The 32nd running of the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas recently announced its 2026 line-up of world premieres, gently used festival favorites, shorts, TV pilots, and more, leading to the annual task of sorting through all the viewing options via FOG!’s foolproof, scientifically-tested three-point sorting system, starting with the first and most important metric…
KNOWN COMMODITIES
Family Movie
What’s not to love about a real-life filmmaking family (co-directors Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, and their kids Sosie and Travis) playing a dysfunctional filmmaking family specializing in low-budget horror?
I Love Boosters
Anything by Sorry to Bother You and I’m a Virgo auteur Boots Riley is likely worth a look, especially, as in this case, when the plot involves shoplifters taking aim at “a cutthroat fashion maven” and the cast includes Keke Palmer, Demi Moore, and America’s sweetheart, LaKeith Stanfield.
Over Your Dead Body
A couple supposedly heading to a remote cabin to rekindle their romance while secretly plotting to kill each other is an interesting premise that gets even more interesting when the SXSW catalog describes it as a comedy thriller with a cast featuring Jason Segal, Juliette Lewis, and Timothy Olyphant.
Power Ballad
Writer/director John Carney specializes in charming movies about musicians (like Once, Sing Street, and Flora and Son) while Paul Rudd is the most charming element of most of the movies HE’S in — so this tale of a wedding singer and a boy band star (Nick Jonas) seems likely to be a feel-good crowd pleaser.
See You When I See You & Their Town
Since the golden SXSW era of mumblecore (when then unknown future notables like Greta Gerwig, Lena Dunham, and Lynn Shelton would hang out at various Austin venues promoting their latest microbudget indies during underpopulated weekday afternoon screenings), the films of fellow mumblers the Duplass brothers have always been worth a look…so be sure to circle Jay’s latest (about a comedy writer battling PTSD) and Mark’s drama club drama on your festival schedule.
They Will Kill You
It’s basically settled science at this point that any Patricia Arquette project is worth watching, and when you add Zazie Beetz, Tom “Draco Malfoy” Felton, and Heather Graham, this horror comedy from Kirill Sokolov seems like a sure thing — unless you somehow DON’T enjoy demonic ultraviolence, in which case you might prefer…
FASCINATING NON-FICTION
Amazing Live Sea Monkeys
Festivalgoers of a certain age are sure to remember the smiley illustrations of the titular aquatic creatures from the pages of countless comic books (as well as the disappointment of the brine shrimp you wound up with if you actually responded to the ads). But the real hook of this documentary (by directors Mark Becker and Aaron Schock) is the strange but apparently true revelation that one of the lamest products of all time resulted in a fierce legal battle over the “secret formula” concocted by an inventor with some sort of mysterious “dark legacy.”
Capturing Bigfoot
SXSW = ABOB (Always Bet On Bigfoot).
Drift
If just watching people in high places gives you vertigo, this one’s likely a hard pass. Otherwise, the pulse-quickening vistas of director Deon Taylor’s documentary about a skyscraper-scaling photographer will surely deliver the strongest dopamine hits when viewed on South-By’s largest available screens.
Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real-Life Superhero
The interesting subject of Bayan Joonam’s true crime(fighter) doc is right there in the title. But even more fascinating is the fact the oddball cast list includes The Psychopath Test author Jon Ronson, Rainn Wilson (who played a fictional true-life vigilante in 2010’s Super), as well as some other folks identified as Midnight Jack, Ghost, and El Cabellero (plus bonus points for Jami Gertz’s credit as an executive producer).
We Are The Shaggs
If you enjoy the work of Robert Christgau, then, sure, check out The Last Critic. And the Los Lobos tribute Native Sons is sure to be a hoot. But if you’re already a FOFF (Friend of Foot Foot) or, even better, if you have yet to discover one of the strangest bands of all time (and their even stranger origin story), this is clearly the must-see music doc of the festival
AND THERE’S TONS OF OTHER VIEWING OPTIONS, BUT YOU HAD ME AT…
…the chance to solve art thievery in an interactive, immersive 20-minute XR experience (Crafting Crimes: The Mona Lisa Heist).
…the gritty Boston setting and bucket drumming (of director Danny Madden’s indie drama Downbeat).
…a new addition to the always good, never bad teen-misfits-hoping-to-win-a-Battle-of-the-Bands subgenre (Edie Arnold is a Loser).
…Polish women in Warsaw with complicated romantic lives (in Erupcja, a film by Pete Ohs co-written by and starring…wait, <checks notes> Charli XCX?!?).
…the chance to manifest a life without AI in “the first game designed for a movie theater, where audience members come to life on the big screen using their phones” (Escape The Internet, Part 1…unless the game itself was designed by AI, in which case, in the words of the esteemed Admiral Akbar, “IT’S A TRAP”)!
…mall witches (in director Meredith Alloway’s comedy thriller about a coven of customer-facing coworkers, Forbidden Fruits).
…the concepts of wealth inequality and social injustice viewed through the prism of an indie horror anthology helmed by directors Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty, and Chelsea Stardust (Grind).
…Lesbian Simulator (a.k.a., director Iris van der Meule bringing “key aspects in the existence of a queer person” to virtual reality).
…Hitchcock’s Rebecca but this time set in Maine (as a woman is haunted metaphorically and maybe literally by her partner’s ex in Mallory’s Ghost, starring, written, and directed by Arabella Oz).
…gangsters + time travel + America’s sweetheart Stephen Root (plus the also lovely James Marsden as well as the somewhat less beloved lately Vince Vaughn in writer/director BenDavid Grabinski’s Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice).
…found footage sleuthing into the cold case West Hollywood murder of adult film performer Billy London (via director Rachel Mason’s world premiere documentary My Brother’s Killer).
