SXSW kicks off tomorrow and our team has poured over the catalog to pick 26 films out the festival's nearly 150 that are on offer. Last year's fest brought world premiere reviews of such notable films as The Disaster Artist, Small Crimes, and Baby Driver. What does this year's edition have in store? Let's get right to it and find out about just a few of the films that are about to unspool.
First Light
Jason Stone is perhaps best known for writing and directing Jay & Seth vs. The Apocalypse. While he let Seth and Evan take directing duties on the feature adaptation This is the End, Stone did make his feature directorial debut a year later with the Susan Sarandon thriller The Calling. His sophomore effort is a story he penned himself (with Andrew Erin) about a girl who goes on the run after receiving strange powers. - Ryland Aldrich
Narrative Spotlight
Operation Odessa
This docu tells the amazing true story of a gangster, a hustler, and a spy who team up to buy a Russian military submarine for a Colombian drug cartel. - Rodney Perkins
Documentary Spotlight
Most Likely to Murder
Adam Pally, Rachel Bloom, and Vincent Kartheiser star in this Lionsgate comedy about a loser in life returning to the hometown he used to rule. What awaits him is a scornful ex-girlfriend and a murder mystery. TV comedy writer Dan Gregor makes his feature directorial debut with this film he co-wrote with the film's co-star Doug Mand. - Ryland Aldrich
Narrative Spotlight
Neurotic Quest for Serenity
Kiki, an OCD-ridden TV star, struggles to keep her shit as she prepares for her role in a post-apocalyptic soap opera. This Brazilian madcap existential crisis sounds pretty damn good to me. - Zach Gayne
Narrative Spotlight
Don't Leave Home
Septien director Michael Tully returns to the horror genre with this Anna Margaret Hollyman starrer about an artist who travels to Ireland to help an aging, and possibly haunted, priest. - Ryland Aldrich
Visions
Blood Fest
While many Fantastic Fest-goers know Owen Egerton as the raucous host of the Fantastic Debates, the man is a talented filmmaker as well. He follows up his debut Follow with this Rooster Teeth-produced horror comedy about a group of horror fans hunted at a haunted horror festival. - Ryland Aldrich
Midnight
Heavy Trip
Gross-out humor and blast beats collide in this Finnish heavy metal comedy. - Rodney Perkins
24 Beats Per Second
The Unicorn
Rooney frontman, actor, and all around great dude Robert Schwartzman marks his second feature as director (after Dreamland) in this threesome comedy starring the crazy good cast of Lauren Lapkus, Nick Rutherford, Lucy Hale, Beck Bennett, Dree Hemingway, Beverly D'Angelo, John Kapelos, Maya Kazan, and Kyle Mooney. - Ryland Aldrich
Narrative Feature Competition
Relaxer
It's the eve of Y2k and one man decides he won't leave his couch until he beats Billy Mitchell's Pac Man record-- even if it takes until the apocalypse to do it. Joshua Burge stars in this new gonzo indie from The Alchemist Cookbook and Ape director Joel Potrykus. - Ryland Aldrich
Visions
Milford Graves Full Mantis
Legendary jazz percussionist Milford Graves is profiled in this reverential and beautifully executed documentary. - Rodney Perkins
24 Beats Per Second
Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story
Lenny Abrahamson's wonderful, Frank is a musical docudrama that I'll forever associate with my first SXSW four years ago. So how can I possibly miss this documentary treatment of the mad genius who kept the world out via a giant paper mache head? I can't wait for director Steve Sullivan's delivery of the real story in all its neurotic glory. - Zach Gayne
24 Beats Per Second
Prospect
This indie sci-fi about daughter who travels with her father to harvest rare gems on an alien moon looks to have style for days. It's directed by first-timers Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell and stars Sophie Thatcher, Pedro Pascal, Jay Duplass, Andre Royo, Sheila Vand, and Anwan Glover. - Ryland Aldrich
Visions
Thunder Road
Jim Cumming's Sundance winning short film gets the feature treatment in Thunder Road. If this new fleshed out work is anywhere as sincere and expertly executed as Cumming's gut-wrenching short, (which sets the feature story into motion) Thunder Road will be SXSW's standout premiere. - Zach Gayne
Narrative Feature Competition
People's Republic of Desire
This doc about people in China who compete to become streaming video superstars seems especially relevant in our age of instant internet celebrities. - Rodney Perkins
Documentary Feature Competition
A Prayer Before Dawn
Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire (Johnny Mad Dog) returns with a true-life story of a boxer who becomes a Muay Thai practitioner in prison.- Rodney Perkins
Midnighters
Elizabeth Harvest
Abbey Lee, Ciaran Hinds, and Carla Gugino star in this thriller about a newlywed and her amazing new life that holds a dark secret. It's directed by Sebastian Gutierrez. - Ryland Aldrich
Visions
Number 37
Nosipho Dumisa makes her feature directorial debut with this South African thriller that's being compared to Rear Window. - Ryland Aldrich
Global
The Ranger
Jenn Wexler has produced a ton of cool projects such as Like Me and Psychopaths in her close work with Larry Fessenden and Glass Eye Pix. Here she makes her feature directorial debut in this story of a punk who flees the city and runs head-on into a pissed off park ranger. - Ryland Aldrich
Midnight
Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes
Dick Cavett is one of the most prolific interviewers since the birth of the boob tube. While one could approach a doc on his storied career from a number of angles, director Robert Bader has chosen to outline his unique relationship with Muhammad Ali, and how the boxing hero's trials and tribulations played out from Cavett's welcoming guest chair. - Zach Gayne
Documentary Spotlight
The Breaker Upperers
Hilarious New Zealand comedy duo Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami write, direct, and star in this screwball comedy about two friends who run a business breaking up couples. It co-stars James Rolleston, who you may remember as Boy in Taika Waititi's wonderful film Boy. Oh and Taika executive produced this one too if all that's not enough. - Ryland Aldrich
Narrative Spotlight
Perfect
Eddie Alcazar, director of Flying Lotus' Fuckkkyouuu short, dives into weird sci-fi in his new feature. - Rodney Perkins
Visions
¡Las Sandinistas!
Women who fought and died for the Sandinistas tell stories about the triumphs--and failures--of the Nicaraguan revolution in this fascinating feminist documentary. - Rodney Perkins
Documentary Feature Competition
You Can Choose Your Family
Jim Gaffigan, Logan Miller, Anna Gunn, Samantha Mathis, and Alex Karpovsky star in producer Miranda Bailey's directorial debut comedy about a dad and the enormous secret he is keeping from his family(ies). - Ryland Aldrich
Narrative Spotlight
The World Before Your Feet
Who is Henry Jaglom? director Jeremy Workman turns his documentary lens on one man who is attempting to walk every block of New York City's five boroughs. The film is executive produced by Jesse Eisenberg. - Ryland Aldrich
Documentary Feature Competition
The Potential of Noise - Conny Plank
Conny Plank produced legendary albums by musical artists such as Kraftwerk, Neu!, Cluster, D.A.F., Ultravox and countless others. This doc was co-directed and co-produced by his son Stephan. - Rodney Perkins
24 Beats Per Second
Ghost Stories
This feature debut from Jeremy Dyson about a skeptical professor played by Martin Freeman who has his beliefs tested made its world premiere at the BFI London Film Fest before being picked up by IFC Midnight. - Ryland Aldrich
Midnight