Although South by Southwest (SXSW) initially was named (with modification) after the Alfred Hitchcock film North by Northwest, it began back in 1987 as a DIY music festival in Austin, Texas, that attracted some 700 attendees. Now in its 28th year, SXSW has grown into a behemoth of a festival divided into three sections: music, film, and interactive. The 2015 edition will run from March 13-22, and attract some 150,000 attendees. They’ll partake of various conferences and keynote speeches, 2,200 performing musical acts from around the world, and 118 feature-length films from 29 countries. There is a lot to take in at the fest, but here this year’s must-see events.
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Yes, everyone’s favorite meme-worthy onscreen hunk will speak at SXSW. He’ll appear in conversation with filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) on Friday, March 13. Also, the fest will play host to the U.S. premiere of Gosling’s directorial debut, Lost River.
Your very own The Daily Beast will host a talk on Friday, March 13, at the Palm Door restaurant in downtown Austin about how serial dramas have taken over our world. Beast Editor-in-Chief John Avlon will host, and the event also will feature The Walking Dead Executive Producer Mark Alpert, Radiolab Executive Producer Ellen Horne, and political commentator Mark McKinnon. Also, on Sunday, March 15, Beast EIC John Avlon and Chief Digital Officer Mike Dyer will deliver a talk on “Designing News Brands for Gens X and Y.”
On Monday, March 16, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the star of Seinfeld and HBO's Veep, will deliver a talk called “The VEEP Speaks.” According to the event description, it’s an “uncensored, all-in conversation with Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the comedy of politics and the politics of comedy. The star of HBO’s Veep (with cameos from co-stars Matt Walsh and Sam Richardson) dishes on her ‘sponge-worthy’ Seinfeld days to Veep’s searing parody of the Obama-era Beltway.” Sounds fun.
Paul Schiraldi/HBO
On March 14 and 15, Raptor House, partnering with Roc Nation and Live Nation, will host talks and performances with a focus on media disruption. “This is the fourth year that Raptor House will provide a great series of conversations and performances for guests in a very intimate setting,” said Raptor Group Managing Partner and Chairman Jim Pallotta. “A lot of the musical acts featured at Raptor House we curated early in their careers, like Haim, Wild Feathers, and J. Cole.” The event has attracted everyone from Kanye West to Deepak Chopra in the past, and the 2015 edition will feature performances by Big Sean, Elle King, and, rumor has it, Mr. West. Kanye also will be playing Jimmy Kimmel Live! at SXSW on Friday, March 20.
Jonathan Alcorn / Reuters
While a restored version of the John Hughes classic The Breakfast Club will hit theaters March 26 and March 31 to commemorate its 30th anniversary, SXSW festivalgoers will be able to catch an early glimpse on March 16 at The Paramount Theatre. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with two of the film’s stars, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy. Fist pump.
Those of you in the U.K. probably (definitely) have heard of this up-and-coming Welsh rock band. They released their debut album, The Balcony, late last year and have become all the rage across the pond. They literally are all Radio 1’s Zane Lowe talks about (besides Kanye West), and sound like a mixture of The Cribs’ punk sloppiness and Mystery Jets’ endearing twee melodies.
Directed by the most prolific documentary filmmaker of our time, Oscar-winner Alex Gibney (Going Clear, Taxi to the Dark Side), this doc on Apple visionary Steve Jobs will provide “a critical examination of Jobs who was at once revered as an iconoclastic genius and a barbed-tongued tyrant,” and also will feature sit-down interviews with many people in Jobs’s inner circle.
The Georgia rap trio Migos burst onto the scene in 2013 with their viral hit “Versace.” Since then, they’ve made headlines for their wild beef with Chicago rapper (and bona fide criminal) Chief Keef, as well as a recent concert in Albany that left six people stabbed. The group deals in addictive rap-party tunes, and their debut album will be released later this year.
SXSW has become the premier film festival for studio comedy films, with movies like Bridesmaids, 21 Jump Street, and Neighbors all making their world premieres there in recent years. This year's big one is Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck. Co-written by and starring comedienne Amy Schumer, this ensemble comedy is based on events from Schumer’s wacky life. Plot details are under wraps, but the film stars Tilda Swinton as Schumer’s boss and Brie Larson as her sister, and also features Bill Hader, Barkhad Abdi, and Marisa Tomei. The film will premiere Sunday, March 15.
Remember Unlocking the Truth? You know, that group of African-American, 12-year-old, heavy-metal prodigies from Brooklyn who landed a $1.8 million major-label record deal after video of them performing in Times Square went viral? They are the subjects of Luke Meyer’s documentary Breaking a Monster, which traces the boys’ journey through the image- and brand-conscious record industry. The film premieres Friday, March 20.
British folk singer-songwriter Laura Marling is nothing new, but her last studio album, Once I Was an Eagle, was one of the best of 2013, brimming with beauteous ballad after beauteous ballad. She and her divine voice will be back at SXSW this year previewing songs from her upcoming album Short Movie.
This heavy-spitting female rapper from Detroit crossed over into the cultural consciousness with her second mixtape, Sell Sole, last year, which included the catchy jam “Try Me.” The emcee will be at SXSW this year previewing songs off her upcoming debut studio album, out later this year.
The hip-hop duo of NYC’s EI-P and Atlanta’s Killer Mike has released two outstanding studio albums. Their last one, Run the Jewels 2, was named one of the best albums of 2014 by The Daily Beast. They’ll be back tearing up SXSW with their furious, mile-a-minute (and oft-political) raps this year. They’ll be playing at FLOODfest, a four-day mini-festival within SXSW March 18-21 hosted by Lyve and FLOOD magazine.
Mad Max Rockatansky will make his return (played by Tom Hardy) later this year in George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, and if the trailers are any indication, it’s going to be one of the most kickass movies of the year. On Monday, March 16, Miller will be at SXSW presenting a special screening of his 1981 movie classic The Road Warrior, followed by a Q&A with him.
Remember that addictive R&B jam “The Boy is Mine”? Ever since that tune hit No. 1 in 1998, Brandy has had a bit of a rough go, between her car accident that claimed the life of a 38-year-old man, her attempted acting comeback, and everything that happened with lil bro Ray J. But the R&B diva is attempting a comeback, previewing songs off her seventh studio album at this year’s SXSW. Can she do it?
Every few years, an under-the-radar sci-fi comes out that surprises everyone, e.g. Moon or District 9. The next one may be Ex Machina, a sci-fi flick courtesy of 28 Days Later screenwriter Alex Garland. It deals with the events surrounding a fully humanoid artificial intelligence (Alicia Vikander), a computer coder (Domhnall Gleeson), and a CEO (Oscar Isaac). It’s supposedly a sophisticated, fascinating entry in the sci-fi canon.
This hip-hop duo from Tupelo, Mississippi, has caused serious waves of late with their single “No Flex Zone,” which was remixed by the likes of Nicki Minaj. They released their debut album, SremmLife, this year to critical acclaim, featuring production from Mike WiLL Made-It.
