This year, South by Southwest is bringing the music to you.
The Austin, Texas-based film, music and technology festival — which will be digital this year — announced its film slate on Wednesday afternoon. Reflecting the musical identity of its home city, the festival will headlined by a trio of music documentaries.
The opening night film will be “Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil,” a YouTube Originals documentary directed by Michael D. Ratner. The film will explore the lead-up to the pop singer’s 2018 overdose and subsequent recovery. “Alone Together,” directed by Bradley Bell and Pablo Jones-Soler, is the festival’s closing night film, and follows singer Charli XCX as she records an album in 40 days while in quarantine. And mid-festival, Mary Wharton will premiere her documentary “Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free,” which draws from newly discovered archival footage of the singer making his 1994 record “Wildflowers.”
The film festival runs online from March 16 to 20, and will feature 57 world premieres, three international premieres and four North American premieres. Films in the festival’s narrative feature competition include: “Here Before” directed by Stacey Gregg; “I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking)” directed by Kelley Kali and Angelique Molina; “Islands” directed by Martin Edralin; “Our Father” directed by Bradley Grant Smith; “Potato Dreams of America” directed by Wes Hurley; “The End of Us” directed by Henry Loevner, Steven Kanter; “The Fallout” directed by Megan Park, and “Women Is Losers” directed by Lissette Feliciano.
Last year’s SXSW festival was canceled a few days before it was scheduled to begin, marking the beginning of widespread pandemic closures across the U.S. in March.
