The 2026 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival took place from March 12–18 at several venues in Austin, Texas, as part of the larger South by Southwest annual event. The festival opened with the film I Love Boosters.
Feature films Headliner English titleDirector(s)Production country I Love Boosters Boots Riley United States Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice BenDavid Grabinski Over Your Dead Body Jorma Taccone Pretty Lethal Vicky Jewson United Kingdom, United States Ready or Not 2: Here I Come Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett United States They Will Kill You Kirill Sokolov
Narrative Feature Competition English titleDirector(s)Production country Brian Will Ropp United States Edie Arnold Is a Loser Megan Rico and Kade Atwood Mallory's Ghost Arabella Oz Plantman & Blondie: A Dress Up Gang Film Robb Boardman Seahorse Aisha Evelyna Canada Sender Russell Goldman United States The Snake Jenna MacMillan Canada Wishful Thinking Graham Parkes United States
Documentary Feature Competition English titleDirector(s)Production country The Ascent Edward John Drake, Scott Veltri, and Francis Cronin United States The Last Critic Matty Wishnow The Life We Leave JJ Gerber My NDA Juliane Dressner and Miriam Shor Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real Life Superhero Bayan Joonam Stormbound Miko Lim Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story Ayden Mayeri #WhileBlack Sidney Fussell and Jennifer Holness Canada, United States
Narrative Spotlight English titleDirector(s)Production country Anima Brian Tetsuro Ivie United States Basic Chelsea Devantez United States Beast Race Ernesto Solis Rodrigo Pesavento, and Fernando Meirelles Brazil Campeón Gabacho Jonás Cuarón Mexico Chili Finger Edd Benda and Stephen Helstad United States Crash Land Dempsey Bryk Canada Dead Deer High Jo Rochelle United States Downbeat Danny Madden DreamQuil Alex Prager United Kingdom, United States Family Movie Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon United States Forbidden Fruits Meredith Alloway The Fox Dario Russo Australia He Bled Neon Drew Kirsch United States Kill Me Peter Warren Love Language Joey Power Mam Nan Feix France Normal Ben Wheatley United States, Canada Pizza Movie Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher United States Poetic License Maude Apatow Power Ballad John Carney United States, Ireland A Safe Distance Gloria Mercer Canada Same Same but Different Lauren Noll United States The Saviors Kevin Hamedani Seekers of Infinite Love Victoria Strouse Sparks Fergus Campbell The Sun Never Sets Joe Swanberg Their Town Katie Aselton Ugly Cry Emily Robinson
Documentary Spotlight English titleDirector(s)Production country Adam's Apple Amy Jenkins United States Amazing Live Sea Monkeys Mark Becker Baby/Girls Alyse Walsh and Jackie Jesko Black Zombie Maya Annik Bedward Canada My Brother's Killer Rachel Mason United States Capturing Bigfoot Marq Evans Ceremony Banchi Hanuse Canada Cornbread Mafia Evan Mascagni and Drew Morris United States The Dads Luchina Fisher Drift Deon Taylor First They Came for My College Patrick Bresnan I Got Bombed at Harvey's Amy Bandlien Storkel and Bryan Storkel Manhood Daniel Lombroso One Another Amber Love Serling Jonah Tulis Summer of '94 Dave LaMattina and Chad N. Walker #Skyking Patricia Gillespie The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson Marina Zenovich The Way We Move Vanessa Dumont and Nicolas Davenel Your Attention Please Sara Robin
Midnighter English titleDirector(s)Production country American Dollhouse John Valley United States Drag Raviv Ullman and Greg Yagolnitzer Fifteen Jack Zagha and Yossy Zagha Argentina, Mexico Grind Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty, and Chelsea Stardust United States Hokum Damian McCarthy United States, Ireland Imposters Caleb J. Phillips United States Monitor Matt Black and Ryan Polly Never After Dark Dave Boyle
Festival Favorite English titleDirector(s)Production country The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell United States American Doctor Poh Si Teng United States, State of Palestine, Malaysia, Qatar Big Girls Don't Cry Paloma Schneideman New Zealand Buddy Casper Kelly United States Chasing Summer Josephine Decker Cookie Queens Alysa Nahmias Erupcja Pete Ohs United States, Poland Joybubbles Rachael J. Morrison United States Leviticus Adrian Chiarella Australia Obsession Curry Barker United States The Oldest Person in the World Sam Green Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story Judd Apatow and Neil Berkeley See You When I See You Jay Duplass Idiots Macon Blair Rock Springs Vera Miao United States, Canada Time and Water Sara Dosa United States, Iceland
Visions English titleDirector(s)Production country And Her Body Was Never Found Polaris Banks United States Bagworm Oliver Bernsen Beyond The Duplex Planet Beth Harrington Daughters of the Forest: Mycelium Chronicles Otilia Portillo Padua Mexico Dead Eyes Richard E. Williams Australia Perfect Millicent Hailes United States Sinner Supper Club Daisy Rosato and Nora Kaye The Peril at Pincer Point Jake Kuhn and Noah Stratton-Twine United Kingdom
24 Beats Per Second English titleDirector(s)Production country Agridulce (Bittersweet) Frank Pavich United States, Dominican Republic A Cowboy in London Jared L. Christopher United States Jack Johnson: SURFILMUSIC Emmett Malloy Lainey Wilson: Keepin' Country Cool Amy Scott Los Lobos Native Sons Doug Blush and Piero F. Giunti The Man with the Big Hat Austin Sayre Mile End Kicks Chandler Levack Canada Noah Kahan: Out of Body Nick Sweeney United States The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel Ben Feldman Stages Ryan Booth We Are The Shaggs Ken Kwapis
Global English titleDirector(s)Production country Apolo Isis Broken and Tainá Müller Brazil Do You Love Me Lana Daher Lebanon Mickey Dano García Mexico Scarlet Girls Paula Cury Dominican Republic, Germany, Mexico Thanks for Nothing Stella Marie Markert Germany
Short films Narrative Short Competition English titleDirector(s)Production country Achiever Charlie Traisman United States Best Friends with the Devil Hugo de Sousa Buah Jen Nee Lim Singapore Can I Put You On Hold James Cutler United States Copy, Save Alyssa Loh Dua Ji YuHan Tsai Gamberra Marine Auclair March Spain Gender Studies Jamie Kiernan O'Brien United States I Saw You In The Flood Kevin Xian Ming Yu Imago Ariel Zengotita Marga en el DF Gabriela Ortega A Shot at Art Ilke Paddenburg Netherlands Souvenir Renée Marie Petropoulos Australia Stairs Riley Donigan United States Supper Savannah Braswell Talk Me Joecar Hanna Them That's Not Mekhai Lee Visitors Minnie Schedeen Vomit Roi Cydulkin We Were Here Pranav Bhasin India
Documentary Short Competition English titleDirector(s)Production country Air Horse One Lasse Linder Belgium, Switzerland Divorce Resort Coby Becker United States Eructation Victoria Trow Glacier's Requiem Saddiq Abubakar United Kingdom He's Out There Kurt Andrew Schneider United States How To Catch A Butterfly Kiriko Mechanicus Netherlands I Got My Brother Victor K. Gabriel United States In the Morning Sun Serville Poblete Canada, Philippines A New Inferno Nita Blum-Reddick and Jonathan Pickett United States Not Scared, Just Sad Isabelle Mecattaf Bulgaria, Lebanon A Wolf in the Suburbs Amélie Hardy Canada Yiyíists'ą́ą́' (Listen) Malakye Zaayin Tsosie United States
Animated Short Competition English titleDirector(s)Production country Hag Anna Ginsburg United Kingdom Im Auto Tapes und Butterbrot Kiana Naghshineh Germany In The Beginning Ala Nunu Poland, Portugal, Spain Paper Trail Don Hertzfeldt United States Praying Mantis Joe Hsieh Taiwan Tell Me When You Get Home Tshay United States What We Leave Behind Jean-Sébastien Hamel, Alexandra Myotte Canada
Midnight Short Competition English titleDirector(s)Production country Jealous People Are Ugly People Theo James Krekis United Kingdom Man Eating Pussy Emily Lawson United States Mantis Stream! Like & Subscribe Lincoln Robisch and Sarah Maerten The Seeing Eye Dog Who Saw Too Much Eric Jackowitz A Stable Marriage Josephine Decker Tongue Lim Da Seul South Korea Wax Alexandre Forgues Canada
Texas Short Competition English titleDirector(s)Production country Forcefield of Love Liz Moskowitz United States Freedom At Stake Raeshem Nijhon and Stacey Young A Fragile Vessel Samuel Díaz Fernández Shut The Fuck Up When We Speak Ryan Darbonne Stalin Boys Ora DeKornfeld and Bianca Giaever Winter Ceremony Sidi Wang
Television TV Premiere English titleCreated byProduction country The Audacity Jonathan Glatzer United States The Dark Wizard Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen Margo's Got Money Troubles David E. Kelley Monsters of God Jeremy McBride
TV Spotlight English titleCreated byProduction country The Comeback Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King United States They Called Us Outlaws - The Cosmic Cowboys, Honky Tonk Heroes and Rise of Redneck Rock Eric Geadelmann and Kelly Magelky Woodstockers Corbin Bernsen
Independent TV Competition English titleCreated byProduction country Are We Still Married? Kit Steinkellner United States Birth is For P*ssies Hannah Shealy Codependent Wade McElhaney and Weston McElhaney Cold Call Emma Lenderman and Elise Kibler In My Blood Alex Bendo Son of a Bikram Ash T and Johnny Rey Diaz
References