Although Satisfaction isn’t always an easy film to watch, it remains steeped in uncomfortable beauty even at its darkest moments. In writer-director Alex Burunova’s feature debut, Emma Laird and Fionn Whitehead star as couple Lola and Philip, two British composers struggling to get through a…

As Hollywood finds its footing in a post-strike world, indies like The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick are shattering the industry’s arbitrary rules of filmmaking. Following the film’s SXSW premiere this month, the film’s star and co-writer Zoë Chao told Deadline she felt “really baked…

BUNNYSection: Narrative Feature CompetitionDirector: Ben JacobsonScreenwriter: Mo Stark, Ben Jacobson, Stefan MarolachakisLogline: Bunny is a hustler out on a job when things go sideways and he’s thrown into a fight for his life. With the help of his best friend Dino, this fight kicks off one hot…

Writer, director and actress Annapurna Sriram’s celluloid fever dream has won over audiences at SXSW. With her feature directorial debut Fucktoys, which won the fest’s Special Jury Award for a Multi-Hyphenate, Sriram told Deadline she hopes to make right-wing audiences “accidentally fall in love&#8221…

Shudder said Wednesday that it has acquired rights to The Surrender, writer-director Julia Max’s supernatural horror that just had its world premiere in the Midnighter section at SXSW. The streamer will release it in North America, UK/Ireland and Australia/New Zealand on May 23. Colby Minifie (Th…

Although LGBTQ representation was few and far in between among the headliners at this year’s SXSW, several indie darlings broke the industry's cis-heteronormative mold to stand out. From Special Jury Award winner Fucktoys, multi-hyphenate Annapurna Sriram’s bold celluloid fever dream of a…

Going into full anti-MSM mode, Justin Baldoni is determined that the New York Times will not get itself dismissed from the It Ends With Us star and director's sprawling $400 million and counting legal brawl with Blake Lively. "This dispute should be resolved by a jury at trial," a wide-ranging M…

SXSW on Monday said that Matthew Shear’s Fantasy Life, Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal’s reteam The Accountant 2 and Paige Bethmann’s documentary Remaining Native were among the big winners of the 32nd annual festival’s Audience Awards. The news of the honors across the Austin fest’s competition…

SATISFACTIONSection: Narrative SpotlightScreenwriter-Director: Alex BurunovaLogline: Set against the stunning Greek isles, Satisfaction is a nuanced psychological drama that unravels the fragile bond between British composers Lola and Philip. Their relationship lingers in silence as Lola struggles to…

IDIOTKASection: Narrative SpotlightScreenwriter-Director: Nastasya PopovLogline: In West Hollywood's Russian immigrant district, Margarita lives out the American Dream: competing on a reality show. Will she slay, serve, or survive?Panelists: Nastasya Popov, Anna Baryshnikov, Camila MendesSales Agent:…

The 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival kicked off Friday, March 7 in Austin with world and North American premieres of movies in 11 sections, TV shows in three sections and several short film and virtual reality programs. This year’s festival launched with opening-night film Another Simple Favor…

One of the unexpected pleasures of this year’s vast SXSW slate of movies is Bunny, a kind of zany comic throwback to extreme indie New York City-centric movies that find a manic energy and rhythm that lets them exist on their own breathless cloud, with…