The Must-Watch SXSW 2021 Movies
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Check out our top picks from SXSW Online 2021!
The Last Cruise
Listen… A terrifying origin story of the pandemic. Through never-before-seen footage from passengers and crew, we watch class divisions erupt as humanity misses its chance to contain Covid-19.
Director: Hannah Olson
Writer: Lizzie Presser (story consultant)
Summer Animals
Listen…Tommy makes a drastic decision in order for her siblings to escape the heat before the summer's over.
Director: Haley Elizabeth Anderson
Writer: Haley Elizabeth Anderson
Star: Dawn Evans
Are You Still There?
Listen… A dead car battery leaves Safa stranded alone in a strip mall parking lot.
Directors: Sam A. Davis, Rayka Zehtabchi
Writers: Sam A. Davis, Rayka Zehtabchi
Stars: Safa Tarifi, Rima Haddad, Mardy Ma
Sales Per Hour
Listen… A young woman faces a moral dilemma when she witnesses a sexual encounter in a dressing room at the clothing store where she works.
Directors: Daniel Jaffe, Michelle Uranowitz
Writer: Michelle Uranowitz
Doretha’s Blues
Listen… Doretha goes out for her evening drink at her local watering hole when a news story dredges up old memories.
Director: Channing Godfrey Peoples
Writer: Channing Godfrey Peoples
Stars: Tonea Stewart, Mathew Greer, Yolanda Davis
Our Bed is Green
Listen… A young woman seeks digital refuge from an overwhelming world and a bewildering obsession.
Director: Maggie Brennan
Writer: Maggie Brennan
Stars: Caitlin Duffy, Darian Raeshad, Ros
Stuffed
Listen… A musical film about a taxidermist who dreams of stuffing a human and a man she meets online so afraid of aging he volunteers to be her specimen. An unexpected romantic spark between them complicates their plans.
Director: Theo Rhys
Writers: Joss Holden-Rea, Theo Rhys
Stars: Alison Fitzjohn, Anthony Young
Soak
Listen… A 16 year old tries to convince her runaway mother to return home.
Director: Hannah Bang
Writer: Hannah Bang
Stars: Chaewon Kim, Sungyeon Kim, Minjun Kwak
Play It Safe
Listen… Coaxed into playing a racial typecast in a fellow student's play, Jonathan is faced to either challenge prejudice, or play it safe.
Director: Mitch Kalisa
Stars: Jonathan Ajayi, Heather Alexander, Grace Daly
The Box
Listen… The Box is a hybrid short film that combines documentary, stop-motion animation, and cinematic vignettes to immerse our audience in the world of solitary confinement. We interview three people who have spent a combined 9 years in solitary, one of whom is of the two directors of the film, James Burns.
Directors: James Burns, Shal Ngo
Writers: James Burns, Shal Ngo
Stars: Jack DiFalco, Daniel Danielson, Alana Barrett-Adkins |
Introducing, Selma Blair
Listen… A deeply intimate and raw portrait of Selma Blair after she is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and tries to slow the progression of her disease.
Director: Rachel Fleit
Star: Selma Blair
Through the Plexi-Glass: The Last Days of the San Jose
Listen… A real estate deal's unexpected detour and revelation of layers of knotty, unanswerable questions.
Director: Liz Lambert
Lily Topples the World
Listen… Lily Topples The World follows 20-year-old Lily Hevesh - the world's greatest domino toppler and the only woman in her field - in a coming-of-age story of artistry, passion, and unlikely triumph.
Director: Jeremy Workman
Star: Lily Hevesh
The Hunt for Planet B
Listen… Taking us behind the scenes with NASA's high-stakes Webb Space Telescope, The Hunt for Planet B follows a pioneering group of scientists - many of them women - on their quest to find another Earth among the stars.
Director: Nathaniel Kahn
Stars: Janet Arenberg, Jon Arenberg, Natalie Batalha
We Are As Gods
Listen… "We are as gods and might as well get good at it," Stewart Brand wrote in '68. The pioneer of LSD, cyberspace, futurism, and modern environmentalism now urges people to use our god-like powers to fight extinction by reviving lost species.
Directors: David Alvarado, Jason Sussberg
Stars: Mike Brand, Stewart Brand, George Church
Clerk
Listen… A documentary on the career and life of filmmaker and raconteur Kevin Smith.
Director: Malcolm Ingram
Writer: Malcolm Ingram
Star: Kevin Smith
Not Going Quietly
Listen… 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.
Director: Nicholas Bruckman
Writers: Nicholas Bruckman, Amanda Roddy
Stars: Ady Barkan, Tracey Corder, Elizabeth Jaff
Dear Mr. Brody
Listen… A documentary about Michael Brody Jr., a 21-year-old hippie millionaire who in 1970 promised to give away his $25M inheritance in an effort to usher in a new era of world peace.
Director: Keith Maitland
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched
Listen… Touching on over 100 films and featuring over 50 interviewees, WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED investigates the many ways that we alternately celebrate, conceal and manipulate our own histories in an attempt to find spiritual resonance in our surroundings.
Director: Kier-La Janisse
Writer: Kier-La Janisse
Stars: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer, Piers Haggard
Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America
Listen… Jeffery Robinson's talk on the history of U.S. anti-Black racism, with archival footage and interviews.
Directors: Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler
Writer: Jeffery Robinson
Stars: Josephine Bolling McCall, Gwen Carr, Tiffany Crutcher
When Claude Got Shot
Listen… In a single weekend, three African-American families confront a harsh reality: there's no escape from gun violence. Our film follows how each of their lives have changed and the implications their stories have for our society's struggle to overcome gun violence.
Director: Brad Lichtenstein
Stars: Victoria Davison, Nathan King, Claud Motley
Gaia
Listen… On a surveillance mission in a primordial forest, a park ranger encounters two survivalists following a post-apocalyptic lifestyle. The boy and his philosophical father seem to have their own religion, and a mysterious relationship to nature.
Director: Jaco Bouwer
Writer: Tertius Kapp
Stars: Monique Rockman, Carel Nel, Alex van Dyk
The Drover’s Wife
Listen… A lonely bushwoman struggles to raise her children and run the family farm while her husband is away.
Director: Leah Purcell
Writer: Leah Purcell
Stars: Gregg Arthur, Craig Bourke, Anthony Cogin
Islands
Listen… Joshua, a shy middle-aged Filipino immigrant, has lived in the comfort of his parents' home his entire life. As their health declines he longs for a partner, terrified of being alone after they pass.
Director: Martin Edralin
Writer: Martin Edralin
Bantú Mama
Listen… After being arrested in the Dominican Republic, an Afropean woman escapes and is sheltered by 3 minors, in a dangerous district of Santo Domingo. By becoming their protégée and maternal figure, she will see her destiny change inexorably.
Director: Ivan Herrera
Writers: Clarisse Albrecht, Ivan Herrera
Stars: Clarisse Albrecht, Euris Javiel, Arturo Perez |
Inbetween Girl
Listen… Teen artist Angie Chen turns to secret hook-ups with the heartthrob of her private school after her parents' sudden divorce.
Director: Mei Makino
Writer: Mei Makino
Stars: Emma Galbraith, William Magnuson, Emily Garrett
Here Before
Listen… A taut and sophisticated psychological thriller set in Northern Ireland.
Director: Stacey Gregg
Writer: Stacey Gregg
The Spine of Night
Listen… Ultra-violent, epic fantasy set in a land of magic follows heroes from a different eras and cultures battling against a malevolent force.
Directors: Philip Gelatt, Morgan Galen King
Writers: Philip Gelatt, Morgan Galen King
Stars: Richard E. Grant, Lucy Lawless, Patton Oswalt
Violet
Listen… A film development executive realizes that "guiding voice" inside her head has been lying to her about everything.
Director: Justine Bateman
Writer: Justine Bateman
Stars: Olivia Munn, Luke Bracey, Justin Theroux
The Fallout
Listen… High schooler Vada navigates the emotional fallout she experiences in the wake of a school tragedy. Relationships with her family, friends and view of the world are forever altered.
Director: Megan Park
Writer: Megan Park
Stars: Jenna Ortega, Maddie Ziegler, Niles Fitch, Shailene Woodley
Ninjababy
Listen… Astronaut, forest-keeper, cartoonist. Young Rakel has a whole lot of other plans than becoming a mother. She would rather party, get drunk or stoned instead of sitting hours on the toilet. But she can't ignore it. Is it her or the baby?
Director: Yngvild Sve Flikke
Writers: Johan Fasting, Yngvild Sve Flikke, Inga Sætre
