The SXSW Film & TV Festival made its initial 2023 lineup program announcement today, including 10 animated shorts in competition and spotlight presentations of promising VFX showcases Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Opening Night film) and Evil Dead Rise. The film, TV and XR event runs concurrently with the SXSW Conference, Music and Comedy Festivals in Austin, Texas from March 10-18.
“We are thrilled to announce the first wave of our incredible lineup for SXSW 2023,” said Claudette Godfrey, SXSW VP Film & TV. “It’s an amazing collection of films, TV series and XR experiences that promise to inspire, entertain and challenge our audiences. We’re also proud to open with Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, a raucous and engaging fantasy adventure, and look forward to welcoming everyone to Austin in March for what promises to be an unforgettable event.”
Animated Shorts Competition
A Tiny Man (France) | Aude David, Mikaël Gaudin
With a delicately penciled animation style, A Tiny Man tells a moral tale of nefarious schemes gone awry. As a husband faces the consequences of his actions, he perhaps begins to realize that maybe size does in fact matter.
Ashkasha (Argentina, Spain) | Lara Maltz
Ashkasha is a living being guided by curiosity. This causes her to lose her head and get trapped in the depths, where she is submerged on a discovery journey. (U.S. Premiere)
Beyond The Fringe (Spain) | Han Tang, Costanza Baj
A story about a little paper figure’s journey of finding the strength to leave its home, the notebook where it was born, to explore the great world beyond. (World Premiere)
Christopher at Sea (France, U.K., U.S.) | Tom CJ Brown
Christopher sets out on a transatlantic ocean voyage, and a chance moonlit encounter sets him on a private journey of solitude and obsession in this queer romantic thriller.
The Debutante (U.K.) | Elizabeth Hobbs
A spirited young woman persuades a hyena from London Zoo to take her place at a dinner dance being held in her honor.
Ice Merchants (Portugal) | João Gonzalez
Every day, a father and his son jump with a parachute from their vertiginous cold house, attached to a cliff, to go to the village on the ground far away where they sell the ice they produce daily.
Remove Hind Legs Before Consumption (Switzerland) | Lukas Wind, Finn Meisner, Leslie Herzig
In an insect food farm, one lucky cricket survives its certain death. (International Premiere)
Sandwich Cat (Spain) | David Fidalgo
David lives alone with his kitty, Sandwich Cat. It seemed like an ordinary day, but an unexpected visit will lead him to a crucial reflection to humanity. (International Premiere)
Spring Roll Dream (U.K.) | Mai Vu
Linh is a Vietnamese single mother who’s successfully forged a life for herself and her son in America. But she is confronted with the past and culture she left behind and the question of where it belongs in her family’s new life.
Sprout (U.S.) | Zora Kovac
After an agoraphobic scientist accidentally creates a baby-like plant creature, their connection threatens to upend his reclusive way of life. (World Premiere)
In the Midnight Shorts Competition fans of outrageous genre flicks can catch the World Premiere of Pussy Love, a Filmakademie Baden Wuerttemberg Animationinstitut graduate short by German animator Linda Krauss that promises to make Fritz the Cat look like Hello Kitty. Stylish animation also pops up in the Music Video Competition with Arlo McKinley – “Stealing Dark from the Night Sky” (directed by Matt Reynolds) and Mac Miller – “Colors and Shapes” (dir. Sam Mason).
The XR Experience programming, comprising Competition, Spotlight and Special Events screenings, features an array of innovative, immersive adventures, from a VR K-pop concert to an exploration of transgender body dysphoria an exploration of the life cycle of mushrooms. Some notable titles include Jiabao Li’s Once a Glacier, Martine Asselin & Annick Daigneault’s Lou, the “Bullet Hell” VR game Yuki from Kako, German Heller’s cartoony Eggscape challenge, illustrative Shib the Metaverse and the World Premiere of Jailbirds – The Eye of the Artist.
See the lineup announced so far at sxsw.com/festivals/film and check back for further programming sections in early February.
