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South by Southwest (SXSW) announced on Jan. 10 their 2024 lineup of films and television shows. Listed are a few of the projects that SZNS will have eyes on in the coming weeks.
Announced as the two headlining films are “Babes” from director Pamela Adlon and “The Fall Guy” directed by David Leitch. “The Fall Guy” will adapt the 1980s original series and stars Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Winston Duke, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Hannah Waddingham. Gosling plays Colt Seavers, an aging stuntman who, along with film director and ex-girlfriend Jody Moreno (Blunt), investigates the disappearance of their latest film’s main star. Together they must work to find the star and save the film.
“Babes” features Ilana Glazer, Michelle Buteau, Hasan Minhaj, John Carroll Lynch and Oliver Platt. Glazer plays Eden, a woman who finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand and looks for support in Dawn (Buteau), a married friend. Glazer also serves as screenwriter and producer, making this her second feature film as a star, writer and producer after “False Positive” in 2021.
Other feature films premiering at SXSW are “I Don’t Understand You” starring Nick Kroll, which tells the story of a couple’s getaway to Italy gone awry, “Magpie” with Daisy Ridley, a thriller about the enthralling appeal of movie fame, and “I Wish You All the Best” with Cole Sprouse and Alexandra Daddario, the story of a non-binary teen who reconnects with their sister after being thrown out of the family home.
Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman also support the cast of “My Dead Friend Zoe,” starring Sonequa Martin-Green and Natalie Morales. Martin-Green plays Merit, a U.S. Army veteran in an ongoing friendship with her currently dead sister-in-arms Zoe (Morales). Merit is called to investigate the lake house of her distant grandfather, a Vietnam War veteran.
Narrative Feature entries include, among others, “Audrey,” in which a mother assumes the identity of her comatose daughter, “The Black Sea,” where a young Brooklynite finds himself as the only black man in a small resort near the Black Sea, and “We’re All Gonna Die,” featuring an unexpected road trip after an alien tentacle teleports the bees of a beleaguered beekeeper, aided by an EMT along the way.
Documentary Features are also widely varied this year. “Grand Theft Hamlet” follows two struggling actors who attempt to stage Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” within the virtual world of Rockstar Games’ “Grand Theft Auto Online.”
Meanwhile, “The In Between” tells a story that will resonate with many Texans: filmmaker Robie Flores comes to her hometown near the Texas-Mexico border following the tragic death of her brother. The documentary follows her journey to once again find joy as she recollects her experiences growing up.
“How to Build A Truth Engine” is an Austrian documentary that investigates the neurological behavior that causes us to believe misinformation, while “Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie” is, presumably, the last movie from comedians Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong.
For television, we’re keeping an eye on “Black Twitter,” a three-part series focusing on the eponymous cultural phenomenon, “3 Body Problem,” an adaptation of the Chinese bestselling science fiction novel from “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and “Photographer: Dan Winters,” a documentary series set in Austin, Texas, focusing on Winters and his family. Television shows debuting their newest seasons include “Hacks,” reaching season three, and “Star Trek: Discovery,” wrapping up with a fifth and final season.
One Texas short that has our attention is “The Queen vs Texas,” which follows the BIPOC drag show ‘Vanguard: The Drag Revolution,’ hosted by queer activist Hermajastie the Hung. Hermajastie brings her show to Texas in protest of the political targeting of LGBTQIA⁺ communities through rhetoric and proposed legislation.
SXSW will be held in the Austin Convention Center on March 8-16, with the Film & TV Festival featuring all days. Other festivals include the Comedy and Music festivals, beginning March 8 and 11, respectively. For conferences, keynote speakers include Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the Academy Award-winning writers and directors of “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) chair and CEO Lisa T. Su, Ph.D.
With genres spanning from horror to irreverent satire, documentary to animation, SXSW is shaping up for a vastly diverse 2024 season, and SZNS is eager to bring you stories straight from Austin as they happen.
SZNS MAG 