About SXSW® Film Festival Screenings
Every March, our acclaimed Film Program draws thousands of fans, filmmakers, press and industry leaders to Austin, TX to immerse in some of the most innovative, smart and entertaining new films around.
Browse through the categories below to see what our program is built from; click on a category heading to see examples of each category from our 2011 program.
- View 2012 films here
- SXSW Film Award Categories
- Watch Trailers & Highlights on our YouTube Channel
- SXSW® Film Festival FAQ
FEATURE FILM CATEGORIES
Narrative Feature Competition
This year’s 8 Narrative Feature Competition films were selected from 984 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere.
Documentary Feature Competition
This year’s 8 Documentary Feature Competition films were selected from 808 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere.
Headliners
Big names, big talent: Headliners bring star power to SXSW, featuring red carpet premieres & gala film events with major & rising names in cinema.
Narrative Spotlight
Narrative Spotlight will shine a light on new narrative features receiving World, North American or U.S. Premieres.
Documentary Spotlight
Documentary Spotlight will shine a light on new documentary features receiving World, North American or U.S. Premieres.
Emerging Visions
Emerging Visions filmmakers are audacious, risk-taking artists in the new cinema landscape demonstrate raw innovation & creativity in documentary & narrative filmmaking.
24 Beats Per Second
24 Beats Per Second showcases the sounds, culture & influence of music & musicians, with an emphasis on documentary.
SX Global
SX Global is a diverse panorama of international filmmaking talent, including premieres, interactive documentaries & shorts.
Festival Favorites
Festival Favorites includes acclaimed standouts & selected previous premieres from festivals around the world.
Special Events
Live Soundtracks, cult re-issues & much more. Our Special Events section offers unusual, unexpected & unique film event one-offs.
Midnighters
Scary, funny, sexy, controversial – provocative after-dark features for night owls and the terminally curious.
SHORT FILM CATEGORIES
Narrative Shorts
A selection of original, well-crafted films that take advantage of the short form and exemplify distinctive and genuine storytelling.
Documentary Shorts
Unfiltered slices of life, from across the documentary spectrum.
SX Global Shorts
A showcase for cutting-edge documentary shorts from around the world.
Animated Shorts
An assortment of stories told using a mix of traditional animation, computer-generated effects, stop-motion, and everything in-between.
Midnight Shorts
Bite-sized bits for all of your sex, gore, and hilarity needs.
Music Videos
A range of classic, innovative, and stylish work showcasing the scope of music video culture.
Texas Shorts
An offshoot of our regular narrative shorts program, composed of work shot in, about, or somehow relating to the Lone Star state.
Texas High School Shorts
A preview of the next filmmaking generation, as Texas High Schoolers present shorts of 5 minutes or less.
Image from In Our Nature courtesy Film Science