The 2022 South by Southwest Film Festival, also known as 2022 SXSW Film Festival took place from March 11 to 20 at several venues in Austin, Texas, as part of the larger South by Southwest annual event. It marks the first in-person festival since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Science fiction film Everything Everywhere All at Once opened the festival. It became the first film to premiere at the festival and later win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The festival was closed with the premiere episode of the third season of Atlanta.
Official selection Headliners TitleDirector(s)Production country Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood Richard LinklaterUnited States Atlanta Hiro Murai Bodies Bodies Bodies Halina Reijn Everything Everywhere All at Once Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert The Lost City Aaron and Adam Nee The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Tom Gormican
Narrative Feature Competition TitleDirector(s)Production country A Lot of Nothing Mo McRaeUnited States I Love My Dad James Morosini It Is in Us All Antonia Campbell-Hughes Ireland Linoleum Colin West United States Nika Vasilisa Kuzmina Russia Seriously Red Gracie Otto Australia Slash/Back Nyla Innuksuk Canada Soft & Quiet Beth de Araújo United States
Documentary Feature Competition TitleDirector(s)Production country Bad Axe David Siev United States Clean Lachlan McLeod Australia It's Quieter in the Twilight Billy MiossiUnited States Mama Bears Daresha Kyi Master of Light Rosa Ruth Boesten The Pez Outlaw Amy and Bryan Storkel Spaz Scott Leberecht The Thief Collector Allison Otto
Narrative Spotlight TitleDirector(s)Production country Gone in the Night Eli HorowitzUnited States Lover, Beloved Michael Tully Me Little Me Elizabeth Ayiku Millie Lies Low Michelle Savill New Zealand Pirates Reggie Yates United Kingdom The Prank Maureen BharoochaUnited States Pretty Problems Kestrin Pantera Spin Me Round Jeff Baena Italy, United States Stay the Night Renuka Jeyapalan Canada To Leslie Michael Morris United States
Documentary Spotlight TitleDirector(s)Production country Crows are White Ahsen NadeemUnited States Diamond Hands: The Legend of WallStreetBets Drea Cooper, Zackary Canepari Facing Nolan Bradley Jackson Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down Julie Cohen, Betsy West The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks Reginald Harkema Canada Mickey: The Story of a Mouse Jeff MalmbergUnited States More Than Robots Gillian Jacobs Nothing Lasts Forever Jason Kohn Shouting Down Midnight Gretchen Stoeltje Skate Dreams Jessica Edwards Split at the Root Linda Goldstein Knowlton Still Working 9 to 5 Camille Hardman, Gary Lane Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off Sam Jones Under the Influence Casey Neistat We Are Not Ghouls Chris James Thompson We Feed People Ron Howard What We Leave Behind Iliana Sosa A Woman on the Outside Lisa Riordan Seville, Zara Katz Your Friend, Memphis David Zucker
Midnighters TitleDirector(s)Production country Bitch Ass Bill Posley United States The Cellar Brendan Muldowney Ireland, Belgium Deadstream Vanessa and Joseph WinterUnited States Hypochondriac Addison Heimann No Looking Back Kirill Sokolov Russia Sissy Hannah Barlow, Kane Senes Australia Watcher Chloe Okuno United States, United Arab Emirates X Ti West United States
Festival Favorites TitleDirector(s)Production country 2nd Chance Ramin BahraniUnited States 32 Sounds Sam Green Aftershock Paula Eiselt, Tonya Lewis Lee The Art of Making It Kelcey Edwards Boycott Julia Bacha Cha Cha Real Smooth Cooper Raiff Descendant Margaret Brown Emergency Carey Williams Fire of Love Sara Dosa Marcel the Shell with Shoes On Dean Fleischer Camp Master Mariama Diallo TikTok, Boom. Shalini Kantayya
Visions TitleDirector(s)Production country The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic Teemu Nikki Finland Chee$e Damian Marcano Trinidad and Tobago, United States Jethica Pete Ohs United States Self-Portrait Joële Walinga Canada Sell/Buy/Date Sarah Jones United States Shadow Bruce Gladwin Australia The Unknown Country Morrisa Maltz United States A Vanishing Fog Augusto Sandino Colombia, Czech Republic, Norway
24 Beats Per Second TitleDirector(s)Production country Anonymous Club Danny Cohen Australia Cesária Évora Ana Sofia Fonseca Cabo Verde, Portugal Dio: Dreamers Never Die Don Argott, Demian Fenton United States Getting It Back: The Story Of Cymande Tim Mackenzie-SmithUnited Kingdom I Get Knocked Down Sophie Robinson, Dunstan Bruce In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50 Toby Amies Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story Frank Marshall, Ryan SuffernUnited States Look At Me: XXXTentacion Sabaah Folayan The Mojo Manifesto: The Life and Times of Mojo Nixon Matt Eskey Omoiyari: A Song Film by Kishi Bashi Kaoru Ishibashi, Justin Taylor Smith Really Good Rejects Alice Gu The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile Kathlyn Horan Santos - Skin to Skin Kathryn Golden Sheryl Amy Scott This Much I Know to Be True Andrew Dominik
Global TitleDirector(s)Production country The Locust Faeze Azizkhani Iran, Germany Public Toilet Africa Kofi Ofosu-Yeboah Ghana Raquel 1:1 Mariana Bastos Brazil Without Prescription Juliana Maite Puerto Rico Women Do Cry Vesela Kazakova, Mina Mileva Bulgaria, France
Episodic Premieres TitleShowrunner(s)Production countryNetwork 61st Street Peter Moffat, J. David ShanksUnited States AMC The Big Conn James Lee Hernandez, Brian Lazarte Apple TV+ Brené Brown: Atlas of the Heart Meaghan RadyHBO Max DMZ Roberto Patino The Girl from Plainville Liz Hannah, Patrick Macmanus Hulu Halo Steven Kane Paramount+ The Last Movie Stars Ethan Hawke HBO Max The Man Who Fell to Earth Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet, John Hlavin Showtime Shining Girls Silka Luisa Apple TV+ Swimming with Sharks Kathleen Robertson The Roku Channel They Call Me Magic Rick Famuyiwa Apple TV+ WeCrashed Drew Crevello, Lee Eisenberg Apple TV+
Episodic Pilot Competition TitleShowrunner(s)Production country Awayy Aqsa Altaf, John X. CareyUnited States Brownsville Bred Elaine Del Valle Hidden Kingdom Sunny Lee, Jacqueline Davis My Year of Dicks Pamela Ribon Something Undone Nicole Dorsey Canada We're Doing Good Elvira Ibragimova United States
Notes
Awards The following awards were presented at the festival:
Grand Jury Narrative Feature Competition Jury Award: I Love My Dad by James Morosini Special Jury Recognition for Extraordinary Cinematic Vision: Cast and crew of It Is in Us All Special Jury Recognition for Breakthrough Performance: Elizaveta Yankovskaya for Nika Documentary Feature Competition Jury Award: Master of Light by Rosa Ruth Boesten Special Jury Recognition for Exceptional Intimacy in Storytelling: Bad Axe by David Siev Special Jury Recognition for Acting in a Documentary: Steve Glew for The Pez Outlaw Narrative Short Competition Jury Award: All the Crows in the World by Tang Yi Special Jury Recognition for Directing and Community Filmmaking: Glitter Ain't Gold by Christian Nolan Jones Special Jury Recognition for Outstanding Performances: Aphrodite Armstrong and Kyle Riggs for West By God Documentary Short Competition Jury Award: Long Line of Ladies by Rayka Zehtabchi and Shaandiin Tome Special Jury Recognition for Visual Reflection: not even for a moment do things stand still by Jamie Meltzer Midnight Shorts Jury Award: Moshari by Nuhash Humayun Special Jury Recognition for Powerful "Short Trip": Omi by Kelly Fyffe-Marshall Animated Shorts Jury Award: Bestia by Hugo Covarrubias Special Jury Recognition for Unexpected Emotion: Les Larmes de la Seine by Yanis Belaid and Eliott Benard Special Jury Recognition for Visceral Storytelling: Something in the Garden by Marcos Sánchez Music Videos Jury Award: Desirée Dawson's "Meet You At the Light" by Alexander Farah Special Jury Recognition for Going the Extra Mile: Myd's "Let You Speak" by Dan Carr Texas Shorts Jury Award: Folk Frontera by Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn Special Jury Recognition for Vision: Birds by Katherine Propper Texas High School Shorts Jury Award: Honeybee by Emilio Vazquez Reyes Special Jury Recognition for Artistic Expression: It's Getting Bad Again by Sarah Reyes Episodic Pilot Competition Jury Award: Something Undone by Nicole Dorsey Special Jury Recognition for Unique Vision in Writing and Directing: Pamela Ribon and Sara Gunnarsdóttir for My Year of Dicks
Audience awards Narrative Feature Competition: I Love My Dad by James Morosini Documentary Feature Competition: Bad Axe by David Siev Narrative Spotlight: Pretty Problems by Kestrin Pantera Documentary Spotlight: We Are Not Ghouls by Chris James Thompson Headliners: Atlanta (Season 3) by Hiro Murai Visions: Shadow by Bruce Gladwin Midnighters: Bitch Ass by Bill Posley Global: Without Prescription by Juliana Maite 24 Beats Per Second: The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile by Kathlyn Horan Festival Favorites: The Art of Making It by Kelcey Edwards Narrative Shorts Competition: Aspirational Slut by Caroline Lindy Documentary Shorts Competition: The Sentence of Michael Thompson by Kyle Thrash and Haley Elizabeth Anderson Animated Shorts Competition: Five Cents by Aaron Hughes Midnight Shorts Competition: Tank Fairy by Erich Rettstadt Texas Shorts Competition: Act of God by Spencer Cook and Parker Smith Music Video Competition: Desirée Dawson's "Meet You At the Light" by Alexander Farah Episodic Premieres: 61st Street by Peter Moffat and J. David Shanks Episodic Pilot Competition: Brownsville Bred by Elaine Del Valle
Special awards Fandor New Voices Award: What We Leave Behind by Iliana Sosa Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award: Chee$e by Damian Marcano Adobe Editing Award: Paul Rogers for Everything Everywhere All at Once Louis Black "Lone Star" Award: What We Leave Behind by Iliana Sosa ZEISS Cinematography Award: Gio Park for A Vanishing Fog Mailchimp Support the Shorts Award: The Voice Actress by Anna J. Takayama
References