Features

South by Southwest (SXSW) was among the first events to be canceled when COVID-19 first spiked in the U.S. in the spring of 2020. Like many gatherings, the annual festival of music, film, comedy and tech went virtual, but many people missed the thrill of being in Austin with thousands of attendees from all over the world swarming the city’s downtown district.

SXSW returns to Austin this year, with organizers anticipating a smaller but no less energetic crowd. “We’ve intensely missed being able to gather together,” said Janet Pierson, who heads SXSW’s film programming. “We are thrilled to share a bounty of creative work to experience together, in-person, with some virtual possibilities.”

As in previous years, several School of Visual Arts alumni are featured at the festival.

Taylor Levy (BFA 2012 Film) co-edited one of SXSW's headliners. Bodies Bodies Bodies is a slasher-comedy about how a gang of Gen- Zers party to a deadly extreme. The highly-anticipated A24 production stars singer Amandla Stenberg, Borat’s breakout actor Maria Bakalova, and Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson.

Cinematographer Greta Zozula (BFA 2010 Film) worked on the thriller Soft and Quiet. The film, which premieres at SXSW on March 12, follows a female white supremacist as she tries to indoctrinate a group of women to the alt-right cause.   

Jenni Morello (MFA 2011 Social Documentary) was the cinematographer on two films screening at SXSW. She worked on Aftershock, a documentary about America’s shameful maternal health crisis, with recent program alumnus Yubi Hernandez (MFA 2021 Social Documentary). Morello also worked on Skate Dreams, featuring profiles of six trailblazing female skateboarders (including the U.S. Women’s Olympic Skateboarding coach Mimi Knoop) who skirt the sport’s gatekeepers to make it more inclusive and welcoming for all.

The Burning Young -‘Quiet Nights’ is a moody music video that chronicles a musician’s reckoning with his dark past. David Maire (MPS 2014 Directing) is credited as first assistant director.

Former classmates Peter Phok and Ti West (BFA 2003 Film and Video) collaborated on X, a thriller about how an adult movie shoot went awry. As X’s executive producer Phok, for one, is thrilled for the return of in-person gatherings. “Movies are intended to be screened with audiences, which the circumstances of the global pandemic have barred,” he says. “We hope this year’s festival becomes the much-needed catalyst to build back the movie-going experience, especially for smaller films.”

Phok says it was at SVA where he first formed a network of collaborators. “I met like-minded young professionals, including writer-director Ti West,” he says. “We collaborated on short films during the four years spent at SVA which led to joint professional filmmaking opportunities upon graduation. We’ve continued working on multiple feature films together over the last 19 years, many of which had their world premiere at SXSW.”

Several SVA alumni and faculty are also presenting at the SXSW Interactive conference. Sought-after fashion photographer Dario Calmese (MPS 2012 Fashion Photography) is a featured speaker in the design track; Google researcher Tanya Kraljic who teaches in the SVA MFA Interaction Design department will discuss how languages shape tech products and Karen Ingram, a faculty member of the MFA Interaction Design, will lead a workshop about the ethics of design. SVA Graduate Admissions will also be hosting a booth in the SXSW Creative Industries Exhibition at the Austin Convention Center, March 13 - 16, from 10:00AM - 5:00PM at Booth #430.

SXSW Film Festival runs from March 11-20, 2022, with screenings held in theaters around the Austin Convention Center. Several feature films can be viewed online.