The 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival kicked off March 7, in Austin and features 49 world premieres among debuts. It’s the first time the event has launched on a Thursday.
Boots Riley’s sci-fi comedy I Love Boosters was the opening-night film, and other anticipated films include Searchlight’s Radio Silence sequel Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, New Line’s Samara Weaving-Zazie Beetz horror action comedy They Will Kill You, Lionsgate’s John Carney-directed music movie Power Ballad starring Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas, the Vince Vaughn gangster pic Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice and Jorma Taccone’s couples-trying-to-kill-each-other pic Over Your Dead Body.
Here is a compilation of Deadline’s movie reviews from the 33rd anniversary fest, which runs through March 18 in the Texas capital.
‘I Love Boosters’
Neon/Everett Collection
Section: Headliner
Director-screenwriter: Boots Riley
Cast: Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza González, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter, Demi Moore
Deadline’s takeaway: Boots Riley’s sophomore feature is a surreal, hyperpop love letter to creatives living under capitalism that successfully captures the hopelessness of our current capitalist dystopia. The camp factor is evident in every frame. — GG
‘Seekers of Infinite Love’
SXSW
Section: Narrative Spotlight
Director-screenwriter: Victoria Strouse
Cast: Hannah Einbinder, Justin Theroux, John Reynolds, Griffin Gluck, Justine Lupe, Greg Kinnear, David Ury, Michelle Johnston, Andrea Pyle
Deadline’s takeaway: Smart, sharply written and directed comedies are a rare bird these days, but Victoria Strouse takes a situation that easily could have sailed over the top, cast it intelligently and created some outrageously funny situations. — PH