South by Southwest has announced the first films and keynote speakers for its UK spin-off festival SXSW London, which will run from June 1st to June 6th.
Speakers include actress, screenwriter, producer, and director Sharon Horgan, whose credits include Catastrophe, Bad Sisters, and Motherland, and screenwriter known for Queer as Folk and Doctor Who. The cast includes Russell T. Davies, co-producer, and Tom Quinn, founder of American independent film company Neon, which brought to life Oscar-winning films such as “Anora,” “Parasite,” and “Sentimental Value.”
The film program focuses on international talent and discovery, with films from 22 countries already confirmed this year.
The first wave of films announced includes Feast or Fmine, a behind-the-scenes kitchen doc set in London’s Angelina’s restaurant and narrated by Marco Pierre White, the genre-bending and stylish Spanish feature La Carn, the stylish Colombian sci-fi thriller Barrio Triste, and the AI documentary Intelligence Rising from Oscar and BAFTA-winning filmmaker Elena Andreycheva.
Anna Bogutskaya, Head of Screen at SXSW London, commented: “SXSW London Screen Festival is not designed to be just a film festival. What we are building here is a connection between international talent and Britain, between film and the wider creative industries, and between film, music, art and technology.”
“Our carefully selected program celebrates filmmakers and artists who are exploring and exploding the possibilities of filmmaking. London is a global city and film is an international language. What we’re looking for, and what we’re excited to bring to London audiences this summer, is the energy of discovering something truly groundbreaking from places they weren’t looking.”
Here’s the full selection:
world premiere
“Feast or Famine” (Directors: Adrian Choa, Michael Boccarini) (UK), documentary
“The Remedy” (Director: Alex Kafuam) (USA), feature film
“All Night Wrong” (Director: Jason James) (Canada), feature film
uk premier
“Amoeba” (Director: Tan Siyu) (Singapore, Netherlands, France, Spain, Korea) Feature film
“Becoming” (director: Zhanat Alshanova) (Kazakhstan, France, Netherlands, Lithuania, Sweden), feature film
“On the Road” (Director: David Pablos) (Mexico), feature film
“The Father” (Director: Tereza Nuvotova) (Slovakia), feature film
“Hijra” (Director: Shahd Amin) (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, UK) Feature film
“Nights in Caracas” (Directors: Mariana Rondon, Marite Ugas) (Mexico), feature film
“Maddy’s Secret” (Director: John Early) (USA), feature film
“Remake” (Director: Ross McElwee) (USA), Documentary
“Sicko” (Director: Aytore Giordaskari) (Kazakhstan), feature film
“Whistle” (Director: Christopher Nellius) (Australia), documentary
“The Whisper” (Director: Gustavo Hernández Ibáñez) (Uruguay, Argentina)
“La Carn” (Director: Joan Porcel) (Spain), feature film
“Barrio Triste” (Director: Stiltz) (Colombia, USA), feature film
“Intelligence Rising” (Director: Elena Andreycheva) (UK), documentary
