SXSW 2024: 25 More Must-See Films

Just when we think SXSW 2024 can’t fit any more into their lineup of wall-to-wall premieres and festival favorites, the hits keep coming.

SXSW 2024 is about to kick off, and we could not be more excited. We previously brought you a list of some of the films we were most excited about among the ridiculously stacked lineup and exactly why these films have our hearts racing. This included the killer Midnighters Program — a treasure trove for genre enthusiasts and those who like their films about darker, weirder, more subversive, and more nightmare-inducing.

Among the films we’re keeping a close eye on are the E.L. Katz-helmed project Azrael, written by indie icon Simon Barrett and starring rising scream queen Samara Weaving; the heavily buzzed-about It’s What’s Inside, which made a huge splash at this year’s Sundance; and the latest from the brilliant mind of Damian McCarthy (Caveat), Oddity.

You can bet we will also be seated for all the films under the Shudder/RLJE/IFC banner, including the Nic Cage vehicle, Arcadian.

As we countdown the hours to one of the world’s biggest and most important festivals, here are a few more standouts we can’t wait to check out at SXSW and tell you all about — realizing we are only barely scratching the surface here.

1. Cold Wallet (Dir. Cutter Hodierne; World Premiere)

Billy just turned 40 and is raising a family on modest wages. It’s never quite enough to give his daughter what she deserves. So Billy bets his and his best friend Dom’s life savings on an up-and-coming cryptocurrency called TULIP. Billy gets crushed when the moon-rocketing crypto coin turns into an elaborate pump-n-dump scheme. With the crypto billionaire Charles Hegel, who started TULIP and is rumored to be dead, Billy gathers a motley crew of Redditors to find the money and Robin Hood that shit. But the home invasion turns into a sadistic game orchestrated by Hegel.

2. Civil War (Dir. Alex Garland; World Premiere)

From the man who brought you Ex Machina and Men comes the hotly anticipated A24-backed, adrenaline-fueled thrill ride through a terrifying, near-future-fractured America balanced on the razor’s edge. Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman

3. Immaculate (Dir. Michael Mohan; World Premiere)

A devout American nun (Sydney Sweeney) embarks on a new journey in a remote convent in the picturesque Italian countryside. Her warm welcome quickly devolves into a nightmare as it becomes clear her new home harbors a sinister secret and unspeakable horrors.

4. Monkey Man (Dir. Dev Patel; World Premiere)

Dev Patel achieves an astonishing directing debut with this action thriller about a man’s vengeance against the men who murdered his mother.

5. Y2K (Dir. Kyle Mooney; World Premiere)

On the last night of 1999, two high school juniors crash a New Year’s Eve party, only to find themselves fighting for their lives in this dial-up disaster comedy. Cast: Rachel Zegler, Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison, Lachlan Watson, Daniel Zolghadri, Mason Gooding, The Kid Laroi

6. The Black Sea (United States, Bulgaria, Dir. Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden; World Premiere)

Khalid, from Brooklyn, gets stuck in a small resort town on the Black Sea after chasing a money opportunity that goes wrong. Being the only black guy in the town, he quickly becomes the center of attention and finds an unexpected connection with a local.

7. Bob Trevino Likes It (Dir. Tracie Laymon; World Premiere)

After searching for her estranged father online, a people-pleasing young woman unexpectedly forms a close bond with a grieving, childless man with the same name as her father on Facebook. Inspired by a true story. Cast: Barbie Ferreira, John Leguizamo, French Stewart, Lauren “Lolo” Spencer, Rachel Bay Jones

8. We Strangers (Dir. Anu Valia; World Premiere)

Rayelle Martin, a commercial cleaning woman in Gary, Indiana, stumbles into a new job cleaning the homes of several rich suburban families. While working, she tells one small lie that spins out of control.

9. We Were Dangerous (New Zealand, Dir. Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu; World Premiere)

Nellie, Daisy, and Lou attend an institution for delinquent girls on an isolated island In 1950s New Zealand. The trio rail against the system, finding strength in their friendship. But this is challenged when the school’s matron divides them.

10. An Army of Women (Germany, Norway, Dir. Julie Lunde Lillesæter; World Premiere)

A group of women in Austin, Texas (the home of SXSW) joined forces to legally challenge the system that allowed their rapists to walk free. An Army of Women is the landmark story of women fighting to hold law enforcement accountable, with resounding relevance worldwide.

11. Resynator (Dir. Alison Tavel; World Premiere)

In unearthing a revolutionary synthesizer her late father invented in the 1970s, Alison Tavel not only revives his mission to share it with the world but also unexpectedly forges a deep bond with the father she never got the chance to know.

12. Roleplay (Dir. Katie Mathews; World Premiere)

College students confront sexual violence on their campus through a transformative theater process. This urgent coming-of-age story follows young adults grappling with sex, consent, identity, and power on their paths to adulthood.

13. Desert Road (Dir. Shannon Triplett; World Premiere)

A young woman crashes her car and walks down the road seeking help, only to find that no matter which way she walks, she ends up back at her car. As night falls, she realizes she’s going to die in this endless loop… unless she can find a way to escape. Cast: Kristine Froseth, Frances Fisher, Beau Bridges, Ryan Hurst, D.B. Woodside, Max Mattern, Ratchel Dratch, Edwin Garcia

14. Timestalker (Dir. Alice Lowe; World Premiere)

From the creative team behind Prevenge comes a reincarnation rom-com about the eternal humiliation that is the search for love, spanning the most romantic epochs of history. Cast: Alice Lowe, Jacob Anderson, Aneurin Barnard, Tanya Reynolds, Nick Frost

15. Dickweed (Dir. Jonathan Ignatius Green; World Premiere)

Two people got kidnapped. One man lost his dick. No one got any money. This heist-gone-horribly-wrong led one Newport Beach detective on an international manhunt for the most twisted criminal he’s ever hunted.

16. The Truth vs. Alex Jones (Dir. Dan Reed; World Premiere)

How grieving Sandy Hook families defeated conspiracy giant Alex Jones in two historical trials, holding him to account for the lies he spread about the 2012 mass shooting. Fake news on trial, with unprecedented access to a Travis County courtroom.

17. Whatever it Takes (Dir. Jenny Carchman; World Premiere)

In 2019, a middle-aged couple was subjected to cyberstalking and bizarre deliveries, including a bloody pig mask and funeral wreath. As the harassment intensifies, the police and FBI close in on a Silicon Valley giant and some very unlikely suspects.

18. 7 Keys (UK, Dir. Joy Wilkinson; World Premiere)

Daniel has kept the keys to all the places he’s lived. Lena wants to use them for a wild weekend, getting to know each other intimately in other people’s homes. But what begins as a risky fantasy soon becomes a deadly threat.

19. Birdeater (Australia, Dir. Jack Clark and Jim Weir; International Premiere)

When a bride-to-be is invited to her own fiancé’s bachelor party in the Australian outback, a night to remember takes a feral turn.

20. Dead Mail (Dir. Kyle McConaghy and Joe DeBoer; World Premiere)  

An ominous, bloody help note finds its way to the desk of a seasoned “dead letter” investigator at a 1980s Midwestern post office, leading him down a violent, unforeseen path to a kidnapped keyboard engineer and his demented business associate.

21. Natatorium (Iceland, Dir. Helena Stefánsdóttir; North American Premiere

A young girl stays with her estranged grandparents in the city while she auditions for an art group. When the family gathers after a long time to celebrate the girl’s acceptance into the group, an ugly family secret emerges.

22. Gasoline Rainbow (Dir. Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross; North American Premiere)

Five small-town teenagers embark on one last adventure by van, boat, train, and foot, careening into the new frontier of adulthood as they search for the mysterious Party at the End of the World

23. The Moogai (Australia, Dir. Jon Bell; Texas Premiere)

The Moogai is the story of a family terrorized by a child-stealing spirit.

24. Never Look Away (New Zealand, Dir. Lucy Lawless; Texas Premiere)

New Zealand-born, ground-breaking CNN camerawoman Margaret Moth risks it all to show the reality of war from inside the conflict. Moth stares down danger and she confronts those that perpetuate it.

25. Sasquatch Sunset (Dir. David Zellner and Nathan Zellner; Texas Premiere)

A year in the life of a singular family. Cast: Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Christophe Zajac-Denek, Nathan Zellner