Skip to main content

Festival coverage

South by Southwest

8 March – 16 March 2024

Austin, Texas is the place to be this spring if you want the chance to catch first sight of some of the exciting titles that will be doing the festival circuit over the year to come. Texas itself features quite a bit, but there are also films from around the world, including a particularly impressive selection of documentaries. Taking place alongside the famous music festival of the same name, SXSW is strong on musical themes.

Other years (7)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • We Were Dangerous
    Review preview for We Were Dangerous

    The darkness in the film is carefully balanced by comedy.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Three friends attend an institution for delinquent girls on an isolated island In 1950s New Zealand. The trio rail against the system, finding strength in their bond. This is challenged when the school’s matron divides them.
  • Hood Witch
    Review preview for Hood Witch

    It’s the acting that carries it, and naturally Farahani, one of the finest talents of her generation, does not disappoint.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A woman earns a living by smuggling exotic animals and illegal goods, developing a mobile app that links users with mystical marabout healers, but one of the user's consultations takes a tragic turn, preciptitaing a violent backlash.
  • Grand Theft Hamlet
    Review preview for Grand Theft Hamlet

    The absurdity is one of its delights.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    Shot entirely inside the video game Grand Theft Auto, this documentary charts the story of two out-of-work actors as they try to stage a full production of Hamlet within this notoriously violent digital world.
  • Magpie
    Review preview for Magpie

    Yates recognises Ridley’s skill with interiorised emotion and makes the most of it.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    When Ben and Anette's daughter is cast in a film alongside glamorous movie star Alicia, Ben is quickly drawn into Alicia's world. Anette is left at home with the baby, pushed to her emotional limits and psychologically on the brink.
  • Azrael
    Review preview for Azrael

    We get demonstrations of skill, from the weaving of a bracelet to the use of herbs to treat a wound, and these elements reinforce the idea that this is a real society which has developed organically over time.

    Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
    Many years following the apocalypse, a devout cult of mute zealots hunts down a young woman who has escaped her imprisonment.
  • Things Will Be Different
    Review preview for Things Will Be Different

    Where other such tales have become overly enmeshed in their own structural entanglements, Felker has the good sense to focus on character.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    In order to escape police after a robbery, two estranged siblings lay low in a metaphysical farmhouse that hides them away in a different time. There they reckon with a mysterious force that pushes their familial bonds to unnatural breaking points.
  • Sing Sing
    Review preview for Sing Sing

    Using a mix of both professional and amateur actors the film reveals the intimate details and attitudes of these incarcerated individuals

    Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
    A theatre group escapes the reality of incarceration through the creativity of staging a play, with a cast that includes actors who have been incarcerated.
  • Hunting Daze
    Review preview for Hunting Daze

    Condensed and symbolic in its approach, sometimes to the point where it becomes surreal, Hunting Daze uses a small story to address big subjects.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A young, tempestuous woman, is taken in by a group of hunters in a remote cabin. In the midst of this tough, yet endearing, male microsociety, she feels like she finally belongs. A mysterious stranger’s arrival disrupts her newfound haven.
  • Cuckoo
    Review preview for Cuckoo

    It’s Schafer’s performance that anchors it.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    On a trip to the German Alps with her father and stepmother, Gretchen discovers that the resort town where they’re staying hides sinister secrets, as she’s plagued by strange noises and frightening visions of a woman pursuing her.
  • Adrianne & The Castle
    Review preview for Adrianne & The Castle

    The effect is sometimes comical, but true intimacy often looks absurd from the outside.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A musical documentary about grief and the creative power of love, told through the astonishing story of Alan and Adrianne St-George and their hand-built castle in rural Illinois.

A–Z of South by Southwest 2024 reviews

Features