Next week, for the third straight year, I’m heading down to Austin, TX to cover the Lone Star State’s biggest multi-hyphenate festival and conference, South by Southwest. I’ll be honest, I really wasn’t expecting to get in this year, but I was pleasantly surprised a few weeks ago when I received confirmation that I had been approved for press credentials. In 2023, I was gifted a pass by a friend. In 2024, I was sponsored by, and primarily wrote for, a website with a bigger reach than mine in order to cover the fest. This year, I applied on my own, thinking there was no way my little 2800-visitor-a-month website would secure me a press pass.
I think the biggest lesson I learned at SXSW 2024 might have been the deciding factor in getting approved. Constant readers of the FFC website will know that I tried last year, for at least three different screenings, to get into some of the most anticipated movies playing at the fest. I crashed and burned on each one. I waited in endless lines, wasting at least six hours that could have been spent seeing smaller titles. I made a vow going forward to focus on those smaller titles. Movies that, as I put it in my application letter, “might go unnoticed by press organizations thirsty for clicks.” I’m not saying I won’t do a drive-by on some of the wait-lines for the big screenings, time permitting, and, if they’re reasonable enough, that I won’t hop in line. However, I want to be the bridge between audiences and titles that might struggle to make a splash.
I’m also excited to cover the fest this year completely on my own terms. Writing for a different outlet last year was overall a great experience. The folks who sponsored me were a dream to work with, but I was beholden to them to see and write about the movies they were most interested in covering, hence my trouble getting into a few of them. I was also told at one point that I needed to tone down the overt politics in my reviews. I acquiesced. It’s their toy, after all, and they can play with it however they like. This year, however, Imma see whatever the hell I want and Imma write whatever the hell I want. As Sinatra once said, “I gotta be me…”
One last note about politics (since everything is political): It would be easy for me to shout from the proverbial mountaintop that I alone have built the success of my website, writing for ten years and covering (after SXSW 2025) ten different film festivals. We worship rugged individualism here in the troubled ole US of A, often to our detriment. For some reason, it’s seen as weak to acknowledge the help of others on one’s road to success. I want to do my (tiny) part to end the sick worldview of rugged individualism.
Any success I’ve had with my little corner of the internet has been in large part due to the support of those closest to me (like my amazing wife, Rae), as well as complete strangers (like the person who decided to approve my SXSW 2025 press credentials). Plus, there’s the infrastructure of the public schools in which I was educated and, you know, the internet, which provides me the crucial outlet for my writing. That I have many people to thank for any success I’ve found is all that I’m trying to express. As Robert De Niro’s Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle said in Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, “Listen, kid, we’re all in it together.” It feels important to express that considering our current nightmarish political moment in this country.
But enough about all that. Let’s get to some of the titles and events I’m most looking forward to experiencing at SXSW 2025, which takes place at various locations in and around Austin, TX this year between March 7 and March fifteenth:
[All quotes below come from the SXSW 2025 programming guide.]
The Criterion Mobile Closet Tour Stop: Any cinephile worth their salt knows the name Criterion. This boutique film distribution company, which specializes in acquiring the rights to everything from cinematic classics to titles on the vanguard of the art form for unique and exhaustive home video releases – and, since 2019, offers a streaming service, The Criterion Channel – has meticulously built a sterling reputation for championing the best of cinema.
Their Criterion Closet is a masterstroke of marketing genius. The small space located in their home office HQ is packed with every physical-media release the company has put out. Since 2010, starting with director Guillermo del Toro, over 200 famous film fanatics (Cate Blanchett, Francis Ford Coppola, and John Waters, to name a few) have allowed Criterion to film them going through Criterion’s stash, talking about their favorite titles and raiding the closet for their own home media collection. You can find the videos of these encounters (the one featuring Everything Everywhere All at Once directors Daniels is one of my personal favorites) on YouTube.
Criterion has built a mobile version of the closet, and it’s making a stop at SXSW 2025. As someone who has designs on turning the closet in his home cinema into a tribute to the Criterion Closet (albeit with a mix of Criterion and non-Criterion releases), I’m all in to stop by and check out the mobile version. Past appearances of the mobile closest (at places like the New York Film Festival and Brooklyn Bridge Park) have been heavily attended, with some people queuing up as early as 6am for a chance to get inside.
The Criterion Mobile Closet (Courtesy of Criterion)
I’ll be at SXSW to screen movies, so if the Criterion Mobile Closet is too jam-packed to make it worth my time, I’ll at least snap a picture of it from a distance. If you’ll be at the fest and are interested in checking it out, the mobile closet will post up outside the Paramount Theatre and will be available to attendees Friday, March 7 from 3pm-7pm, Saturday, March 8 to Sunday, March 9 from 11am-7pm, and Monday, March 10 from 11am-5pm.
Baby Doe: From director Jessica Earnshaw, this documentary is about Gail Ritchey, a woman from conservative Christian rural Ohio who, 30 years ago, gave birth alone in the woods and left her baby there. DNA evidence links Ritchey to the baby and she is “arrested for murder - despite saying the baby was stillborn… Facing a life sentence, Gail leans on her family for support as she confronts the weight of societal and religious pressures.” Baby Doe examines “the intersection of women’s health, justice, and the outside forces that continue to shape stories like hers.” This will undoubtedly be a tough but necessary sit.
It Ends: This horror-comedy is about “[a] group of recent grads [who] head out on a late night drive for grub, hoping to enjoy one final hangout before their paths diverge. Instead, they accidentally turn onto a never-ending, two-lane hellscape surrounded by untold horrors and cosmic forces beyond their understanding. Cramped together inside a Jeep Cherokee and with the miles stretching infinitely ahead, they face a choice: embrace their new existence or fight to escape it.” This sounds like it might be a bonkers bit of fun!
Death of a Unicorn: Remember all that stuff I wrote above about focusing on smaller titles? Well, let me nullify at least part of it. The newest from A24, Death of a Unicorn sounds like a hoot. The description reads: “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.” I’ve seen the trailer a few times now (meaning the interest from festival-goers will likely be high) and its cast includes Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, Richard E. Grant, and Anthony Carrigan (NoHo Hank from Barry!). It’s also produced by Ari Aster. This is a fest headliner, so I might walk up to the theater, see the line, shake my head, and walk away.
Spreadsheet Champions: This has heartwarming inspirational documentary written all over it. From the fest guide: “Spreadsheet Champions follows six students as they put their Excel-lent skills to the ultimate test in Microsoft's most prestigious and difficult category. A heartwarming tale of formulas and friendship, Spreadsheet Champions reveals the far-reaching influence of spreadsheets in today’s world and the power of young minds to shape our future. Who will triumph, who will fail, who will EXCEL?” Could Spreadsheet Champions be as uplifting as my SXSW 2024 find, Grand Theft Hamlet? Only time will tell.
The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick: If the title alone weren’t enough to make you raise an eyebrow, check out the description, and, specifically, that last sentence: “After a tragic accident, Yvonne drives down to her friend Camille’s bucolic new home for some time away. She’s welcomed by A.J. and Isaac, two new friends of Camille, who also maybe live there. The group promises a weekend of homemade meals from fresh, local produce and parlor games by candlelight. But when Yvonne develops troubling symptoms from a tick bite, the rural paradise fades away revealing a breeding ground for a disturbing new life.” As Calvin J. Candie might say, “Gentlemen, you had my curiosity...but now you have my attention.” This is directed by a filmmaker I’m unfamiliar with, Pete Ohs, but it stars the splendid Zoë Chao, star of another of my favorite SXSW finds, the chronically underseen If You Were the Last.
What I’ve listed above doesn’t even qualify for use of the term scratching the surface. I’ve mentioned only five of the dozens (more likely hundreds) of titles screening at this year’s SXSW. South by 2025 will be happening March 7-15 in Austin, TX, if you’re interested in checking it out. If you want to take a look at everything I’m screening at South by – even the stuff I don’t get a chance to write about here – head on over to my Letterboxd profile where I meticulously log everything I see.
Cheers, and I’ll see you at the movies!