South by Southwest (SXSW) has become a premier destination for groundbreaking films and television, where visionary storytellers debut projects that push creative boundaries and spark cultural conversations. This year, SXSW 2025 promises another unforgettable lineup, packed with bold debuts, innovative narratives, and boundary-pushing performances. From highly anticipated world premieres to under-the-radar discoveries poised to leave a lasting impact, the festival’s film and TV slate is brimming with stories that will captivate audiences long after they linger after the closing credits. Whether you’re looking for genre-defying experiments, heartfelt dramas, or the next cult sensation, these are the must-see projects that will set the tone for the year in film and television.
Director/Screenwriter: Alex Scharfman, Producers: Drew Houpt, Lucas Joaquin, Alex Scharfman, Lars Knudsen, Tyler Campellone, Tim Headington, Theresa Steele Page
A father and daughter accidentally hit and kill a unicorn while en route to a weekend retreat, where his billionaire boss seeks to exploit the creature’s miraculous curative properties.
Cast: Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, Richard E. Grant, Anthony Carrigan, Sunita Mani, Jessica Hynes
Screenings:
Director: Christopher Landon, Producers: Jason Blum, Michael Bay, Brad Fuller, Cameron Fuller, Screenwriters: Jillian Jacobs, Chris Roach
A widowed mother, on her first date in years, arrives at an upscale restaurant where she meets her handsome date. But their chemistry curdles as she begins being irritated and then terrorized by a series of anonymous drops to her phone.
Cast: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jacob Robinson, Ed Weeks
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Alexander Ullom, Producers: Carrie Carusone, Evan Barber
Four friends’ post-college plans are derailed when a wrong turn traps them on a never-ending backroad.
Cast: Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, Mitchell Cole
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Amy Wang, Producers: Amy Wang, Mark Ankner, Trevor Wall, Adel “Future” Nur
Desperate to fit in, an insecure Chinese American teenager undergoes experimental trans-racial surgery to become White in order to secure her chances of winning Prom Queen and the acceptance of her peers.
Cast: Shirley Chen, McKenna Grace, Vivian Wu, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Amelie Zilber, Fang Du, Elaine Hendrix, Keith Harris
Screenings:
Director: Jay Duplass, Producers: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass, Mel Eslyn, Shuli Harel, David Bonnett Jr., Michael Strassner, Drew Langer, Screenwriters: Jay Duplass, Michael Strassner
After cracking a tooth on Christmas Eve, newly sober Cliff embarks on an adventure through Baltimore with Didi, his emergency dentist.
Cast: Michael Strassner, Liz Larsen, Olivia Luccardi
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Dean Imperial, Producers: Tessa Borbridge, Dean Imperial, TJ Sansone, Andy Zolot
When a sext to the wrong number sends a group of clueless men into a panic, they recklessly dive into an all-night journey through NYC to save their friend, revealing their own misguided and toxic views on women along the way.
Cast: Christopher Tramantana, Asa James, Celester Rich, Richard Cooper, Sam Gilroy, Ron Palais, Anne Klaus, Frank Sallo, Caroline Angelica Winkler, Walter Masterson (World Premiere)
Screenings:
Director: Eli Craig, Producers: Marty Bowen, John Fischer, Wyck Godfrey, Screenwriters: Carter Blanchard, Adam Cesare, Eli Craig
A fading midwestern town in which Frendo the clown, a symbol of bygone success, reemerges as a terrifying scourge.
Cast: Katie Douglas, Will Sasso, Cassandra Potenza, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac, Verity Marks, Dylan McEwan, Daina Leitold, Vincent Muller, Kaitlyn Bacon
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Amy Landecker, Producers: Amy Landecker, Bradley Whitford, Valerie Stadler, Jenica Bergere, James Portolese
Fresh off a messy divorce, a 50-year-old sober mom tries to rebuild her life and stumbles into a new beginning after finding herself at a Gen Z wedding behaving like a 25-year-old drunk bridesmaid.
Cast: Amy Landecker, Bradley Whitford, Nico Hiraga, Gaby Hoffmann, Ken Marino, Missi Pyle, Kiersey Clemons, Claudia Sulewski, Simon Helberg, Liv Hewson
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Jing Ai Ng, Producers: Liz Daering-Glass, Gabrielle Cordero, Jing Ai Ng, Damian Bao
In Miami, siblings Raymond and Coco Zhang’s art forgery ring flourishes when they encounter a disgraced millionaire in need of their expertise. Meanwhile, FBI Art Crimes agent Emily Lee moves to Miami to investigate a series of mysterious paintings.
Cast: Kelly Marie Tran, Andie Ju, Brandon Soo Hoo, Edmund Donovan, Eva De Dominici, T. R. Knight, Jack Falahee, Sonya Walger
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Nastasya Popov, Producers: Tess Cohen, Camila Mendes, Rachel Matthews, Saba Zerehi, Nastasya Popov
In West Hollywood’s Russian district, Margarita lives out the American Dream: competing on a reality show. Will she slay, serve, or survive?
Cast: Anna Baryshnikov, Camila Mendes, Julia Fox, Benito Skinner, Saweetie, Owen Thiele, Galina Jovovich, Mark Ivanir, Nerses Stamos, Ilia Volok
Screening:
Director: Ronan Corrigan, Producers: Joann Kushner, Timur Bekmambetov, Screenwriters: Ronan Corrigan, Hope Elliott Kemp
Four teenage slackers attempt a multi-million-dollar Bitcoin heist from their bedrooms, only to spiral into the darkest corners of the internet—and a danger beyond their computer screens.
Cast: Georgie Farmer, Yasmin Finney, Roman Hayeck-Green, James Scholz, Jessica Reynolds, Charlie Creed-Miles
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Tyler Cornack, Producers: Daniel Brandt, Dane Eckerle, Cole Eckerle
A Percocet-addicted ‘Florida Man’ finds a wounded mermaid at his lowest point. Fascination becomes a drug infused, one sided relationship — sending him further into decline. When word spreads about his secret, he’ll stop at nothing to protect her.
Cast: Johnny Pemberton, Avery Potemri, Kevin Nealon, Kirk Fox, Tom Arnold, Robert Patrick, Kevin Dunn, Devyn McDowell, Tyler Rice, Julia Valentine Larson
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Daisy Friedman, Producers: Arielle Friedman, Isaak Popkin, Camila Grimaldi
A girl with a gastrointestinal disorder attends her family’s Passover Seder for the first time since being put on a feeding tube. There, she’s confronted by pushy family members, malfunctioning medical devices, and a room of food she can’t eat.
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Geremy Jasper, Producers: Michael Gottwald, Noah Stahl
Set in a post-apocalyptic future, O’Dessa is a rock opera about a farm girl on a quest to recover a family heirloom. Her journey leads her to a dangerous city, where she must use the power of destiny and song to save her true love’s soul.
Cast: Sadie Sink, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Murray Bartlett, Regina Hall, Pokey LaFarge
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Brandon Daley, Producers: Ben Gojer, Jake Bloom
Blue-collar Midwesterner Mike Alvarado attempts to save his family from the throes of poverty by investing their savings into speculative cryptocurrencies. A twitchy, hyper-contemporary comedy with equal doses of laughs and panic attacks.
Cast: Mike Kunicki, Vinny Kress, Trevor Dawkins, Kaylyn Carter
Screenings:
Director: Jillian Bell, Producers: Jeremy Garelick, Will Phelps, Molle DeBartolo, Jillian Bell, Breanna Bell-Singer, Matt Skiena, Adam Goodman, Lucas Carter, Screenwriters: Jillian Bell, Liz Nico, Jules Byrne
An awkward high school senior hires an exotic dancer to help seduce her longtime crush before graduation, leading to unexpected friendship and lessons in self-confidence, acceptance, and adulthood.
Cast: Chloe Fineman, Sam Morelos, Matt Cornett, Nicole Byer, Liza Koshy, Natalie Morales, Alex Moffat, Fernando Carsa, Paula Pell, Charlie Day
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Emma Higgins, Producers: Taj Critchlow, Daniel Quinn
When a chance encounter with her rockstar crush leads 16 year old Rylee to discover that he’s a dysfunctional drug addict, she takes it upon herself to help him, ultimately forcing her teenage fantasies into reality.
Cast: Kate Hallett, Herman Tømmeraas, Aya Furukawa, Justin Chatwin, Amanda Brugel, Steven Ogg, Julius Cho
Screenings:
Directors: Ben Ayers, Sonam Choekyi Lama, Andrew Lynch, Producers: Ian Davies, Joanna Natasegara, Torquil Jones, Tshiring Lhamu Lama
In Nepal’s remote Dolpo region, two Indigenous women form an unlikely friendship to save one of the planet’s most mysterious and vulnerable wild cats: the snow leopard.
Screenings:
Director: Kristina Kraskov, Producers: Anna Charalambous, Charlotte Wheaton, Nick Batzias
Students from around the world give it their all in the greatest competition you’ve never heard of, the Spreadsheet World Championships.
Screenings:
Director: Ben Leonberg, Producers: Kari Fischer, Ben Leonberg, Screenwriters: Alex Cannon, Ben Leonberg
Do you ever wonder why your dog stares at empty corners, barks for no reason, or refuses to go into the basement? Good Boy is the story of a dog who sees everything that goes bump in the night. No talking pets, just terrifying scares.
Cast: Indy, Shane Jensen, Larry Fessenden, Arielle Friedman, Stuart Rudin, Anya Krawcheck, Max
Screenings:
Director: Babak Anvari, Producers: Lucan Toh, Ian Henry, Richard Bolger, Screenwriter: William Gillies
Two parents enter a race against time when they receive a distressing late-night phone call from their daughter after she caused a tragic car accident.
Cast: Rosamund Pike, Matthew Rhys, Megan McDonnell
Screenings:
Director: Daniel Minahan, Producers: Peter Spears, Daniel Minahan, Tim Headington, Mollye Asher, Theresa Steele Page, Michael D’Alto, Screenwriter: Bryce Kass
Muriel and her husband Lee are about to begin a bright new life, which is upended by the arrival of Lee’s brother. Muriel embarks on a secret life, gambling on racehorses and discovering a love she never thought possible.
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter, Diego Calva, Sasha Calle
Screening:
Showrunners: Ramy Youssef, Pam Brady, Directors: Griffith Kimmins, Hannah Ayoubi, Maaike Maliwanag Scherff, Producers: Ramy Youssef, Pam Brady, Andy Campagna, Mona Chalabi, Josh Rabinowitz, Ravi Nandan, Hallie Sekoff, Alli Reich, Screenwriters: Ramy Youssef, Pam Brady, Josh Rabinowitz, Theresa Mulligan Rosenthal
#1 Happy Family USA follows the Husseins – the most patriotic, most peaceful, and most definitely-not-suspicious Muslim family in post-9/11 “Amreeka” as they navigate the early 2000s under the watchful eyes of their terrified neighbors.
Cast: Ramy Youssef, Mandy Moore, Chris Redd, Alia Shawkat, Kieran Culkin, Akaash Singh, Salma Hindy, Whitmer Thomas, Randa Jarrar
Screening:
Director: Lucy Gaffy, Producers: Aoife O’Sullivan, Tristan Orpen Lynch, Angie Fielder, Polly Staniford, Screenwriter: Jo Spain
In Sheffield, 1989, teens Daniel and Alison meet at a house party, and bond over their love for music. The relationship they forge that night will follow them forever, and leave them wondering what could have been. Twenty years later, they reconnect.
Cast: Jim Sturgess, Teresa Palmer, Florence Hunt, Rory Walton-Smith
Screening:
Showrunner/Screenwriter: Joanna Leeds, Director: Andrew Leeds, Producers: Joanna Leeds, Andrew Leeds, Rhett Reese, Caleb Reese, Michael Day
Bulldozer is a comedy about a lovable, under-medicated, chronically impassioned young woman who lurches from crisis to crisis of her own making.
Cast: Joanna Leeds, Mary Steenburgen, Nat Faxon, Harvey Guillen, Allen Leech, Kate Burton, Chris “CP” Powell, Tim Bagley, Adargiza De Los Santos, Andrew Friedman, Nick Armstrong
Screenings:
Showrunner/Screenwriter: Joe Tierney, Director: Kat Whalen, Producers: Joe Tierney, Nicole Kay Payson, Colin McCarthy
A rebellious teenager is sent to a therapeutic boarding school with controversial methods where the treatment of a fellow classmate on his first day makes the consequences of his actions frighteningly clear.
Cast: Sarah Jeffery, Andrew Michael Fama, Debbie Campbell, Lexi Simonsen, Bob Gallagher, Marvin St-Jean, Stephen Gray, Timothy Griffin Allan
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Scott Tinkham, Producers: Michael Woloson, Scott Tinkham
A guy has an existential awakening after reading the hit book Tuesdays with Morrie.
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Emma Weinswig, Producers: Will Noyce, Emma Weinswig, Shane Bagwell, Chelsea Eisen
Ben, a charismatic fuckboy, must wrestle with his own toxic masculine tendencies when his Freshman sister becomes a pawn in his friend’s scheme to win their high school Senior Scavenger Hunt.
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Andy Reid, Producer: Alessandra Sconza
While rehearsing a sexual assault scene, a pair of actors form a connection they’ll be forced to reconfigure once filming begins.
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Cam Banfield, Producers: Greg Cohen, Lucas Ford
A corporate employee finds himself in a fight to survive Monday morning after breaking the most sacred of office rules: If you don’t have a good weekend, we can’t have a good week.
Screenings:
Director: Winnie Cheung, Screenwriters: Andujar Twins, Winnie Cheung, Producers: Weston Auburn, Travis Wood, Celia Au, Amanda Kreuger
A motorcycle rebel spirals deeper into her erotic hallucinations to escape the grip of a sultry serpent woman.
Screenings:
Director: Bianca Poletti, Screenwriter: Allison Goldfarb, Producer: Stine Moisen
Two outcasts who work at a small town’s local video store must solve the mysteries of the town’s dark past when one of them goes missing. Will Hannah find her way to Jules or will she, too, become just another flickering image on the screen?
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Julia Max, Producers: Mia Chang, Lovell Holder, Julia Max, Ian McDonald, Robert J. Ulrich
When the family patriarch dies, a grieving mother and daughter risk their lives to perform a brutal resurrection ritual that will bring him back from the dead.
Cast: Colby Minifie, Kate Burton, Neil Sandilands, Vaughn Armstrong, Mia Ellis, Pete Ploszek, Chelsea Alden, Alaina Pollack, Riley Rose Critchlow, Lola Prince Kelly
Screenings:
Director/Screenwriter: Leela Varghese, Producer: Suriyna Sivashanker
When Lali unexpectedly ends up on a date with another woman of color for the first time, it unravels prejudices she has long ignored.
Screenings:
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