SXSW 2025
SXSW 2025 is back with a vengeance. Brimming with talent new and old, the festival grows each year, giving audiences what they love. This year is no exception with Film and TV’s coolest, latest, and greatest. On the docket are hotly anticipated titles like DEATH OF A UNICORN with its insane ensemble cast, Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively return in ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR, and Peter Cilella‘s Midnighter DESCENDENT. Take a peek at some of the films we’re watching this year…
For more info on SXSW 2025 click here!
Director: Gerard Johnson, Producers: John Jencks, Isabel Freer, Matthew James Wilkinson, Patrick Tolan, Screenwriters: Gerard Johnson, Austin Collings
Natasha Flynn is an estate agent on a mission—and she’s going to make a killing. Cast: Polly Maberly, Mikael Persbrandt, Jasmine Blackborow, Guy Burnet, Ryan Hayes, Charley Palmer Rothwell, Kellie Shirley (World Premiere)
ARREST THE MIDWIFE
Director: Elaine Epstein, Producers: Elaine Epstein, Robin Hessman
The arrest of midwives in a rural healthcare desert ignites an unexpected rebellion: Amish and Mennonite women who break from tradition, and emerge as fierce political activists fighting for reproductive justice and birthing rights. (World Premiere)
Directors/Screenwriters: Helena Ganjalyan, Bartosz Szpak, Producers: Maria Gołoś, Monika Matuszewska
A sun-drenched renaissance palace. Three women remain in a carefree state of limbo, tended to by an unseen, all-providing system. But as cracks in the paradise begin to appear, they are faced with a choice: escape or remain in the perfect illusion? Cast: Magdalena Fejdasz, Helena Ganjalyan, Daniela Komędera, Weronika Humaj (World Premiere)
Director/Screenwriter: Alex Scharfman, Producers: Drew Houpt, Lucas Joaquin, Alex Scharfman, Lars Knudsen, Tyler Campellone, Tim Headington, Theresa Steele Page
A father and daughter accidentally hit and kill a unicorn while en route to a weekend retreat, where his billionaire boss seeks to exploit the creature’s miraculous curative properties. Cast: Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, Richard E. Grant, Anthony Carrigan, Sunita Mani, Jessica Hynes (World Premiere)
Director: Yana Alliata, Producer: Jack Forbes, Screenwriters: Yana Alliata, Amy Miner
After a life altering accident, Ryan struggles to fit in with old friends and family at a birthday luau but the celebration boils over when he uncovers the missing memory of when his life took a tragic turn. Cast: Ryan Wuestewald, Hans Christopher, Nikki DeParis, Fabrizio Alliata, Makena Miller, Nyah Juliano, Michael Carter (World Premiere)
Director: Jessica Earnshaw, Producers: Holly Meehl Chapman, Jessica Earnshaw
At 22, Gail gave birth alone and left her newborn in the woods. Decades later, she’s arrested for murder, even though she says the baby was stillborn. Baby Doe explores the fallout when young women cannot accept the reality of an unplanned pregnancy. (World Premiere)
Director: Eli Craig, Producers: Marty Bowen, John Fischer, Wyck Godfrey, Screenwriters: Carter Blanchard, Adam Cesare, Eli Craig
A fading midwestern town in which Frendo the clown, a symbol of bygone success, reemerges as a terrifying scourge. Cast: Katie Douglas, Will Sasso, Cassandra Potenza, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac, Verity Marks, Dylan McEwan, Daina Leitold, Vincent Muller, Kaitlyn Bacon (World Premiere)
TEASER TRAILER LINK:
DEAR TOMORROW (Denmark, Japan, Sweden)
Director/Screenwriter: Kaspar Astrup Schröder, Producers: Maria Helga Stürup, Katrine A. Sahlstrøm
In Japan, where loneliness has become a national crisis, the film follows three individuals battling isolation. Through a volunteer chat service, compassionate connections, and government initiatives, they find hope and paths to reclaim their lives. (World Premiere)
FOR WORSE
Director/Screenwriter: Amy Landecker, Producers: Amy Landecker, Bradley Whitford, Valerie Stadler, Jenica Bergere, James Portolese
Fresh off a messy divorce, a 50-year-old sober mom tries to rebuild her life and stumbles into a new beginning after finding herself at a Gen Z wedding behaving like a 25-year-old drunk bridesmaid. Cast: Amy Landecker, Bradley Whitford, Nico Hiraga, Gaby Hoffmann, Ken Marino, Missi Pyle, Kiersey Clemons, Claudia Sulewski, Simon Helberg, Liv Hewson (World Premiere)
Director/Screenwriter: Geremy Jasper, Producers: Michael Gottwald, Noah Stahl
Set in a post-apocalyptic future, O’Dessa is a rock opera about a farm girl on a quest to recover a family heirloom. Her journey leads her to a dangerous city, where she must use the power of destiny and song to save her true love’s soul. Cast: Sadie Sink, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Murray Bartlett, Regina Hall, Pokey LaFarge (World Premiere)
Director: Kahane Corn Cooperman, Producers: Innbo Shim, Kahane Corn Cooperman
Welcome to Creede – a remote mining town with no stop light, a theater company and 300+ folks at 9,000 feet. This unlikely setting – with its miners, ranchers and theater people – offers an unexpected lens on divisions felt by Americans everywhere. (World Premiere)
Director/Screenwriter: Julia Max, Producers: Mia Chang, Lovell Holder, Julia Max, Ian McDonald, Robert J. Ulrich
When the family patriarch dies, a grieving mother and daughter risk their lives to perform a brutal resurrection ritual that will bring him back from the dead. Cast: Colby Minifie, Kate Burton, Neil Sandilands, Vaughn Armstrong, Mia Ellis, Pete Ploszek, Chelsea Alden, Alaina Pollack, Riley Rose Critchlow, Lola Prince Kelly (World Premiere)
UVALDE MOM
Director: Anayansi Prado, Producers: Ina Fichman, David Goldblum, Screenwriters: Anayansi Prado, Pablo Proenza
When a school mass shooting rocks a small town in Texas, a mom desperate to save her kids is launched into the public eye. She speaks out against a system that never protected her. The community challenges these powers and exposes those who failed to protect its most vulnerable – children. (World Premiere)
IDIOTIKA
Director/Screenwriter: Nastasya Popov, Producers: Tess Cohen, Camila Mendes, Rachel Matthews, Saba Zerehi, Nastasya Popov
In this sharp, irreverent comedy, a disgraced fashion designer with a dangerously low credit score, Margarita (Anna Baryshnikov) enters a reality show with a six-figure cash prize to save her babushka’s West Hollywood apartment. But as the competition intensifies, slick producer Nicol (Camila Mendes) pushes her to spin her family’s struggle into spectacle, forcing Margarita to decide whether to play along or take control of her own narrative, one unhinged look at a time.Cast: Anna Baryshnikov, Camila Mendes, Julia Fox, Benito Skinner, Saweetie, Owen Thiele, Galina Jovovich, Mark Ivanir, Nerses Stamos, Ilia Volok (World Premiere)
NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE (Canada)
Director: Matt Johnson, Producers: Matthew Miller, Matt Greyson, Screenwriters: Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol
When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008. Blah blah blah blah blah. Cast: Jay McCarrol, Matt Johnson (World Premiere)
Director: Ari Gold, Producers: Michelle Stratton, Starr Sutherland, Screenwriters: Ari Gold, Ethan Gold, Lara Louise, Brian Bell, Herbert Gold, Tongo Eisen-Martin, John Flanigan
Synopsis: Inspired by Francis Coppola’s concept of Live Cinema, Brother Verses Brother is a radically personal musical odyssey. Combative twin musicians hunt for their dying poet father, in an improvisation performed by the director’s own family, and presented as an unbroken real-time shot through the streets of San Francisco.
One brother seeks love, while the other seeks an audience. But as night falls and their father remains missing, their increasingly frantic safari leads them from the secret haunts of the Beat poets into the heart of their family. Their tale becomes a testament to the power of music, the bonds of brotherhood, and the lifeblood of a city – experienced by the viewer in real-time.
Cast: Ari Gold, Ethan Gold, Lara Louise, Brian Bell, Herbert Gold, Tongo Eisen-Martin, John Flanigan (World Premiere)
OUT FOR DELIVERY
Director/Screenwriter: Chelsea Christer, Producers: Clinton Trucks, Alexa Rocero, David B. Lyons
When terminally ill Joanna makes the difficult decision to pursue end of life options through the Death With Dignity law, the systems set up to make her death peaceful and dignified become the opposite. (Texas Premiere)
BAGGAGE (Australia, United Kingdom)
Director/Screenwriter: Lucy Davidson, Producers: Vanessa Batten, Amy Upchurch
Anthropomorphic suitcase best friends bring their emotional baggage on holidays. (International Premiere)
For SXSW 2025’s entire lineup, click here!
SUPERBOYS OF MALEGAON
Director Reema Kagti brings TIFF ’24 audiences a dramatized version of the 2008 documentary Supermen of Malegaon. The film begins in 1997 and follows aspiring amateur filmmaker Nasir Shaikh and fellow hometown artists in Malegaon, India. SUPERBOYS OF MALEGAON is a story of small-town dreams coming true. Get ready to feel all the feels.
KNOW ME
In 2012, Rudy Eugene became known as “The Miami Zombie” when he attacked a homeless man because of bath salts. Inspired by the real-life incident, filmmaker Edson Jean‘s film KNOW ME dramatizes the case, bringing much-needed humanity to a story most of us think we know.
Jean utilizes black-and-white flashbacks to give us insight into who Jimmy was. The specific choice not to replay the video from the incident leaves a powerfully subconscious impact. The commentary on the media is as relevant today as ever. How does one man preserve the legacy raging against an entire industry? Separately, we watch family matriarch Pauline’s nuance journey to closure. A poignant moment between her and the man Jimmy attacked delivers a quiet beauty.
Tackling religion, judgment, and racism, KNOW ME is a meditation on grief. The script calls out hypocrisy and digs into underlying hurt within a trauma response. It is an undeniably strong sophomore feature.
Filmmaker Cory Santilli brings a film like no other to Slamdance 2025 with IN THE MOUTH. The script follows Merl, a housebound man down on his luck financially and mentally. When his landlady arrives to collect three months’ back rent, Merl decides to take on a roommate. Larry happens to be an escaped murderer, but that is not what scares Merl. It is the giant version of himself protruding from his front lawn. 
IN THE MOUTH is an absurdist comedy. Shot in stark black and white by Mike Magilnick, the cinematography boasts great closeups and one particularly memorable off-kilter angle that made me sit up straighter. Merl’s creative outside retrieval methods remind me of individual components of Pee Wee Herman‘s Rube Goldberg machine in his Big Adventure film. 
Colin Burgess, who also stars in another Slamdance 2025 film, 
![Lockjaw (2025) - [www.imdb.com]](https://i0.wp.com/reelnewsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/Lockjaw-2025-www.imdb_.com_.png?resize=440%2C683&ssl=1)
Blu Hunt is a comic genius. She has that it-girl quality. I’m buying whatever she’s selling at all times. Her commitment to the dialogue or a particular gag is chef’s kiss. Hunt recently wowed me in The Dead Thing. She is just as compelling in Lockjaw.
Čejen Černić Čanak profound Berlinale drama SANDBAG DAM follows Marko, an athletic young man navigating his younger brother, school, sports, and girlfriend, Petra. His life upends when Slaven returns home for his father’s funeral. With the threat of flooding in his small Croatian village, his long-lost feelings for Slaven threaten everything.
Marko exists in a traditionally masculine environment. His father is a mechanic, training him to take over the business and compete in an upcoming arm wrestling competition. His free time consists of drinking at parties and attending to his eager-to-please girlfriend. Then, his seemingly easy life suddenly halts when Slaven returns after three years and no goodbye.
The story slowly reveals itself with an innocent bitterness and longing. If you go into the film blind, nothing is spoonfed to the audience. It is beautifully paced. The homophobia in Sandbag Dam is excruciating. The weaponization of hurt and ignorance is devastating.
The performances are spectacular. Leon Grgić is endearing as younger brother Fićo. He has a genuine star quality. His purity will make your heartache. Andrija Žunac gives Slaven an authenticity that is calming. His unapologetic aura is sensational. Lav Novosel delivers a pitch-perfect turn as Marko. Torn between the life he yearns for and the one he feels forced to accept, Novosel brings us on an emotional roller coaster we have no control over. You feel the conflict in your soul.
The film has a similar energy to Brokeback Mountain. Its restrained tension is waiting to burst at any moment. There is no denying the double entendre of the title. As the floodwaters rise, so do the tensions of secrets and feelings. Screenwriter Tomislav Zajec provides stunning metaphors. SANDBAG DAM is an important story. It is one that so many LGBTQ youth must endure. The final moments will have you talking about this film long after the credits roll.
Gal’s character has a Mary Poppins quality in creating magic for her kids. “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun!” The unrelenting motivation she provides for Rhianna and Benin puts most parents to shame. Gal’s palpable anxiety appears in moments when the kids are distracted and engaged in an activity. She does her best to guard them from reality and fear.
Our two small leads, Rihanna Barbosa and Benin Ayo have a chemistry a director dies for. Their playful nature and natural talent are infectious. They are stars. 
An hour into the film, your heart drops. The conversation that follows should almost come with a trigger warning for survivors. Filled with gaslighting and classic abuser language, it will infuriate and break you. THE BEST MOTHER IN THE WORLD captures invisible labor, unconditional love, cycles of abuse, and the determination to create a better life. It is a difficult but rewarding viewing experience and female-centric storytelling at its best.
ABOUT SLAMDANCE
The Virgin of The Quarry Lake
Jealousy collides with superstition in Laura Casabé‘s coming-of-age Sundance 2025 film The Virgin of The Quarry Lake. Natalia lives with her grandmother, Rita, after being abandoned by her parents. The summer after high school graduation is a time of angst, curiosity, fear, and desire. Intimated by a worldly older woman named Silvia, Nati and her two best friends become deeply entrenched in a battle to keep her crush, Diego, from her clutches. 
Although set in 2001 Argentina, the film’s narrative parallels today’s political climate with startling accuracy. The government is a disaster. There are rolling blackouts, civil unrest, and the popular television personality peddles misinformation. Nati witnesses violence again and again. Her envy of Silvia and sexual frustration push her to her limits. The repeated and infuriating misogyny she endures results in a bloody act of pushback. Nati unleashes an alarming feminine rage. 
Based on the stories of Mariana Enriquez, screenwriter Benjamin Naishat creates something quite magic. The Virgin of The Quarry Lake also delivers a visceral sense memory of young love. Nati receives a heartbreaking phone call from Silvia. I received a shockingly similar call the summer of my Senior year, and it destroyed me in a way that I still remember at almost 45 years old. You will hurt for her. It is vicious. Dolores Oliverio owns the role of Natalia. She is an undeniable star. 
The dynamic between 17-year-old Azi and her best friend’s father’s new girlfriend moves from passive-aggressive to outright challenge. You can cut the tension with a knife. Mann delivers enough longing looks between Wool and Goodjohn to wager guesses about each woman’s motivation. You’re dying to know what happens next once the screen goes black.
Thankfully, a feature-length version of AZI is already in the works. Sundance 2025 audiences are in for one hell of a tease. These are guaranteed seats in butts whenever production is complete. Count me very much in.
Canadian Bill C-7 allowed for the Right To Die. The expansion of MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) remains controversial. Davenport offers every angle of the process. This alone is an emotional roller-coaster, from perceived propaganda to Disability Rights Advocates, both for and against the legislation. 
Dr. Ramona Coelho speaks about the cost savings of moving forward with the passing of C-7. The film tackles the abuse of the law. Davenport interviews advocates who worry that this could be used as a justification tool to end the lives of disabled people, in other words, eugenics. 
The Chinese tradition of Tomb Sweeping Day gets a stark contrast as teacher Jianbo Qian brings his students, grades 7 to 12, to a communal burial for unnamed ashes. Each one carefully handles a red bag filled with the remains of people unclaimed by loved ones. It is an exercise exploring death, respect, and reflection.
Heartbreaking, eye-opening, and thoughtful, in thirteen minutes, DEATH EDUCATION has an unshakable impact. It begs you to think beyond your comfort zone. It is a beautifully universal lesson in empathy.
David Borenstein has worked in the documentary industry on three different continents. He has produced and directed TV for BBC, PBS, ARTE, Al Jazeera, DR, Vice, and many more international broadcasters. Borenstein directed Can’t Feel Nothing (2024), Love Factory (2021), and Dream Empire (2016). 
Addison Heimann is a queer genre filmmaker currently residing in Los Angeles. His first feature, Hypochondriac, premiered at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival and was distributed by XYZ Films. His goal is to tell queer stories that explore mental health in the genre space.
Evan Twohy was raised on Hitchcock and opera on the edge of a forest outside Berkeley, California. From an early age, he found himself drawn to absurdist theater and began writing plays in New York City prior to making his first feature, Bubble & Squeak.
IT’S COMING
Ashley can see and hear spirits. The physical and mental toll is obvious, despite her shockingly calm demeanor. She has become so accustomed to her circumstances, and not much ruffles her feathers, until she realizes how deep the negative energy goes.
Ashley brings in medium Soledad Haren to cleanse the apartment. She provides viewers with paranormal canon, reasons, and triggers for an uptick in activity. It is a solid checklist if you aren’t a connoisseur of this genre. Like clockwork, incidents get worse. An acrid odor pervades their apartment, so intense it triggers CO2 alarms and multiple fire department visits. Soledad returns with her spirit box and performs an automatic writing session, providing few answers and more questions.
A husband and wife team of demonologists, Chris and Harmony DeFlorio, arrive with all the electronic bells and whistles. We see their footage intercut with Shannon’s. The results are undeniably unsettling. This is the point where Ashley finally breaks. It is the first time we see her cry and become physically unwell. When you witness the effect on Chris and Harmony, your heart rate increases tenfold. The comparisons to England’s most infamous haunting, The Enfield Poltergeist, are inevitable.
Javier’s personality slowly changes throughout the long months of filming. He describes a growing friendship with the black entity he calls Kitty. If you know anything about the paranormal, you understand how dangerous this is. You can track what looks like disassociation creeping onto his face. Something is affecting this child, whether it’s his mother’s energy or something genuinely sinister is up to the viewer, but I’ve not been this disturbed by a paranormal documentary in a long time. The final scene will send a shiver down your spine. IT’S COMING will haunt your mind long after the credits roll. You’ll question everything.
The dialogue, 90% from Noah, has a poetic energy. Once the mysterious woman appears, the story feels similar to The Little Mermaid, but from the Prince’s perspective. However, that would suggest an oversimplification of the script, and I must give more credit. It quickly evolves. Through his writing and delivery, you can glean Kiss’s immense knowledge of opera, poetry, and literature.
Nicole Benoit is lovely playing our enigmatic Mary. She understands the genre intrinsically. Her chemistry with Kiss feels authentic. Adam Kiss portrays Noah in the exact way you might imagine, given his script’s structure. His operatic tone of voice and stageworthy physical presence perfectly match the character.
The clues that something is not quite right glare from the moment we meet her. It is all exceptionally dramatic, with events flowing like the novel Noah should be writing. Suspension of disbelief is key. Romantasy fans will recognize the classic tropes. I love the An Affair To Remember reference. While MY LAST WORDS might be slightly self-indulgent (Mom of the Year goes to Christina Kiss for acting as Executive Producer), it is also a very personal passion project that undoubtedly has an audience.
You must be logged in to post a comment.