SXSW

SXSW Film Festival announces huge 2018 lineup; here’s six films you can’t miss

The 25th South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas has announced the first 132 features we can expect to see in its lineup this year, with The Quiet Place set to open the festival, directed by an alumni of The Office. Across the festival’s nine days, no less than 132 features will be…

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Amy Shark & Slum Sociable among latest batch of Aussies set to play SXSW

SXSW, the world’s biggest music, film and media festival, has announced 500 new artists playing this year’s event. The Austin, Texas based event features musicians from around the globe, and this year features a massive number of Australian and Kiwi artists. ARIA winner Amy Shark heads up the considerable amount of talent from down under, which…

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Gang of Youths, Marlon Williams, Brightness & more feature on SXSW Music line up for 2018

The first line up for next year’s SXSW music festival dropped in the early hours, unveiling an impressive list of global names set to be performing in and around Austin, Texas, from March 12th – 18th. Returning names include the likes of Shamir, Marlon Williams and Milk & Bone, while the Australian contingent boasts some of our favourite established and…

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Applications for SXSW Music now open through until October

Time is here once more, folks. The gates for SXSW Music submissions are now open for another year, with the American music festival and conference inviting musicians from all over the world to enter theirs to be in with a chance of being Austin, Texas-bound next March. Since 1987, SXSW has been providing a large…

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Find all the important details and dates for SXSW 2018 here

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festival has launched its 2018 season with the opening of PanelPicker programming proposals, Film Festival submissions, and Music Showcasing Artist applications for next year’s event. PanelPicker, an online tool that allows the SXSW community to have a significant voice in programming conference activities through an open proposal and…

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Applications for band showcases at SXSW opening this month

Keen to get yourself to SXSW this year as a showcasing artist? You’ve got your chance, with applications opening online this June 26th. SXSW enters its 31st year in 2018 and this March, celebrated another wildly successful year in Austin, Texas. Out of the 240 bands who submitted applications, 70 bands were invited. Over 40 bands from Australia…

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Film Review: Becoming Bond (USA, 2017) is hilarious, original documentary filmmaking

Getting a release on Hulu today in the US is the hilarious documentary Becoming Bond, which screened at SXSW earlier this year. It takes a look at the life and times of Australia’s only Bond, George Lazenby, in his own words. The film takes the spirit of Drunk History to deliver an original and entertaining…

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Travel Tips: Adelaide’s The Coconut Kids share lessons learned at the South by Southwest Festival in Texas

Adelaide group The Coconut Kids recently completed a successful debut run at SXSW in Austin, Texas – taking part in what is easily, one of the world’s biggest showcases of new music. For the French-inspired indie folk group, the trip took them all the way from South Oz to some of the richest areas of music in…

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As Boo Seeka (Sydney) announce more regional shows, they reflect on their tour of America and playing SXSW

Currently touring the country in support of their new single “Does This Last”, and fresh from shows in the USA, we caught up with Sydney duo Boo Seeka. The pair have just added a slew of regional dates to their current tour, which will see them on the road until the end of June. In the interview, we talk…

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Running Touch (Melbourne) talks A Body Slow EP, his national tour and reflects on his SXSW debut

Melbourne’s Running Touch just keeps going from strength to strength, returning from SXSW in Austin, Texas a few weeks ago to release his debut EP A Body Slow. I caught up with the man himself to talk about his time in America, the new EP and the tour which is taking him all over the…

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Michael Bonfiglio talks about his new HBO Documentary May It Last: A Portrait of The Avett Brothers, co-directed with Judd Apatow

While in Austin last month, we caught up with Michael Bonfiglio, co-director of May It Last: A Portrait of The Avett Brothers (the much loved US band) with Judd Apatow. We spoke about premiering the film at the iconic SXSW festival and working with (and discovering) the band across the album three years it took…

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The Avett Brothers (USA) talk about documenting True Sadness in Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio’s May It Last

While I was at SXSW last month, I had the opportunity to attend the premiere of the new documentary May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers, which will screen on HBO later in the year. The North Carolina band were in attendance and so I got to sit down with groups three original…

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We meet The Muppets‘ Gonzo, Zoe & the Swedish Chef: Dave Goelz, Fran Brill and Bill Barretta

Last month at SXSW, the documentary Muppets Guys Talking: Secrets Behind the Show the Whole World Watched premiered to much jubilation. The film is exactly as the name implies: some of the team behind the original Muppets (as well as Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street and others), got together to talk about their time on the…

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SXSW Review: Madre (Chile, 2016) isn’t the thriller you expect

Set in Chile, Madre follows wife and mother Diana (Daniela Ramirez). Pregnant with her second child and caring for her disabled son, Martin (Matias Bassi), Diana struggles daily with running the household; her husband Tomas (Cristobal Tapia Montt) is often away on business in Asia. Just as we’re about to see how much more she can…

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SXSW Film Review: Divine Divas (Brazil, 2017) is both a beautiful preservation and an accomplished slice of filmmaking

More a celebration of drag culture than a heavy-handed expose, Divine Divas proves a fascinating watch as it allows a peak behind the curtains of one of Brazil’s first establishments to showcase men dressed as women. In 1960’s Rio de Janeiro, the Rival Theatre – under the forward thinking of Americo Leal – was one…

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The Coconut Kids bring us 5 lessons learned from SXSW

Adelaide group The Coconut Kids recently completed a successful debut run at SXSW in Austin, Texas – taking part in what is easily, one of the world’s biggest showcases of new music. For the French-inspired indie folk group, the trip took them all the way from South Oz to some of the richest areas of music in…

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SXSW Film Review: Prevenge (UK, 2017) could be the only film of its kind this decade

In 1968 we received Rosemary’s Baby. It was the film that established Roman Polanski’s ability to bring madness onto screen and placed Mia Farrow as the paranoid mother, unknowingly carrying Satan’s spawn through nine months of fear and mental ruin. It was a landmark film, exploring the psyche and anxiety of an expecting mother. In…

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Aussie Actress Ashleigh Cummings on playing the empowered victim in Hounds of Love

Hounds of Love, a genre-bending powerhouse thriller from Australian director Ben Young, has been wowing critics across the globe since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2016. And earlier this month it had its North American premiere at SXSW. Featuring a cast of familiar and new faces, the film tackles deep issues of trauma…

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Nick Offerman, Stephen Root, Zoe Graham and Director Bob Byington talk about the mysterious Infinity Baby

Earlier this month, a “slightly futuristic comedy about babies who don’t age” called Infinity Baby premiered at SXSW. While at the infamous Austin festival, before having the chance to see the film, and knowing only this small byline, I caught up with the cast – most of whom hadn’t seen the film either at this…

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SXSW Film Review: Two Pigeons (UK, 2017) is raw, unsettling, and totally intriguing

Never have I been so disgusted and intrigued at the same time but after watching Two Pigeons – Dominic Bridges‘ directorial debut – its interesting how much we take our security and privacy for granted. After all, if you found you had a squatter living with you, would you ever really be the same? Vulgarity…

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SXSW buzz artist Sigrid (Norway) on the success of “Don’t Kill My Vibe”

We were lucky enough to land some time with emerging superstar Sigrid while at SXSW – in Austin off the back of the successful hit “Don’t Kill My Vibe”, the Norwegian artist took some time out from her shows to fill us in on the positive momentum the song has spurred for her. So, you’re here off the…

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Beth Brown on her relocation to the US & the growth of indie music within the Nashville community

Aussie artist Beth Brown has called Nashville home for a little under two years now, being one of the Australian crop of musicians to have made the jump into the Stateside pool in pursuing their musical career. So while coming to SXSW wasn’t necessarily a stretch – geography wise – for Brown, the experience was still one…

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Electric Guest talk their first album in five years Plural and returning to the road at SXSW

While at SXSW, I sat down with Asa Taccone and Matthew “Cornbread” Compto of American duo Electric Guest, who I first caught up with five years ago at SXSW, when they were releasing their debut album Mondo. Finally with a follow-up in hand, Plural, we spoke about the time it took between releases, what it feels…

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Jonny Allen & Benji Compston of Happyness (UK) on returning to SXSW and the release of Write In

Ahead of the release of new album Write In, we hang out with Jonny and Benji from South London group Happyness. Out at SXSW recently, the lads dealt with the heat, the chaos of running about the Texan city and developing their live show for a whole variety of new crowds. Welcome to SXSW. The sun has finally come out and…

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Watch All Our Exes Live in Texas perform “The Devil’s Part” on the streets of Austin, Texas

Hot off the heels of releasing their debut album When We Fall, Sydney quartet All Our Exes Live in Texas have returned from a successful jaunt to North America, playing a string of shows at the iconic South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin, Texas. Though the location is indeed their namesake, they were their…

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Splendour-bound Bishop Briggs (California) talks new music and a developing live show

After making waves with her breakthrough single “River”, Los Angeles based artist Bishop Briggs has been a buzz artist impossible to ignore. And now she’s coming to Australia to play Splendour in the Grass! We caught up with the emerging dark-pop Singer Songwriter while we were in Austin, Texas to talk about how her music…

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We sat down with Director Mark Webber and his family to talk about Flesh and Blood at SXSW

Director and Actor Mark Webber premiered his new film Flesh and Blood at SXSW earlier this month; a docu-style film which stars his own family and blurs the line between fact and fiction. I sat down with Mark, his mother Cheri Honkola, brother Guillermo Santos, and actress Madeline Brewer (Orange Is the New Black) to talk…

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Director Robert Mockler talks about his debut feature Like Me and Terry Gilliam at SXSW

One of the films that made a splash at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin, Texas was Robert Mockler‘s directorial debut Like Me. A film that was set around society’s obsession with social media, I sat down with the director to talk about the kickstarter campaign that made the production possible, its…

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Australian Director Emma Franz talks about her poignant documentary Bill Frisell, A Portrait at SXSW

Australian Director Emma Franz‘s poignant documentary Bill Frisell, A Portrait premiered earlier this month at SXSW in Austin, Texas. The film is, as the name suggests, a portrait on the much loved musician Bill Frisell, both in his own words and through interviews with iconic artists like Bonnie Raitt and Paul Simon. I sat down…

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SXSW Film Review: A Bad Idea Gone Wrong (USA, 2017) steals all the right notes

A Bad Idea Gone Wrong is Jason Headley’s full feature length debut and I must say, Headley gives a simple concept a fantastic tune up. With this Comedy/Drama, two down on their luck thieves, Marlon (Matt Jones) and Leo (Will Rogers) land their next heist opportunity, a fancy mansion home while the owners are away….

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