It shouldn’t be all that surprising that the big money multimedia hype bomb of a festival responsible for the world’s largest Doritos vending machine and endless tech-bro panels proselytizing the wonders of AI would kick off their annual celebration of “indie” filmmaking with…The Accountant 2.
And, sure, South by Southwest has mixed Hollywood hype with its more daring lower budget fare for years, but still…The Accountant 2?
Autistic assassins aside, though, this year’s SXSW once again features a fascinating slate of premieres and festival favorites, some of which (like the aforementioned Ben Affleck actioner, the thriller Drop, and the A24 comedy/horror mashup Death of a Unicorn) are already en route to a theater near you.
As for the rest of the film lineup, here are 10 titles out of the 100+ features (and shorts) screening from March 7-15 that landed on the Forces of Geek radar for 2025.
Arrest the Midwife
As Trump attempts to roll back American freedoms to some imaginary “great again” ideal, director Elaine Epstein examines a society that previously refused to roll forward in this timely documentary about Amish and Mennonite women leaving behind their old-timey ways to fight for reproductive and birthing rights in the modern political system.
The Baltimorons
The “mumblecore” indie film movement championed by SXSW in an earlier era launched the careers of future stars including Greta Gerwig, Lena Dunham — and the Duplass brothers (Jay and Mark), who return with a tale of holiday misadventures set in Baltimore, Maryland that’s probably worth a look given the consistent quality of the siblings’ past collaborations.
For Worse
Ever since her instantly iconic role as Mrs. Samsky in the Coen Brothers’ classic A Serious Man (“Do you take advantage of the new freedoms?”), Amy Landecker’s been a secret weapon to watch for in film and TV ensembles — which makes her star turn (in a movie she also wrote and directed) about a recent divorcee attempting to rebuild her life a festival must-see.
One More Shot
It’s basically settled science at this point that time loop movies are always good and the same applies to New Year’s Eve stories (give or take Y2K). Ergo, it stands to reason that director Nicholas Clifford’s tale of a woman repeatedly resetting her evening on December 31, 1999 via a magical bottle of tequila is likely to be a hoot.
Are We Good?
In addition to his legacy as an accomplished confessional standup and character actor, Marc Maron was also a pioneer back in the days when people used to say “what’s a podcast?” rather than “oh, God, not another one.” As such, this profile by Steven Feinartz should be a treat for fans while newcomers to the performer’s career may find themselves moved by the story of the comedian’s bittersweet love affair with indie director Lynn Shelton (whose life and career were cut short by leukemia in 2020).
Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror
The Rocky Horror Picture Show was (and remains) a gathering point and rite of passage ritual for decades of LGBTQ kids, theater geeks, and misfits of all stripes. And now, with oppression on the rise again, it seems like the perfect moment for a time warp back to the origins of the cult fave, its ongoing impact, and the stage show by Richard “Riff Raff” O’Brien that inspired it all in this new documentary by the latter’s son, Linus.
Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt
In addition to having one of the best titles in the 2025 lineup, Tom J. Stern’s profile of the titular psychedelic punk weirdos could not possibly be more appropriate for SXSW given that (a) music docs have always been part of the festival’s core DNA, (b) the Buttholes are proud sons and daughters of The Lone Star State, and (c) one of the band’s former members (the late, great Teresa Taylor, a.k.a. Teresa Nervosa) achieved her own independent immortality as the Madonna pap smear pusher in the seminal Austin, TX indie classic Slacker.
Lifehack
Likewise, it seems appropriate that an arts festival so deeply intertwined with tech would offer up (possibly the first?) bitcoin heist caper as four teenage slackers take on the dark web in a film from the U.K. scripted by Hope Elliott Kemp and Ronan Corrigan (who also directed)…
$POSITIONS
…though the tense comedy $POSITIONS by writer/director Brandon Daley about a blue collar Midwesterner dabbling in crypto to save his family from poverty seems likely to scratch a similar itch.
Uvalde Mom
As with any arbitrary Top 10, the final slot is always the hardest (since, of necessity, it means bumping so many other potentially fascinating projects off the list, like the provocatively titled Fucktoys or O’Dessa, a post-apocalyptic rock opera starring Sadie Sink from Stranger Things). Yet given its Texas setting and gripping subject matter, Anayansi Prado’s documentary about the tragedy and outrage of the Uvalde school shooting sounds like the kind of difficult but essential filmmaking festivals like SXSW were established to showcase.
For more information visit SXSW.com/Festivals/Film
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