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Festival coverage

South by Southwest

16 March – 20 March 2021

Jakob's Wife
Jakob's Wife

SXSW's film arm returned in 2021 with a strong line-up of films screening online so that distributors could explore some of the best new industry offerings without having to put themselves at risk. Where the previous year's format change was rushed, this time around everything about the festival was able to be carefully planned, resulting in a more rewarding experience for all concerned.

The festival ran from 16 to 20 March.

Other years (7)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Swan Song
    Review preview for Swan Song

    Swan Song is, like many such airs, a little too slow and indulgent for its own good, sometimes meandering and losing its way, but Kier’s magnetic performance, which won him Best Actor Awards in Dublin and Monte Carlo, holds it all together.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    An aging hairdresser escapes his nursing home and embarks on an odyssey across his small town to style a dead woman’s hair for her funeral.
  • Offseason
    Review preview for Offseason

    Keating is a master of building up atmosphere and is much more interested in that than in conventional plot mechanics.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    After receiving a mysterious letter, a woman travels to a desolate island town and soon becomes trapped in a nightmare.
  • The Spine Of Night
    Review preview for The Spine Of Night

    The central problem here is a common one in fantasy epics: it does go on a bit.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    In this ultra-violent fantasy epic, ancient dark magic falls into sinister hands and unleashes ages of suffering onto mankind. A group of heroes from different eras and cultures must band together in order to defeat it at all costs
  • Not Going Quietly
    Review preview for Not Going Quietly

    Nicholas Bruckman's film follows Ady long enough that we see not just the impact upon him but the changes wrought in those around him.

    Andrew Robertson · 3 out of 5
    An intimate, inspiring look at activist and loving father Ady Barkan, diagnosed with ALS at age 32 and who, in spite of declining physical abilities, embarks on a nationwide campaign for healthcare reform.
  • The Feast
    Review preview for The Feast

    The way that director Lee Haven Jones frames male and female characters is intriguing, with classic gendered shots reversed.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Over an evening a wealthy family gathers for a sumptuous dinner with guests in their ostentatious house in the Welsh mountains. Served by a mysteriously disturbing young woman, the assembled party do not realise they are about to eat their last supper.
  • Jakob's Wife
    Review preview for Jakob's Wife

    Stevens uses the Nosferatu framework to tell a story about a marriage.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    The disappearance of a young woman threatens to change the beige and banal lives of Anne Fedder and her pastor husband Jakob Fedder forever.
  • Broadcast Signal Intrusion
    Review preview for Broadcast Signal Intrusion

    Timely in its exploration of how we determine what’s real and how easy it is for what seems like legitimate research to become unbalanced and lead to strange places.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    In the late Nineties, a video archivist unearths a series of sinister pirate broadcasts and becomes obsessed with uncovering the dark conspiracy behind them.
  • Sound Of Violence
    Review preview for Sound Of Violence

    A stylistically innovative, intelligent piece of work.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A young girl recovers her hearing and gains synesthetic abilities during the brutal murder of her family. Finding solace in the sounds of bodily harm, as an adult, she pursues a career in music composing her masterpiece through gruesome murders.
  • Potato Dreams Of America
    Review preview for Potato Dreams Of America

    Quirky and a little uneven but appealingly sweet.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A true story about a gay boy growing up in the collapsing USSR, his courageous mail-order bride mother, and their adventurous escape to Seattle in the Nineties.
  • Woodlands Dark And Days Bewitched: A History Of Folk Horror
    Review preview for Woodlands Dark And Days Bewitched: A History Of Folk Horror

    Rather than trying to establish a thesis of her own, Janisse allows her interviewees to deliver contradictory viewpoints on key issues, and the film is richer for it.

    Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
    A documentary about the history of folk horror cinema from the 1960s to today.

A–Z of South by Southwest 2021 reviews

Features

  • Reclaiming Welsh horror
    Lee Haven Jones and Annes Elwy on Welsh cinema, folk horror and The Feast
  • In a different light
    Sam H Freeman and Ng Choon Ping discuss Femme
  • Showing up, speaking out
    Mitch Kalisa on challenging prejudice and finding an authentic voice with Play It Safe
  • Into the woods
    Kier-La Janisse on Woodlands Dark And Days Bewitched: A History Of Folk Horror
  • Three's company
    Marion Hill on queer identity, polyamory and Ma Belle, My Beauty
  • Keeping it real
    Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dustin Mancinelli talk about bringing home the horror in their debut feature Violation
  • After the shooting
    Megan Park on trauma, recovery, unexpected success and The Fallout
  • The bearer of stories
    Leah Purcell on indigenous voices and The Drover’s Wife: The Legend Of Molly Johnson
  • Between two women
    Mari Walker, Pooya Mohseni and Lynn Chen discuss getting real in See You Then

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