Whether you’re following all the festival’s developments from Texas or somewhere else in the world, we’ve assembled this quick handy guide to all the features playing at SXSW. Two-thirds of this year’s lineup are world premieres, but for those titles that have played at Sundance and elsewhere, we’ve included the Criticwire Grade Average that those films have already accumulated. Members from our Criticwire Network will be posting grades and reviews throughout their time in Austin, so we’ll refresh this list as the festival progresses.
SXSW 2015: THE LINEUP
(Last updated: March 25th, 7:15 AM EST)
Narrative Feature Competition
“6 Years,” directed by Hannah Fidell — Criticwire Grade Average: B-
“THE BOY,” directed by Craig Macneill
“Creative Control,” directed by Benjamin Dickinson — Criticwire Grade Average: B+
“Funny Bunny,” directed by Alison Bagnall
“The Grief of Others,” directed by Patrick Wang — Criticwire Grade Average: B
“KRISHA,” directed by Trey Edward Shults — Criticwire Grade Average: A-
“Manson Family Vacation,” directed by J. Davis
“Quitters,” directed by Noah Pritzker
“Sweaty Betty,” directed by Joseph Frank & Zachary Reed
“Uncle John,” directed by Steven Piet
Documentary Feature Competition
“Breaking a Monster ,” directed by Luke Meyer
“Deep Time ,” directed by Noah Hutton
“FRAME BY FRAME,” directed by Alexandria Bombach & Mo Scarpelli
“Madina’s Dream ,” directed by Andrew Berends
“Peace Officer ,” directed by Scott Christopherson & Brad Barber — Criticwire Grade Average: A-
“Poached,” directed by Timothy Wheeler
“The Sandwich Nazi,” directed by Lewis Bennett
“She’s The Best Thing In It ,” directed by Ron Nyswaner
“Twinsters ,” directed by Samantha Futerman & Ryan Miyamoto
“A Woman Like Me ,” directed by Alex Sichel & Elizabeth Giamatti
Headliners
“BRAND: A Second Coming,” directed by Ondi Timoner — Criticwire Grade Average: A-
“Ex Machina,” directed by Alex Garland — Criticwire Grade Average: A-
“Get Hard ,” directed by Etan Cohen — Criticwire Grade Average: C-
“Hello, My Name is Doris ,” directed by Michael Showalter — Criticwire Grade Average: B
“Love & Mercy,” directed by Bill Pohlad — Criticwire Grade Average: A-
“Manglehorn,” directed by David Gordon Green — Criticwire Grade Average: B-
“Spy,” directed by Paul Feig — Criticwire Grade Average: B
“Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine,” directed by Alex Gibney
Narrative Spotlight
“7 Chinese Brothers ,” directed by Bob Byington
“The Automatic Hate,” directed by Justin Lerner
“Bone in the Throat,” directed by Graham Henman
“The Final Girls ,” directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson — Criticwire Grade Average: B
“Fresno ,” directed by Jamie Babbit — Criticwire Grade Average: B-
“The Frontier,” directed by Oren Shai — Criticwire Grade Average: C+
“The Goob,” directed by Guy Myhill
“I Dream Too Much ,” directed by Katie Cokinos
“Ktown Cowboys ,” directed by Daniel (DPD) Park
“Lamb ,” directed by Ross Partridge
“Life in Color ,” directed by Katharine Emmer
“The Little Death,” directed by Josh Lawson
“Mania Days ,” directed by Paul Dalio — Criticwire Grade Average: A-
“Night Owls ,” directed by Charles Hood
“Wild Horses ,” directed by Robert Duvall — Criticwire Grade Average: C+
Documentary Spotlight
“Bikes vs Cars,” directed by Fredrik Gertten
“Bounce: How the Ball Taught the World to Play ,” directed by Jerome Thélia
“A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story ,” directed by Sara Hirsh Bordo
“Deep Web ,” directed by Alex Winter
“For Grace
,” directed by Kevin Pang & Mark Helenowski
“For the Record,” directed by Marc Greenberg
“GTFO: Get The F% Out ,” directed by Shannon Sun-Higginson
“ Kingdom of Shadows,” directed by Bernardo Ruiz
“Knock Knock, It’s Tig Notaro ,” directed by Michael LaHaie & Christopher Wilcha
“Out To Win,” directed by Malcolm Ingram
“Raiders! ” directed by Jeremy Coon & Tim Skousen — Criticwire Grade Average: B
“Rolling Papers,” directed by Mitch Dickman
“Sneakerheadz ,” directed by David T. Friendly & Mick Partridge
“Son of the Congo ,” directed by Adam Hootnick
“Stone Barn Castle,” directed by Kevin Ford & Adrien Brody
“Tab Hunter Confidential ,” directed by Jeffrey Schwarz
“T-Rex ,” directed by Drea Cooper & Zackary Canepari
Visions
“Ava’s Possessions ,” directed by Jordan Galland — Criticwire Grade Average: C+
“Babysitter ,” directed by Morgan Krantz
“Barge,” directed by Ben Powell
“Disaster Playground,” directed by Nelly Ben Hayoun
“God Bless the Child ,” directed by Robert Machoian & Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck
“Honeytrap,” directed by Rebecca Johnson
“Just Jim,” directed by Craig Roberts
“Naz & Maalik ,” directed by Jay Dockendorf
“Nina Forever,” directed by Chris Blaine & Ben Blaine
“The Nymphets ,” directed by Gary Gardner
“One & Two,” directed by Andrew Droz Palermo — Criticwire Grade Average: B+
“Petting Zoo,” directed by Micah Magee
“Planetary,” directed by Guy Reid
“Sailing A Sinking Sea ,” directed by Olivia Wyatt
“Uncle Kent 2,” directed by Todd Rohal
“Unfriended ,” directed by Leo Gabriadze — Criticwire Grade Average: B-
“A Wonderful Cloud ,” directed by Eugene Kotlyarenko
Midnighters
“The Corpse of Anna Fritz,” directed by Hèctor Hernández Vicens
“Deathgasm,” directed by Jason Lei Howden — Criticwire Grade Average: B+
“The Diabolical,” directed by Alistair Legrand
“Excess Flesh,” directed by Patrick Kennelly — Criticwire Grade Average: C-
“HANGMAN,” directed by Adam Mason
“He Never Died,” directed by Jason Krawczyk
“The Invitation,” directed by Karyn Kusama — Criticwire Grade Average: B
“The Nightmare,” directed by Rodney Ascher — Criticwire Grade Average: B+
“Pod,” directed by Mickey Keating
“Turbo Kid,” directed by RKSS Collective — Criticwire Grade Average: A-
“We Are Still Here,” directed by Ted Geoghegan — Criticwire Grade Average: B
24 Beats Per Second
“808,” directed by Alexander Dunn
“All Things Must Pass ,” directed by Colin Hanks
“THE DAMNED: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead ,” directed by Wes Orshoski
“Danny Says ,” directed by Brendan Toller
“Dominguinhos,” directed by Joaquim Castro & Eduardo Nazarian
“The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson,” directed by Julien Temple
“Gloria,” directed by Christian Keller
“Hot Sugar’s Cold World ,” directed by Adam Bhala Lough
“JACO ,” directed by Paul Marchand & Stephen Kijak
“The Jones Family Will Make a Way ,” directed by Alan Berg
“Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck ,” directed by Brett Morgen — Criticwire Grade Average: A-
“Landfill Harmonic ,” directed by Brad Allgood & Graham Townsley
“Made in Japan,” directed by Josh Bishop
“Mavis! ” directed by Jessica Edwards
“A Poem Is A Naked Person,” directed by Les Blank
“Sir Doug and the Honkey Texas Cosmic Groove ,” directed by Joe Nick Patoski
“Theory of Obscurity: a film about The Residents,” directed by Don Hardy
“They Will Have To Kill Us First,” directed by Johanna Schwartz
“We Like It Like That ,” directed by Mathew Ramirez Warren
“Y/OUR MUSIC,” directed by David Reeve & Waraluck Hiransrettawat Every
SXGLOBAL
“15 Corners of the World,” directed by Zuzanna Solakiewicz
“The Avian Kind,” directed by Shin Yeon-Shick
“The Ceremony,” directed by Lina Mannheimer
“Free Entry,” directed by Yvonne Kerékgyártó
“Good Things Await,” directed by Phie Ambo
“Invasion,” directed by Abner Benaim
“Limbo,” directed by Anna Sofie Hartmann
“Monte Adentro,” directed by Nicolás Macario Alonso
Festival Favorites
“Adult Beginners,” directed by Ross Katz — Criticwire Grade Average: B
“Being Evel ,” directed by Daniel Junge
“Best of Enemies ,” directed by Morgan Neville & Robert Gordon — Criticwire Grade Average: A-
“City of Gold,” directed by Laura Gabbert
“Entertainment,” directed by Rick Alverson — Criticwire Grade Average: B+
“Finders Keepers ,” directed by Bryan Carberry & Clay Tweel — Criticwire Grade Average: B+
“Heaven Knows What ,” directed by Joshua Safdie & Benny Safdie — Criticwire Grade Average: B+
“The Last Man on the Moon,” directed by Mark Craig
“The Look of Silence,” directed by Joshua Oppenheimer — Criticwire Grade Average: A-
“Lost River ,” directed by Ryan Gosling — Criticwire Grade Average: C
“Ned Rifle ,” directed by Hal Hartley — Criticwire Grade Average: B
“The Overnight,” directed by Patrick Brice — Criticwire Grade Average: B+
“Results ,” directed by Andrew Bujalski — Criticwire Grade Average: B
“Salt of the Earth,” directed by Wim Wenders & Juliano Riberio Salgado — Criticwire Grade Average: A-
“Unexpected ,” directed by Kris Swanberg — Criticwire Grade Average: B+
“The Visit,” directed by Michael Madsen — Criticwire Grade Average: B-
“Welcome to Leith ,” directed by Michael Beach Nichols & Christopher K. Walker — Criticwire Grade Average: A-
“Western ,” directed by Bill & Turner Ross — Criticwire Grade Average: A-
Special Events
“7 Days In Hell ,” directed by Jake Szymanski
“A Space Program ,” directed by Van Neistat
“Trainwreck,” directed by Judd Apatow — Criticwire Grade Average: B+
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Curious how the other films at Sundance and TIFF fared over the past six months? You can find those festival lists here and here.
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