Every March, filmmakers, actors, critics, industry professionals, and most importantly, film lovers, flock to Austin, Texas, for 10 days to attend SXSW Film & TV Festival. This year’s festival (along with SXSW’s separate technology convention and music festival) took over the city during spring break (March 7-15), busying every street with a new adventure. On the film side, that meant spending every night watching whichever movie was having its world premiere at the Paramount Theatre (past premieres have included “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Baby Driver,” and “A Quiet Place,” to name a few) where the audience’s reactions are so lively they even make bad films worth watching. Excited anticipation radiated from the long lines of cinephiles waiting outside the festival’s theatres, some who were in line for their third movie of the day. While the festival has specific sections for certain types of films (for example, a “24 Beats Per Second” category which highlights upbeat depictions of music and culture), I have crafted my own categories to recap a few of the films featured at this year’s festival.

Anna Dorsey | Staff Illustrator

My Teenage Obsessions on the Big Screen 

“Slanted”: Prom queen — the ultimate status that the typical American high school girl could be given. It’s also all Joan Huang (Shirley Chen) has ever wanted. But one obstacle lies in her way: she’s one of the few (if not the only) Chinese seniors at her town’s all-American high school situated in the heart of Texas. To achieve her dreams, Joan undergoes a medical procedure to become white. While some audiences might be quick to dismiss “Slanted” as another overly woke, substance-less satire, director Amy Wang explores the layers of white privilege and the immigrant experience through the eyes of a teenage girl struggling with one of the deepest and truest depictions of teenage body dysmorphia and otherness in film.

“Sweetness”: 16-year-old Rylee (Kate Hallett) fortuitously encounters Payton Adler (Herman Tømmeraas), her longtime rockstar crush who also happens to be a drug addict (classic). Rylee strongly believes that she can fix him, but despite her good intentions, she wreaks havoc on Payton’s life and her own, turning this elevated Harry Styles fanfic into a heart-racing thriller riddled with teenage angst, heavy eyeshadow, and a closet full of Urban Outfitters.

“American Sweatshop”: Daisy (Lili Reinhart) works as a social media moderator, spending her days sifting through the internet’s most grotesque and vile pieces of content. After coming across a harrowing post, she sets off on an obsessive vigilante mission. While the film presents audiences with a side of social media that’s rarely seen (and that perhaps we’d really rather ignore), the plot drags after the shock factor of her job has worn off. However, most audience members are probably going to think twice the next time they open Instagram or TikTok after watching this film.

Anna Dorsey | Staff Illustrator

Films Where the Main Character Runs into a Glass Door (More than Once!)

“Friendship”: A middle-aged white dad just wants to be friends with his new neighbor! Craig (Tim Robinson) will do anything it takes to be Austin’s (Paul Rudd) friend, even if it means venturing down sewer pipes to prove his allegiance to his friend-crush. Overall, Craig is just a lonely guy who pretends everything’s okay when really, it’s not. He’s perfectly relatable and he also runs into a glass door… multiple times. “Friendship” hits theaters in May 2025.

“One More Shot”: It’s New Year’s Eve and Minnie (Emily Browning) just wants to reignite a past situationship. We all know that never leads to anything good, especially when her quest to get back with him involves a bottle of time-traveling Mexican tequila. In what was probably the most fun-filled and feel-good movie at the festival this year, Minnie repeatedly runs into a glass door (accidentally and on purpose). 

Anna Dorsey | Staff Illustrator

Next Cate(gore)y: Body Horror

“Death of a Unicorn”: While en route to his billionaire boss’s mansion for a weekend getaway, Elliot (Paul Rudd) and his daughter (Jenna Ortega) accidentally hit a unicorn. They’ll soon find out that the creature is not only magical, but highly profitable. From then on, several heads are crushed, guts are ripped out by the mouth of a unicorn, and bodies are torn apart by unicorn horns. A star-studded cast (which also includes Will Poulter, Richard E. Grant, and Téa Leoni) and a blessing of unicorn puppets carry an otherwise average plot in this unicorn slasher. “Death of a Unicorn” hits theaters on March 28, 2025.

“The Surrender”: A grieving wife (Kate Burton) ropes her daughter (Colby Minifie) into a ritual to bring back her husband from the dead. Minifie (known for her portrayal of Ashley in “The Boys”) delivers a raw, striking performance in this supernatural horror that combines grief and suffering with body horror. Self-mutilation like you’ve never seen before! “The Surrender” will be available for streaming on Shudder on May 23, 2025.

“Ash”: “Ash” is the latest artistic endeavor by artist and director Flying Lotus, and it’s nothing more than pure adrenaline and body horror. A space captain wakes up to find that her whole crew has been (not so) mysteriously murdered in this film that feels like a drawn-out video game cutscene. The plot, however, is suffocated by an acute focus on low-budget but terrifying special effects that are accentuated by a colorful lighting design and original score by FlyLo himself. “Ash” totally sidesteps an engaging plot to focus on the novelty of melting faces, bloody murders, and riveting jumpscares: all good things for the gore-lovers out there. “Ash” is in theaters now.

Anna Dorsey | Staff Illustrator

Where Was the Editor?

Out of the office: “The Age of Disclosure”

In this two-hour documentary, 34 senior U.S. government officials (some retired, some still in office) discuss government concealment of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs, commonly known as UFOs), with the goal of revealing America’s UAP disinformation campaign. By exploring the highly stigmatized topic of aliens, director Dan Farah crafts a compelling argument for the national security threat posed by UAPs, amongst many other concerns. However, a documentary that could’ve been an engaging, one-hour segment felt more like an unedited, redundant, never-ending propaganda stint.

Occasionally on vacation: “The Rivals of Amziah King”

Actor Angelina LookingGlass leads a wonderfully joyous ensemble in this tribute to both Texan pride and beekeepers. This crime semi-thriller follows Kateri (LookingGlass), the ex-foster daughter of Amziah King (Matthew McConaughey). King is a well-loved beekeeper whose bee colonies are stolen. What would’ve come together beautifully in an episodic format is a plot that otherwise feels awkwardly paced, with acts that felt disconnected. If the film’s pacing didn’t feel like a syncopated beat, this would’ve been one of my favorite films at SXSW. 

Locked in: “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie”

This ambitious, mockumentary-style comedy, filmed over the course of almost two decades, follows Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol as they try — through extreme measures — to get a gig at the Rivoli, a Toronto nightclub. The editing impressively weaves together some of the most chaotic footage to grace this year’s SXSW screens. The editors stitched footage from 2006 through 2025 along with over 200 days of compiled footage to weave a master tapestry that became “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.”