SXSW 2023 is taking place in Austin, Texas, right now and, as usual, it’s buzzing with the premieres of many highly-anticipated new movies and series. Famously, this year’s Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All At Once premiered at SXSW last year. Could we have another future Best Picture winner on our hands here?
We’ve rounded up some of the most talked about new movies and TV shows from SXSW 2023 that you should keep an eye on.
Top movies and TV shows from SXSW 2023
SXSW Movies
Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves
Opening the SXSW 2023 festival was Paramount’s movie adaptation of the worldwide hit game Dungeons & Dragons. The movie stars an ensemble cast that includes Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith and Hugh Grant, and opened to rave reviews at the festival, with many likening it to the spirit of Guardians of the Galaxy or Pirates of the Caribbean.
Aussies will be able to catch Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves in cinemas from March 30.
Flamin’ Hot
Eva Longoria’s feature directorial debut made its way to SXSW this year. Titled Flamin’ Hot the story follows Richard Montanez, the junior who channelled his Mexican American heritage to create the famous snack, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
Flamin’ Hot is set to release on Hulu in the US in July and, hopefully, we’ll see it on streaming here around the same time.
Joy Ride
Coming from director Adele Lim and producing powerhouse Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, Joy Ride follows four friends (played by Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu and Sabrina Wu) on a hilarious, raunchy story of identity as they embark on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Reviews have likened it to Pineapple Express, The Hangover and Bridesmaids.
Joy Ride will apparently hit cinemas in the US in July so we’ll keep an eye on an Australian release date.
Bottoms
Rachel Sennott (Bodies Bodies Bodies) and Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) team up in Emma Seligman’s (Shiva Baby) new queer teen comedy, Bottoms, which follows two friends who start a fight club at their high school in order to try and impress cheerleaders.
Bottoms debuted to near-perfect reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and it’s been hailed as a mix between Fight Club and Heathers. Quite frankly, Rachel Sennott could make paint drying interesting, so you don’t have to work hard to sell me on this one.
Problemista
Julio Torres pulls triple duty in Problemista as director, writer and star, playing spring toy designer Alejandro who takes a job assisting an erratic art-world outcast (played by Tilda Swinton) just as his work visa runs out. The film comes from A24 (and we all know that track record), plus Emma Stone also serves as a producer.
Evil Dead Rise
What is dead may never die, in the Evil Dead world at least. The latest movie in the franchise, Evil Dead Rise, debuted at SXSW to almost-perfect reviews. It tells the story of two sisters whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons. Don’t you hate it when that happens?
Bruce Campbell doesn’t star in this one but he and Sam Raimi are on board as producers.
Evil Dead Rise opens in Aussie cinemas on April 20.
Parachute
Pitch Perfect star Brittany Snow brought her directorial debut Parachute to SXSW 2023 which explores life after rehab for a teen girl troubled with body-image anxiety, who finds a new obsession in her love interest, Ethan. Yellowjackets star Courtney Eaton leads the film and has been receiving critical acclaim for her performance.
Tetris
When you think of a movie based on Tetris in this day and age you probably think of something akin to The Emoji Movie. That is not the case in Jon S. Baird’s Tetris, which plays out more as a cold-war drama as Taron Egerton’s Henk Rogers, attempts to bring Tetris to the masses during the turbulent political climate in the Soviet Union.
Tetris arrives on Apple TV+ on March 31.
BlackBerry
Speaking of interesting origin stories, we’ve seen the beginning of Apple in Jobs and Facebook in The Social Network. Now we’re getting the story of the BlackBerry, the world’s first smartphone that rose to massive success only to fall spectacularly. The movie stars Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, Matt Johnson and Cary Elwes.
The film will release in Canada this April, so keep your eye out for an Australian release date.
Air
Ben Affleck’s latest directorial feature tells the origin story of the popular Nike Air sneakers. Air reunites Affleck with his long-time collaborator Matt Damon, who plays Sonny Vaccaro, a shoe salesman who works to partner with NBA star Michael Jordan to wear Nike shoes. Air has also received positive reviews out of SXSW 2023 where it was selected as the closing night film.
Air opens in Australian cinemas on April 5.
SXSW TV Shows
American Born Chinese
TV show premieres also have a home at SXSW and in 2023 Disney+ launched its highly anticipated new series American Born Chinese. Starring recent Oscar winners Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan, American Born Chinese adapts the popular comic to television, which follows a teenager who becomes involved in a battle between the gods of Chinese mythology.
American Born Chinese streams on Disney+ from May 24.
Swarm
Coming from director and producer Donald Glover, Swarm is an exploration of obsession and fandom as a teenage girl goes to increasingly violent lengths for her favourite R&B singer. Dominique Fishback, Chloe Bailey and Damson Idris star in the series and a bonafide teenage superstar herself, Billie Eilish, even makes an appearance.
Swarm is streaming now on Prime Video.
Love & Death
Elizabeth Olsen’s new TV show Love & Death seems like it will be the next true crime series we’ll all obsess over.
Olsen stars as Candy Montgomery, who is one part of two churchgoing couples enjoying the simple life in small-town Texas. Until an affair brings one of them to pick up an axe.
Love & Death will stream on Binge in Australia from April 27.
Beef
Steven Yeun and Ali Wong star in Beef, a series that follows the aftermath of a road rage incident between two strangers, one a failing contractor and the other a self-made entrepreneur, whose feud unravels their lives and relationships.
The series will stream on Netflix from April 6.
Lucky Hank
Bob Odenkirk’s next series after Better Call Saul is Lucky Hank, where he stars as the head of the English department at a poorly underfunded high school in a working-class American town. The series holds 96% on Rotten Tomatoes right now so it’s definitely one to add to the list.
Lucky Hank is streaming on Stan.
SXSW has, once again, brought us far too much to watch in a year that is already stacked with heaps of new movies and TV series.
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