A still of “The Studio” from Apple TV⁺. (Photo courtesy of Apple TV⁺/SXSW)
The 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival kicked off yesterday with world premieres of headliner “Another Simple Favor,” starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, and Apple TV⁺ television premiere “The Studio,” starring Seth Rogen with an ensemble cast. Kendrick and Lively reprise their roles as Stephanie Smothers and Emily Nelson, respectively, in the sequel to 2018’s “A Simple Favor.” The film finds the pair dealing with murder and betrayal on an Italian island during Emily’s wedding. “The Studio” follows new studio head Matt Remick, played by Rogen, struggling to keep a movie studio afloat.
Tonight’s headliner was “Death of a Unicorn,” a horror-comedy from A24 starring Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega and Will Poulter, among others, as they deal with the aftermath of a unicorn’s accidental killing. Other headliners premiering throughout the festival include “The Accountant 2,” starring Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal, “Ash,” starring Eiza González and Aaron Paul, “Drop,” Blumhouse’s latest horror film, and “Holland,” starring Nicole Kidman and Matthew Macfadyen.
The festival features 20 other screening categories with 10 being competition categories. Winners will be announced at the Film & TV Awards on Wednesday, March 12. The closing night feature will be the United States premiere of “On Swift Horses,” starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter, Diego Calva and Sasha Calle in a story of love, lies and gambling in California following the Korean War. The film will screen at the Paramount Theatre on Thursday, March 13, at 7 p.m.
Some notable films across categories include narrative feature competitor “Fucktoys,” a “bubblegum grindhouse adventure” of a women’s “raucous odyssey” to lift a curse that’s upon her, documentary feature competitor “Assembly,” which follows artist Rashaad Newsome transforming a “former military facility into a Black queer utopia,” and documentary spotlight “Uvalde Mom,” chronicling the aftermath of one mother’s attempt to save her children during the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Other sections feature films from around the world, stand-outs from other festivals, and television pilots and premieres.
Short films will also be premiering and screening throughout the festival. Narrative short “Grandma’s Four Color Cards” follows a 101-year-old woman facing poverty while running an underground card game, documentary short “Armed only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud” tells the story of the first American journalist killed in the war in Ukraine, and 20th-century coal miners in the Midwest make a discovery in the animated short “Mine!”
There are also short films from the Midnight Short Competition to “indulge your cravings for horror, gore, and dark comedy” and the Texas Short Competition with work “filmed in, inspired by, or connected to the Lone Star State.” Stay tuned for a full breakdown and review of the films included in the Texas Short Competition, which screened last night and will screen again Monday, March 10, at 11 a.m. at the Rollins Theatre at The Long Center.
The Film & TV Festival will run from March 7-15, spanning genres and topics. SXSW also features conference tracks, keynote speakers, exhibitors, and music and comedy performances.
Stay tuned to SZNS for more reviews and news coming from SXSW 2025.
Note: Additional information was added after publication about the festival’s closing night feature.
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