of his neighbors, force him on a journey where a fortune awaits him.
- Cast: Matt Lucas, Billy Crystal, James Caan, Johnny Knoxville, Juno Temple
- (World Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Bob Byington
- : Thirty-five years in the life of Max, his best friend Sal, and a woman they both adore. A deadpan fable about time sneaking up on and swerving right around us.
- Cast: Keith Poulson, Nick Offerman, Jess Weixler, Stephanie Hunt, Kevin Corrigan
- (North American Premiere)
Shining a light on new documentary features receiving their World, North American or U.S. Premieres at SXSW.
Films screening in Documentary Spotlight are:
- Director: Kevin Mazur
- Renowned celebrity photographer, Kevin Mazur, gives us an all access pass to the life behind the velvet rope and in front of the camera. Candid, revealing and bold interviews with Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Lopez, Elton John and more, take us inside the blurred lines of privacy, pliable journalism, celebrity, fame and what it feels like to be consumed.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Jonny Mars
- Pull up a front row seat as two die-hard fans of 'America's Team' spend their last season with the Dallas Cowboys at historic Texas Stadium, and scramble to preserve their place in America’s Parking Lot.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Nelson George
- On Thursday, November 7, 1991, Earvin “Magic” Johnson made the stunning announcement that he was HIV-positive and would be retiring from basketball immediately. The Announcement gets to the core of Magic’s incredible personal journey.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Neil Berkeley
- A funny, irreverent and inspirational look into the life and times of one of America's most important artists, Wayne White.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Katie Dellamaggiore
- Amidst financial crises and unprecedented public school budget cuts, Brooklyn Castle takes an intimate look at the challenges and triumphs facing members of a junior high school’s champion chess team.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen
- Frames a high stakes showdown in the halls of the Montana State Legislature. The future of medical marijuana is at stake.
- (World Premiere)
Degenerate Art: The Art and Culture of Glass Pipes
- Director: M. Slinger
- A true document of the art and culture of glass pipe-making. It is the first film to ever bring to light this invisible sub-culture in a comprehensive and well-informed format.
- (World Premiere)
- Directors: A. Sabin, David Redmon
- Young Russian girls join a modeling agency to seek work in Japan, but get caught up in an unregulated system that reveals an unseemly side of the fashion industry.
- (U.S. Premiere)
Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters
- Director: Ben Shapiro
- Acclaimed photographer Gregory Crewdson’s 10-year quest to create a series of haunting, surreal, and stunningly elaborate portraits of small-town American life — filmed with unprecedented access as he makes perfect renderings of a disturbing, imperfect world.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Scout Shannon
- Through the eyes of Daniel Danger, Jay Ryan, and the gig poster community, Just Like Being There focuses on poster artists, the music they commemorate, MONDO film posters, fans, bloggers, galleries, collectors and everything in between.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Stephen Kessler
- A documentary filmmaker tracks down actor/singer/songwriter Paul Williams in an attempt to find out what happened to his idol.
- (US Premiere)
Scarlet Road (Australia)
- Director: Catherine Scott
- The film follows the extraordinary work of Australian sex worker, Rachel Wotton. Impassioned about freedom of sexual expression and the rights of sex workers, she specializes in a long over-looked clientele - people with disability.
- (North American Premiere)
- Director: Andrew Garrison
- A choreographer finds beauty and grace in garbage trucks, and against the odds, rallies reluctant city trash collectors to perform an extraordinary dance spectacle. On an abandoned airport runway, two dozen sanitation workers -- and their trucks -- inspire an audience of thousands.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Jacob Rosenberg
- From the producers of Step into Liquid, comes the story of visionary skateboarder Danny Way, who jumped China’s Great Wall and created a new movement in sport.
- (World Premiere)
Wikileaks: Secrets & Lies (UK)
- Director: Patrick Forbes
- The in-depth story of Wikileaks told by all the key players. Sulphurous, personal and moving, it documents history in the making at the lawless frontier of new technology and mainstream media.
- (North American Premiere)
WONDER WOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines
- Director: Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
- This documentary examines the fascinating evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman and introduces audiences to a dynamic group of real life superheroes who continue to fight the good fight both on and off the screen.
- (World Premiere)
Audacious, risk-taking artists in the new cinema landscape that demonstrate raw innovation and creativity in documentary and narrative filmmaking.
Films screening in Emerging Visions are:
Black Pond (UK)
- Directors: Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe | Screenwriter: Will Sharpe
- An ordinary family is accused of murder when a stranger dies at their dinner table. Stars BAFTA-winner Chris Langham and British Comedy Award Winner Simon Amstell.
- Cast: Chris Langham, Simon Amstell, Amanda Hadingue, Colin Hurley, Will Sharpe
- (North American Premiere)
Dollhouse (Ireland)
- Director & Screenwriter: Kirsten Sheridan
- Five street teens break into a house in a rich Dublin suburb for a night of partying. But games are twisted into something more emotional and ultimately out of control through a series of surprising revelations,
- Cast: Seana Kerslake, Johnny Ward, Kate Stanley Brennan, Shane Curry, Ciaran McCabe
- (North American Premiere)
- Director: Andrew Beck Grace
- A quest to eat locally becomes a meditation on community, the South and sustainability. Eating Alabama is a story about why food matters.
- (World Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Rebecca Thomas
- Rachel, a 15-year-old fundamentalist Mormon, believes she's had an immaculate conception by listening to rock and roll. She flees to Las Vegas to escape an arranged marriage, seeking answers to her mysterious pregnancy.
- Cast: Julia Garner, Rory Culkin, Liam Aiken, Billy Zane
- (North American Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Nir Paniry
- A scientist is trapped in the memories of a criminal and must solve a crime in order to get back home to his family.
- Cast: Sasha Roiz, Dominic Bogart, Jenny Mollen, Nick Jameson, Brad Culver
- (World Premiere)
Francine (Canada / USA)
- Director & Screenwriter: Brian M. Cassidy, Melanie Shatzky
- Academy-Award-winner, Melissa Leo, plays Francine, a woman struggling to find her place in a downtrodden lakeside town after leaving behind a life in prison.
- Cast: Melissa Leo, Keith Leonard, Victoria Charkut
- (North American Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Kevin Mcmanus, Matthew Mcmanus
- For three 14-year-old boys at St. Mark's Middle School, it's always a good day for a funeral.
- Cast: Dylan Hartigan, Alex Maizus, Jordan Puzzo, Charles Odei, Kevin Corrigan
- (World Premiere)
- Directors & Screenwriters: Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra
- Helena prepares to open her own business: a neighborhood grocery store. She hires a maid. But when her husband Octavio is suddenly fired from his job, Helena is left to support the family alone.
- Cast: Helena Albergaria, Marat Descartes, Naloana Lima, Marina Flores
- (US Premiere)
- Director: Andrew Neel | Screenwriters: Mike Roberts
- Made entirely from camera-phone footage, King Kelly is a sensational journey into hedonistic American youth culture and the YouTube generation.
- Cast: Louisa Krause, Libby Woodbridge, Roderick Hill, Will Brill, Patrick Murney
- (World Premiere)
La Camioneta - The Journey of One American School Bus
- Director: Mark Kendall
- On a 3,000-mile adventure across the borders between the Americas, La Camioneta follows the journey of one out-of-service American school bus as it is repaired, repainted and resurrected into a Guatemalan camioneta.
- (World Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Matthew A. Cherry
- An NFL journeyman struggles to deal with life's complexities after his professional career is over at age 25.
- Cast: Lance Gross, Nicole Beharie, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Harry Lennix, Keith David
- (World Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Adele Romanski
- Big trees, broken hearts. The story of a lovesick couple’s breakup & makeup while camping in the wilds of California.
- Cast: Megan Boone, David Nordstrom
- (World Premiere)
- Directors: Kahlil Hudson, Tyler Hughen
- Two formerly close friends reunite for a fly-fishing trip and struggle to understand how much they’ve each changed – and how these changes now threaten the friendship.
- (World Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Tim Sutton
- Max, a quietly troubled 15-year-old, leaves his lakeside town to live with his father on the sun-blasted fringe of suburban Arizona. What begins in a calm and lush environment ends in a drastic, frayed confusion.
- Cast: Max Schaffner, Zach Cali, Cody Hamric, Addie Barlett, Aaron Buyea
- (World Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Amy Seimetz
- Two lovers, on the back roads of Florida, do very bad things.
- Cast: Kate Lyn Sheil, Kentucker Audley, AJ Bowen, Kit Gwinn, Mark Reeb
- (World Premiere)
- Directors: Silas Howard, Ernesto Foronda | Screenwriter: Valerie Stadler
- When May returns to LA and runs smack into JP, the man she left behind, past and present collide sending them on a twenty-four hour journey in search of what they lost.
- Cast: Monique Curnen, Sung Kang, Joshua Leonard, Mousa Kraish, Michelle Krusiec
- (World Premiere)
- Directors: Bill Ross, Turner Ross
- Three young brothers' immersive journey into the sensory wonders of the New Orleans night.
- (World Premiere)
Thale (Norway)
- Director & Screenwriter: Aleksander L. Nordaas
- The film revolves around huldra, a mythical, tailed creature, found by two crime scene cleaners in a concealed cellar. Someone’s been keeping her down here for decades, for reasons soon to surface.
- Cast: Silje Reinåmo, Jon Sigve Skard, Erlend Nervold, Morten Andresen
- (North American Premiere)
- Director: Wu Tsang
- A magical-realist portrait of the Silver Platter, a historic bar in Los Angeles that provides a safe space for Latin/LGBT immigrant and queer art communities to come together in love and conflict.
- Director & Screenwriter: Ya'ke Smith
- A family is shaken to the core when they discover their son has been molested. As they struggle to deal with the betrayal, their son heads towards a total mental collapse.
- Cast: Irma P. Hall, Mikala Gibson, Jordan Cooper, Shelton Jolivette, Eugene Lee
- (World Premiere)
Showcasing the sounds, culture and influence of music and musicians, with an emphasis on documentary.
Films screening in 24 Beats per Second are:
Amor Cronico (Cuba / USA)
- Director: Jorge Perugorria
- Weaving footage of singer Cucu Diamantes’ Cuban tour into a fictional love story. The result is an energetic display of her glamorous and infectious performance style and a fascinating portrait of Cuba today.
- Cast: Cucu Diamantes, Adela Legra, Liosky Clavero, Andres Levin, Jorge Perugorria
- (World Premiere)
- Directors: Mandy Stein, Benjamen Logan
- How four young men from DC changed music forever.
- (World Premiere)
Charles Bradley: Soul of America
- Director: Poull Brien
- The incredible late-in-life rise of 62-year-old aspiring soul singer Charles Bradley, whose debut album rocketed him from a hard life in the projects to Rolling Stone magazine’s top 50 albums of 2011.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Dave Boyle | Screenwriters: Dave Boyle, Michael Lerman, Joel Clark, Goh Nakamura
- After a devastating breakup, musician Goh Nakamura hits the road with his irresponsible cousin to pursue a promising rebound with fellow musician Yea-Ming Chen. Cast: Goh Nakamura, Michael Aki, Yea-Ming Chen, Lynn Chen, Ayako Fujitani
- (World Premiere)
Grandma Lo-fi: The Basement Tapes of Sigrídur Níelsdóttir (Iceland / Denmark)
- Director: Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir
- At the tender age of 70 she started making music - and then she couldn't stop! A tribute to the Danish/Icelandic artist and late bloomer Sigrídur Níelsdóttir.
Lost and Sound (UK)
- Director: Lindsey Dryden
- Music may be an essential part of being human – but what if you lost the ability to hear it? A dancer, a pianist and a music critic attempt to re-discover music after deafness, with astonishing results.
- (World Premiere)
Rock 'N' Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen (UK)
- Director: Don Letts
- Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Yoko Ono, Alice Cooper, Billie Joe Armstrong and others discuss the incredible life and work of the world's foremost rock 'n' roll photographer, Bob Gruen.
- (North American Premiere)
Searching for Sugar Man (Sweden, UK)
- Director: Malik Bendjelloul
- The true story of the greatest ‘70s US rock icon who never was, how he was rediscovered and finally became the legend he deserved to be. A story of hope, inspiration and the power of music.
- Directors: Will Lovelace, Dylan Southern
- The final days of LCD Soundsystem.
- Director: Hans Fjellestad
- The 100-year history of the loudest street on the planet, The Sunset Strip.
- (World Premiere)
- Director: Joe Berlinger
- Paul Simon returns to South Africa to explore the incredible journey of his historic Graceland album, including the political backlash he received for allegedly breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa designed to end the Apartheid regime.
Uprising: Hip Hop & The LA Riots
- Director: Mark Ford
- 20 years after riots ripped through Los Angeles, Uprising documents how hip hop forecasted – and some say ignited – the worst civil unrest of the 20th century.
- (World Premiere)
A diverse panorama of international filmmaking talent, including premieres, interactive documentaries and shorts.
Films screening in SXGlobal are:
BIJUKA (India)
- Director: Ashtar Sayed | Screenwriter: Dr. Mahendra Purohit
- Inspired by a true event. Scarecrow tells the true story of a young woman who is attempting to escape from an abusive arranged marriage.
- Cast: Arti Rautela, Amit Purohit
- (North American Premiere)
Crulic - The Path to Beyond (Romania / Poland)
- Director: Anca Damian
- The animated documentary feature-length “Crulic – The Path to Beyond” tells the story of the life of Crulic, the 33-year-old Romanian who died in a Polish prison while on hunger strike.
Cubaton - El Medico Story (Estonia / Sweden)
- Director: Daniel Fridell
- El Medico - a Cuban house doctor who wants to become a cubaton star - is facing a serious choice between serving the state and becoming a popstar.
- (North American Premiere)
GLOBAL HOME (Germany)
- Director:Eva Stotz
- Director Eva Stotz visited interesting people all over the world whom she found through online-host-networks and emerged for a limited time in their every-day-life.
- (World Premiere)
Her Master's Voice (UK)
- Director: Nina Conti
- Acclaimed ventriloquist Nina Conti takes the bereaved puppets of her mentors and erstwhile lover to their final resting place. Watching someone talk to themselves has never been this interesting.
- (World Premiere)
ITALY LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT (Italy / Germany)
- Directors: Gustav Hofer, Luca Ragazzi
- Gustav and Luca, two Italians, have to decide: Should they stay in Italy, or leave it? .
- (North American Premiere)
Mustafa's Sweet Dreams (Greece / UK)
- Director: Angelos Abazoglou
- Mustafa, a 16-year-old pastry shop apprentice dreams of becoming a famous baklava chef in Istanbul.
- (North American Premiere)
Pompeya (Argentina)
- Director: Tamae Garateguy | Screenwriters: Tamae Garateguy, Diego A. Fleischer
- When a film director hires two Screenwriters to make a gansters movie, a fiction feast starts: femmes fatales, mobs fighting for the same neighborhood and a limitless hero who defies every movie concept.
Cast: José Luciano González, Joel Drut, Chang Sung Kim, Vladimir Yuravel, Miguel Forza de Paul - (US Premiere)
¡Vivan las Antipodas! (Germany / The Netherlands / Argentina / Chile))
- Director: Victor Kossakovsky
- Haven’t we all wondered at some point what was happening just at this moment beneath our very feet at the other side of the planet?
The Will (Denmark)
- Director: Christian Sønderby Jepsen
- Henrik dreams of a new beginning. But when Henrik's grandfather dies, leaving behind a fortune of millions, old skeletons come to light.
- (North American Premiere)
Scary, funny, sexy, controversial – provocative after-dark features for night owls and the terminally curious.
- Director: Steven C. Miller | Screenwriter: Ben Powell
- 4 hitmen + $500,000 of stolen cash + 1 family = WAR
- Cast: Fabianne Therese, Ryan Hartwig, Dana Ashbrook, Derek Mears, Jacob Reynolds, Joseph McKelheer, Boyd Kestner, Lisa Rotondi, Ray Wise
- (World Premiere)
CITADEL (Ireland, Scotland)
- Director & Screenwriter: Ciarán Foy
- An agoraphobic father teams up with a renegade priest to save his daughter from the clutches of a gang of twisted feral children.
- Cast: Anuerin Barnard, James Cosmo, Wumni Mosaku, Jake Wilson, Amy Shiels
- (World Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Austin Chick
- A psychological thriller about two girls on a killing spree. With edgy and ironic humor and a darkly meditative tone, it is also a coming-of-age story about a girl learning how the world really works.
- Cast: Danielle Panabaker, Nicole LaLiberte, Liam Aiken, Michael Stahl-David, Andrew Howard
- (World Premiere)
Intruders (Spain, UK)
- Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo | Screenwriters: Nicolás Casariego & Jaime Marques
- The haunting story of two children living in different countries, each visited nightly by a faceless being who wants to take possession of them.
- Cast: Clive Owen, Carice Van Houten, Daniel Brühl, Pilar López de Ayala
- (U.S. Premiere)
Iron Sky (Finland, Germany, Australia)
- Director: Timo Vuorensola | Screenwriters: Michael Kalesniko & Timo Vuorensola
- In 1945 the Nazis went to the moon; in 2018 they are coming back.
- Cast: Julia Dietze, Götz Otto, Christopher Kirby, Peta Sergeant, Stephanie Paul, Tilo Prückner, Michael Cullen, Udo Kier
- (North American Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Don Coscarelli
- On the street it’s called “soy sauce,” a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. Suddenly, a silent otherworldly invasion is underway. Can college dropouts John and Dave save humanity? No, they can’t.
- Cast: Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Glynn Turman
Modus Anomali (Indonesia)
- Director & Screenwriter: Joko Anwar
- A man tries to save his family who go missing during a vacation in the forest.
- Cast: Rio Dewanto, Hannah Al Rashid, Izziati Amara Isman, Aridh Tritama, Surya Saputra, Marsha Timothy, Sadha Triyudha, Jose Gamo
- (World Premiere)
[REC] ³ GENESIS (Spain)
- Director: Paco Plaza | Screenwriters: Luiso Berdejo & Paco Plaza
- Koldo and Clara’s wedding is horrifically interrupted when some of the guests start showing signs of a strange illness. Before they know what’s happening, the bride and groom find themselves in the middle of a hellish ordeal, as an uncontrollable torrent of violence is unleashed on the wedding.
- Cast: Leticia Dolera, Diego Martin
- (World Premiere)
- Be the first to see this feature film coming to theaters near you.
- Director & Screenwriter: Pascal Laugier
- When her child goes missing, a mother looks to unravel the legend of the Tall Man, an entity who allegedly abducts children.
- Cast: Jessica Biel, Jodelle Ferland, Stephen McHattie, William B.Davis
- (World Premiere)
- Directors: Ti West, Adam Wingard, Joe Swanberg, David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence | Screenwriters: Ti West, Simon Barrett, David Bruckner, Radio Silence, Glenn McQuaid
- A group of misfits are hired to burglarize a house in the countryside and acquire a rare tape. The guys are confronted with a dead body and an endless supply of cryptic footage, each video stranger than the last...
- Cast: Joe Swanberg, Calvin Reeder, Kate Lynn Shiel, Sophia Takal, Lane Hughes, Helen Rogers, Adam Wingard
Acclaimed standouts and selected previous premieres from festivals around the world.
Films screening in Festival Favorites are:
Beast (Denmark)
- Director & Screenwriter: Christoffer Boe
- Bruno loves his wife Maxine, but his love and body are slowly undergoing a transformation. Something is beginning to stir inside him and there is nothing he can do to stop it.
- Cast: Nicolas Bro, Marijana Jankovic, Nikolaj Lie Kaas
- Director: Jeff Orlowski
- Photographer James Balog was once a skeptic about climate change, but he discovers undeniable evidence. Balog reveals hauntingly beautiful, time-lapse videos of vanishing glaciers, while delivering hope to our carbon-powered planet.
- Director: Rick Alverson | Screenwriters: Robert Donne, Colm O'Leary
- Indifferent even to the prospects of inheriting his father's estate, Swanson (Tim Heidecker), a desensitized, aging Brooklyn hipster, strays into a series of reckless situations that may offer the promise of redemption or the threat of retribution.
- Cast: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, James Murphy, Kate Lyn-Sheil, Alexia Rassmusen
- Director & Screenwriter: Craig Zobel
- When a prank caller convinces a fast food restaurant manager to interrogate an innocent young employee, no one is left unscathed. Inspired by true events.
- Cast: Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy, Bill Camp, Phil Ettinger, Ashlie Atkinson, James McCaffrey
Dreams of a Life (UK / Ireland)
- Director: Carol Morley
- An imaginative quest to go beyond the newspaper reports and solve the mystery of who thirty-eight year old Joyce Vincent was and why she lay undiscovered for three years after her death in one of the busiest parts of London.
- (North American Premiere)
- Director & Screenwriter: Bobcat Goldthwait
- Loveless, jobless, possibly terminally ill, Frank has had enough of the downward spiral of America. With nothing left to lose, Frank takes his gun and offs the stupidest, cruelest, and most repellent members of society.
- Cast: Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr
- (North American Premiere)
The Imposter (UK)
- Director: Bart Layton
- In 1994 a 13-year-old disappears without trace in Texas. Three years later he resurfaces in Spain with accounts of a horrifying kidnap. His family is overjoyed – but all is not as it seems.
Indie Game: The Movie (Canada)
- Directors: Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky
- With the twenty-first century comes a new breed of artist: the indie game designer. These innovators design and program their distinctly personal games in the hope that they may find connection and success.
- Director & Screenwriter: David Zellner
- A fever-dream fable about Annie, a rebellious girl devoid of parental guidance or a moral compass. She roams the countryside looking for adventure, and finds it one day in the form of an abandoned well.
- Cast: Sydney Aguirre, Susan Tyrrell, Nathan Zellner, David Zellner, David Wingo
- Director: Jessica Yu
- A powerful argument for why the global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century.
- Director: Eduardo Sanchez | Screenwriters: Eduardo Sanchez, Jamie Nash
- Exploring the parallels between psychosis, addiction and demonic possession, Lovely Molly tells the story of what really happens before the exorcist arrives.
- Cast: Gretchen Lodge, Johnny Lewis, Alexandra Holden
- (US Premiere)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
- Director & Screenwriter: Philippe Falardeau
- The story of an Algerian immigrant substitute teacher who brings emotional stability to a Montreal middle school class shaken by the tragic death of their well-liked teacher.
- Cast: Mohamed Fellag, Sophie Nélisse, Emilien Néron, Danielle Proulx, Brigitte Poupart
The Raid: Redemption (Indonesia)
- Director & Screenwriter: Gareth Huw Evans
- Rama and his special forces team fight their way through a rundown apartment block with a mission to remove its owner, a notorious drug lord.
- Cast: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Doni Alamsyah, Yayan Ruhian, Pierre Gruno
- (US Premiere)
- Director: Colin Trevorrow | Screenwriter: Derek Connolly
- A trio of magazine employees investigate a classified ad seeking a partner for time travel.
- Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni
- Director: Mike Birbiglia | Screenwriters: Mike Birbiglia, Ira Glass, Joe Birbiglia, Seth Barrish
- An aspiring comedian reluctant to confront his fears of love, honesty, and growing up; a budding standup comedian has both a hilarious and intense struggle with sleepwalking.
- Cast: Mike Birbiglia, Lauren Ambrose, James Rebhorn, Carol Kane, Cristin Milioti
WE ARE LEGION: The Story of the Hacktivists
- Director: Brian Knappenberger
- We Are Legion takes us inside the world of Anonymous, the radical "hacktivist" collective that has redefined civil disobedience for the digital age.
Live Soundtracks, cult re-issues and much more. Our Special Events section offers unusual, unexpected and unique film event one-offs.
Films screening in Special Events are:
An Evening With Sacred Bones Records
- Director: Jacqueline Castel
- Brooklyn-based record label Sacred Bones presents an evening of original and curated programming of music videos, short films, works in progress, and a rare screening of their first film production, Twelve Dark Noons.
- (World Premiere)
Bernie (UK)
- Director: Richard Linklater | Screenwriters: Richard Linklater, Skip Hollandsworth
- Based on real-life events, this dark comedy follows Bernie Tiede, his recently deceased friend Marjorie Nugent and District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson who is determined to get to the bottom of the crime.
- Cast: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey, Brady Coleman, Richard Robichaux
- Director: Drew Denicola
- A feature-length documentary about the massive critical acclaim, dismal commercial failure, and enduring legacy of pop music’s greatest cult phenomenon, Big Star.
- (Work in Progress)
- Director: Matt Piedmont | Screenwriter: Andrew Steele
- Will Ferrell plays a Mexican rancher who must defend his father's home against the country's most infamous drug lord.
- Cast: Will Ferrell, Gael García Vernal, Diego Luna, Genesis Rodriguez, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Nick Offerman
Coffin Joe’s “This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse” with live score by Gary Lucas
- Director: Jose Mojica Marins | Screenwriters: Jose Mojica Marins, Aldenora De Sa Porto
- Gary Lucas’ live original solo guitar soundtrack accompanying the legendary 1967 Brazilian cult horror film classic directed by and starring Jose Mojica Marins a/k/a Coffin Joe.
- Cast: Jose Mojica Marins a/k/a Coffin Joe, Tina Wohlers, Nadia Freitas, Antonio Fracari, Jose Lobo
- Director & Screenwriter: Jacob Krupnick
- A feature-length dance music film that combines freestyle dance with the daily chaos of New York City, set to Girl Talk's recent mashup album, All Day.
- Cast: Anne Marsen, John Doyle, Daisuke Omiya
- Director: Amir Bar Lev
- DJ's Turn the Table on The History of Music. A catalyst of musical innovation, RE:GENERATION MUSIC PROJECT follows five electronic DJs/Producers as they collaborate with some of the of the most influential artists of all time from five different genres.
Renga (UK)
- Directors: Adam Russell, John Sear
- A ground breaking feature-length show controlled entirely by the audience using laser pointers. It is the first viable example of a standalone interactive experience capable of running in commercial movie theatres.
- (North American Premiere)
The Oyster Princess (1919) with original live score by Bee vs. Moth (Germany)
- Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Screenwriters: Hanns Kraly & Ernst Lubitsch
- The Oyster Princess is Ernst Lubitsch’s tart 1919 silent comedy that parodies the rich and the spoiled. Austin jazz/rock band Bee vs. Moth performs their original score live with the film for the first time. (World Premiere)
- (World Premiere)
Yellow Submarine (1968) Newly Restored (UK)
- Director: George Dunning
- Once upon a time in an unearthly paradise called Pepperland, the Blue Meanies threaten to destroy all that is good. Enter John, Paul, George and Ringo to save the day! Armed with their humour, songs, and yellow submarine, the Fab Four tackle the rough seas in an effort to bring down evil.
- Cast: The Beatles, Paul Angelis, John Clive