SXSW Unveils Its Selection

02/04/2022 – The program of the American festival, which returns in March in its physical form (with some online adjustments), is dotted with European titles. It will present a total of 99 feature films

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irish actress Antonia Campbell-Hughes‘ directorial debut, It Is in Us All [+lire aussi :
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interview : Antonia Campbell-Hughes
fiche film]is the standout European film set to screen in the Narrative Feature Competition at SXSW (the 29th edition of which will unspool from 11-20 March), where it will be world-premiered. The movie, starring Cosmo Jarvis, Claes Bang and Campbell-Hughes herself, tells the story of a formidable man forced to confront his self-destructive instincts after being involved in a violent car crash. Campbell-Hughes also wrote the project, which is part of Screen Ireland‘s POV programme, aimed at enabling distinctive Irish voices with a passion to tell stories on the big screen.

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Also in the Narrative Feature Competition is Vasilisa Kuzmina‘s Nika, which tells the story of a 27-year-old former child prodigy struggling with her past, present and future. Other European features at the event include the international premiere of Reggie Yates‘UK hit Pirates [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film]which is set in the UK’s garage scene on New Year’s Eve 1999, and the world premiere of Jeff Baena‘s Italian-US co-production Spin Me Roundabout the manager (Alison Brie) of an Italian restaurant chain in America who wins the “trip of a lifetime” to Italy.

The Midnighters section includes Kirill Sokolov‘s No Looking Back [+lire aussi :
interview : Kirill Sokolov
fiche film] (Russia), which sees three generations of warring women facing off, and the US premiere of Brendan Muldowney‘s The Cellar [+lire aussi :
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interview : Brendan Muldowney
fiche film] (Belgium/Ireland), set in a haunted house (see the news).

Augusto Sandino‘s Colombian-Czech-Norwegian production A Vanishing Fog [+lire aussi :
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interview : Augusto Sandino
fiche film], which unfolds in the endangered Paramo of Sumapaz, will play in the Visions section. Also playing in this strand is Teemu Nikki‘s award-winning Finish action-thriller The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic [+lire aussi :
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interview : Teemu Nikki et Jani Pösö
interview : Teemu Nikki, Jani Pösö et …
fiche film].

Music has always been part and parcel of SXSW, and this year is no different: in the 24 Beats Per Second strand is the world premiere of Ana Sofia Fonseca‘s documentary Cesaria Evora (Cabo Verde/Portugal); Tim Mackenzie-Smith‘s Getting It Back: The Story Of Cymande (UK); Sophie Robinson and Dunstan Bruce‘s I Get Knocked Down (UK), about Bruce’s attempts to refine the anarchistic mojo he has as the front man of Chumbawamba; and In the Court of the Crimson King (UK), about the band King Crimson.

Global Presented by MUBI will introduce the world premiere of Faeze Azizkhani‘s The Locust (Iran/Germany) more Women Do Cry [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
interview : Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova
fiche film] (Bulgaria/France) by Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova.

Finally, playing in the Narrative Shorts Competition are Manolis Mavris‘ Brutalia, Days of Labour (Belgium/Greece), Leo Bern‘s Censor of Dreams (France), Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor‘s For Love (UK) and Sean Lionadh‘s Too Rough (UK).