March’s SXSW festival will once again have a healthy dose of Australian storytelling, with eight titles featuring local creators selected in the line-up announced yesterday US time.
The film and television program for the 32nd annual Texas event, which runs from March 7th to 15th, includes 96 features, including 82 world premieres, 57 short films, 18 music videos, and 16 television projects, including The series consists of 5 films (5 of which are being released for the first time). The XR Experience program also has 31 projects, including 15 in the XR Experience Competition and 16 in the XR Experience Spotlight.
Zach Hilditch’s Burying the Dead will have its world premiere in the Narrative Spotlight section, along with titles from Germany, Cyprus, the US and the UK.
Filmed in Albany and the Great Southern Region early last year, the survival thriller stars Daisy Ridley as Eva, a desperate woman whose husband goes missing in the aftermath of a disastrous military experiment. Hoping to find him alive, Eva joins a “body recovery unit,” but her search takes a frightening turn when the bodies she’s buried begin to show signs of life. The cast also includes Marks Coles-Smith and Brenton Thwaites. Kelvin Munro and Grant Sputore of the Washington state production company Penguin Empire produced the film in collaboration with Ross Dinerstein of Campfire Studios in the US.
Hilditch, who wrote the screenplay, described the selection as an “absolute honour”.
It’s a really cool festival and a great place to start burying the dead in 2025,” he said.
“We also can’t wait to bring Albany to the big screen in Austin. The town went out of its way to welcome us during filming. This is a tribute to everyone who helped us. It’s a great way to represent.”
Not the only feature film in the lineup to be filmed in WA, Lorcan Finnigan’s Australian-Irish co-production The Surfer debuted in the Cannes Film Festival’s Midnight Screening section last year. , which premiered in North America as part of the Festival Favorites section. .
The film, written by Thomas Martin, stars Nicolas Cage, who returns to Australia after living in America for many years to buy back his family’s home, but his teenage son is killed by a group of local surfers who claim ownership. He plays a man who is humiliated in front of his eyes. The secluded beaches of my childhood. This production is produced by Tea Shop Productions, Arenamedia, Lovely Productions and Gramercy Park Media with support from Screenwest through the WA Production Attraction Incentive.
Another Australian-Irish collaboration, the TV series Mix Tape, will have its world premiere on the TV Spotlight thread. This film adaptation of Jane Sanderson’s romance novel stars Teresa Palmer and Jim Sturgess as a couple reunited from opposite sides of the world through a song from their shared past. Adapted by Joe Spain and directed by Australian director Lucy Guffey, the Binge series was produced by Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford of Aquarius Films and Aoife O’Sullivan and Tristan Orpen-Lynch of Subotica.
Three Australian documentaries will be featured in the ‘Documentary Spotlight’ thread, two of which will have their world premiere.
The first film to be screened is Jennifer Peedham’s Deeper, about a reluctant hero who explores a dangerous obsession within the world’s deepest, darkest cold-water cave system. In Christina Kraskov’s Spreadsheet Champions, produced by Anna Sharambous, Charlotte Wheaton, and Nick Batsias, students from around the world give it their all in “The Biggest Competition You’ve Never Heard of.”
There will also be the international premiere of Make It Look Real by director/screenwriter Kate Blackmore and producers Bethany Bruce and Daniel Joyce. Supported by Screen Australia, Screen NSW and the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund, the film was created by Intimacy Coordinator Clare Warden, who guides the actors through the sex scenes in her new film Tightrope, and explores the director’s vision. The film follows actors as they negotiate their physical and psychological needs. , and a documentary team is filming her every move.
“Make it look real”
Regarding the SXSW selection, Blackmore hoped the film would spark meaningful discussion.
“In our film, Clare not only shines a light on how actors tell these stories through their bodies and the pressures that come with it, but also how conversations about boundaries and consent It also shows how it can benefit people,” she said.
Fresh off her animated feature Lesbian Space Princess being selected for next month’s Berlinale, writer-director Leela Varghese’s The Most Racist Person I Know will make its world premiere at SXSW’s Narrative Shorts Competition It will be shown. Produced by Sreena Shivashankar, the story centers on Lali, who unexpectedly ends up on her first date with another woman of color, as she unravels the prejudices she has ignored for years.
Australia is also entering the short animation competition through the international premiere of the Australian-British co-production Baggage, directed by Lucy Davidson and produced by Vanessa Batten and Amy Upchurch. The story depicts a best friend, an anthropomorphic suitcase, who brings emotional baggage with him on holiday. and the Midnight Shorts Contest with Winnie Cheung’s Last Call, an American, Australian and Hong Kong co-production that sees a motorcycle rebel slip into erotic hallucinations and escape from the clutches of a sultry snake woman. I’m drawing.
Last Call, written by the Andujar Twins and produced by Weston Auburn, Travis Wood, Celia Oh and Amanda Kruger, will have its world premiere at the festival.
Commenting on this year’s lineup, SXSW Vice President of Film and Television Claudette Godfrey said the selection honors “the fearless storytellers who make SXSW unique.”
“We are passionate about discovering and promoting filmmakers who make bold statements, push boundaries, spark important conversations, and challenge our perspectives in ways we never expected. I love it,” she said.
“When our amazing SXSW community comes together in March to experience these stories, the energy and inspiration will no doubt be transformative.”