2023 Festivals/Awards Thread

[transformers2]

With the SXSW lineup coming out in the past 30 minutes and Sundance starting next week, I figured now is the time to get this thread started.

Moving on, the first wave of the SXSW film lineup is headlined by Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Evil Dead Rise, Flamin' Hot and Problemista (formerly known as Untitled Julio Torres A24 film). Expected a little more studio firepower next to D&D and Evil Dead Rise and the inclusion of Flamin' Hot seems a little odd since it's a biopic dramedy that's being released on Hulu. Will be interesting to see what gets added in the coming weeks.

[Buscemi2]

Any festival that gladly selects Dungeons & Dragons is not a serious festival.

If they really wanted to try to be a good, solid film festival instead of being a side attraction to support the music acts, SXSW would really be up there with Sundance and Telluride for the top American film festivals. They could get some hot Sundance titles without distribution, a few titles that were good but got passed by Sundance (I'm sure there are a good 10-20 titles that got passed that are better than some of the selections each year), include a showcase for Latin American cinema, some foreign language titles that otherwise wouldn't be seen in the US, and a classics series comparable to the Paramount Theater's summer series and you would really have something special instead of just taking studio movies coming out a few weeks later and A24-lite titles that are instantly forgotten (can anyone name a single winner of the festival?).

[transformers2]

Any festival that gladly selects Dungeons & Dragons is not a serious festival.

If they really wanted to try to be a good, solid film festival instead of being a side attraction to support the music acts, SXSW would really be up there with Sundance and Telluride for the top American film festivals. They could get some hot Sundance titles without distribution, a few titles that were good but got passed by Sundance (I'm sure there are a good 10-20 titles that got passed that are better than some of the selections each year), include a showcase for Latin American cinema, some foreign language titles that otherwise wouldn't be seen in the US, and a classics series comparable to the Paramount Theater's summer series and you would really have something special instead of just taking studio movies coming out a few weeks later and A24-lite titles that are instantly forgotten (can anyone name a single winner of the festival?).

Off the top of my head, Short Term 12 and Upgrade and I believe the 2 most recent jury prize winners are I Love My Dad and The Fallout.

[numbersix]

SXSW has buyers who pick up films. Telluride is not a buyers market.

[Buscemi2]

But Telluride actually gets good movies to show. SXSW just gets things designed to pad out streaming packages if it's not paying lip service to the studios. They want to be Sundance but it ends up feeling like Tribeca without famous locals attending.

[transformers2]

Sundance Acquistion post:
Before Fest:
My Animal: Paramount (Worldwide excluding Canada)
In My Mother's Skin: Amazon (Worldwide)
Run Rabbit Run: Netflix (Worldwide excluding Latin America, Eastern Europe, Nordics, Middle East, India, Hong Kong, Portugal, Indonesia, Philippines and Taiwan)

During/After Fest:
Little Richard: I Am Everything: Magnolia (Worldwide)
Fair Play: Netflix (Worldwide)
Theater Camp: Searchlight (Worldwide)
Kokomo City: Magnolia (Worldwide)
Flora and Son: Apple (Worldwide)
Passages: MUBI (US, UK, Ireland and Latin America)
A Little Prayer: Sony Classics (Worldwide)
Talk to Me: A24 (North America)
The Eternal Memory: MTV Documentary Films (Worldwide)
Nam June Paik: The Moon is the Oldest TV: Greenwich Entertainment and PBS Documentary Films (United States)
The Persian Version: Sony Classics (North America), Sony (Remaining International Territories)
The Starling Girl: Bleecker Street (North America)
Magazine Dreams: Searchlight (Worldwide)
Shayda: Sony Classics (North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, The Middle East, Portugal and Turkey)
Divinity: Utopia (Worldwide)
Shortcomings: Sony Classics (Worldwide)
Eileen: Neon (North America)
The Pod Generation: Roadside/Vertical (North America)
Scrapper: Kino Lorber (North America)
Mutt: Strand Releasing (North America)
Sometimes I Think About Dying: Oscilloscope (US)
Drift: Utopia (US)

[transformers2]

Sundance Award winners:
US Dramatic Competition:
Grand Jury Prize: A Thousand and One
Audience Award: The Persian Version
Directing Award: Sing J. Lee, The Accidental Getaway Driver
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Maryam Keshvarz, The Persian Version
Special Jury Award: Acting: Lio Mehiel, Mutt
Special Jury Award: Acting Ensemble: Theater Camp
Special Jury Award: Creative Vision: Magazine Dreams


World Dramatic Competition:
Grand Jury Prize: Scrapper (UK)
Audience Award: Shayda (Australia)
Directing Award: Marija Kavtaradze (Lithuania/Spain/Sweden)
Special Jury Award: Creative Vision: Animalia (France/Morocco/Qatar)
Special Jury Award: Best Performance: Rosa Merchant, When It Melts (Belgium/Netherlands)
Special Jury Award: Cinematography: Lilis Soares, Mami Wata (Nigeria)

US Documentary Competiton:
Grand Jury Prize: Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
Audience Award: Beyond Utopia
Directing Award: Luke Lorentzen, A Small Voice
Special Jury Award: Clarity of Vision: The Stroll
Special Jury Award: Freedom of Expression: Bad Press
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: Daniela I. Quiroz, Going Varsity in Mirarchi

World Documentary Competiton:
Grand Jury Prize: The Eternal Memory (Chile)
Audience Award: 20 Days in Mariupol (Ukraine)
Directing Award: Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Estonia/France/Ireland)
Special Jury Award: Creative Vision: Fantastic Machine (Sweden/Denmark)
Special Jury Award: Verite Filmmaking: Against the Tide (India)

NEXT:
Audience Award: Kokomo City
Innovator Award: Kokomo City

Festival Favorite Award: Radical

[Buscemi2]

Even with the Audience Award win, I wouldn't expect Sony to do much of a push on The Persian Version. It feels like that major studios are backing away from anything that doesn't appeal to the angry white male crowd.

I wonder if Sony ends up pawning it off to Netflix or an independent that would promote it.

[transformers2]

Sundance Acquistion post:
Before Fest:
My Animal: Paramount (Worldwide excluding Canada)
In My Mother's Skin: Amazon (Worldwide)
Run Rabbit Run: Netflix (Worldwide excluding Latin America, Eastern Europe, Nordics, Middle East, India, Hong Kong, Portugal, Indonesia, Philippines and Taiwan)

During/After Fest:
Little Richard: I Am Everything: Magnolia (Worldwide)
Fair Play: Netflix (Worldwide)
Theater Camp: Searchlight (Worldwide)
Kokomo City: Magnolia (Worldwide)
Flora and Son: Apple (Worldwide)
Passages: MUBI (US, UK, Ireland and Latin America)
A Little Prayer: Sony Classics (Worldwide)
Talk to Me: A24 (North America)
The Eternal Memory: MTV Documentary Films (Worldwide)

Here's the current list of acquisitions. I'll keep updating it over the next few weeks as the deals continue to be made.

[Buscemi2]

Looking at the Metacritic recap and seeing a large number of titles without distributors, I have to imagine we'll see a lot of them going to smaller distributors or streamers making cheap deals just so the filmmakers can get it out there.

Also, I get my yearly feelings that Sundance seems to have lost its usefulness. The festival continues to focus more on the exchange of money and the guests than promoting the movies. For something that's supposed to be about embracing art and differing voices, the general feel seems to prefer focusing on what Anne Hathaway wore to the premiere of her movie or what copies the style of another hit the most.

[transformers2]

Think that's a premature take to have when the festival officially ends today and the deals have taken considerably more time on the whole to close over the past few years. Some of the better reviewed titles seemed destined to end up on a smaller label (The Starling Girl, Fancy Dance, Radical), but stuff like Magazine Dreams, Eileen, Fairyland, Shortcomings, Sometimes I Think About Dying and even Cat Person given the salaciousness of its premise could end up scoring notable deals. The documentary market should continue to be good too as award winners Beyond Utopia and 20 Days in Maripoul are still without homes.

As for the "impact" of the movies itself, time will tell. Just like with anything other festival or genre, you never know what audiences or award voters are going to respond to until they get a chance to see it. Sure, last year wasn't great on that front, but success stories like CODA, The Farewell, The Father, Sorry to Bother You, The Big Sick and Call Me by Your Name aren't exactly ancient history.

[Buscemi2]

I don't think any major label takes on either documentary winner. Documentaries haven't fared well financially lately and the few that have weren't based around political or social events. Also, one of the documentary winners last year (The Exiles) didn't even get a regular theatrical release, instead only being released last week as a VOD exclusive after failing to get any major offers.

As for those successful titles that you claim, does anyone remember Sorry to Bother You? CODA's success story more due to Apple's awards lobbying while The Father and Call Me by Your Name aren't really thought of as Sundance titles. A Sundance success you did leave out though was Wind River, which pretty much launched the Taylor Sheridan television empire, and fared far better than the two main winners and several of the major pickups that year.

[numbersix]

Sundance remains one of the few markets where buyers attend and pick up movies. Yes, of course not every film will get a deal, and the awards often don't match the appetite of the buyers or a wider audience, hence some winners failing to get deals. But deals are being done, and more often than not it's a case of the winners not accepting deals they think they're above.

But the bottom line is if you want your film bought, it's either Sundance, Cannes, Berlin, TIFF, and to a leesser extent, SXSW, Tribeca, and Telluride. Outside of these fests it's going to be a massive struggle.

[transformers2]

Bottoms and Tetris are the latest additions to SXSW's headlining slate. The final 2 titles including the closing night film will be announced in the coming weeks.

On the TV side, they'll host the premieres of Donald Glover's new Amazon series Swarm, Netflix/A24 production Beef, HBO Max's Love and Death, Apple's The Big Door Prize, Paramount+'s Rabbit Hole and Disney+'s American Born Chinese and A Small Light.

[transformers2]

Joy Ride-the directorial debut from Crazy Rich Asians and Raya and the Last Dragon writer Adele Lim-will premiere at South by Southwest on March 17th.