South by Southwest starts tomorrow, March 10, 2023, and closes on March 19, 2023. SXSW is an multidisciplinary festival featuring music, comedy, emerging technology, film, television, and art exhibitions based in Austin, Texas. This festival-conference combo brings together artists who are on the cutting edge of their relative field and allows for jack-of-all trades artists like Donald Glover to take center stage. Of such talents, here is a round-up of B.C.-made films, documentaries, and music videos featured at SXSW:
WITH LOVE AND A MAJOR ORGAN
WITH LOVE AND A MAJOR ORGAN
Narrative Feature directed by Kim Albright
Genre(s): Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi
In a world where everyone’s heart is an object and there’s a strong societal pressure to dampen emotion, lonely Virtual Insurance broker Anabel always follows her heart. At odds with this overly pragmatic society, and after a series of devastating emotional blows, she rips her heart from her chest and gives it to a man she’s fallen for, the strangely unfeeling George. Unburdened by her unique yet cumbersome heart, Anabel finds life easier. George, on the other hand, begins to feel everything, to the shock of his overbearing mother, Mona. Anabel soon realizes she needs to get her heart back if she’s going to survive. (Programming descriptions are generated by participants.)
UNTIL BRANCHES BEND
UNTIL BRANCHES BEND
Narrative Feature directed by Sophie Jarvis
Genre(s): Drama
Robin lives with her sister Laney in the idyllic orchard town of Montague. While at work at the fruit packing house, she finds a insect that she believes to be invasive. When her boss Dennis brushes away her concerns, Robin goes public with her finding. The reaction is swift: the factory shuts down, the farms are placed under quarantine, and the majority of the people in Montague find themselves unemployed with Robin to blame. Meanwhile, Robin has been struggling to get an abortion. Unable to take control of her own body, she devotes herself entirely to finding proof that the bug she found was real. The parallel between these two invasions becomes clear as she loses herself in her obsession. (Programming descriptions are generated by participants.)
Amanda Sum – “Different than Before”
Amanda Sum – “Different than Before”
Music Video directed by Mayumi Yoshida
Genre(s): Singer-Songwriter
An Asian family celebrating at a Chinese restaurant for their daughter’s engagement joyfully sing karaoke on stage when suddenly a group of racist hecklers shout at them. The head of the family, usually quiet and reserved, gets up on stage to sing next. Through a dreamscape fantasy and a montage of childhood flashbacks, the father is transformed into mega pop star “Baba”, and finds his courage to be the force needed for good. He snaps back to reality, back to the restaurant, and back to the hecklers in the room. With a newfound sense of urgency, the father confronts the hecklers and rallies the entire restaurant of onlookers to boot them out. (Programming descriptions are generated by participants.)
SATAN WANTS YOU
SATAN WANTS YOU
Documentary directed by Sean Horlor & Steve J. Adams
Genre(s): Crime, Documentary, Horror, Hybrid, Mystery
Satan Wants You tells the untold story of how the Satanic Panic of the 1980s was ignited by Michelle Remembers, a lurid memoir by psychiatrist Larry Pazder and his patient Michelle Smith. Supported by the Catholic Church, the bestselling book relied on recovered-memory therapy to uncover Michelle’s childhood abduction by baby-stealing Satanists. Amplified by law enforcement and America’s Daytime TV boom, satanic rumors spread through panic-stricken communities across the world, leaving a wave of destruction and wrongful convictions in their wake. This film digs deep into the roots of moral panics and cult conspiracies, showing how these events still affect and distort our reality today. (Programming descriptions are generated by participants.)
Discover the complete film schedule here!
