SXSW Cancellation Leaves Filmmakers and Industry Shocked and Uncertain What to Do Now

The cancellation of the SXSW conference by Austin city officials in the wake of the global coronavirus outbreak shocked multiple industries on Friday, but the biggest casualties are the smaller movies that still don’t have homes.

A handful of studio titles were aiming to premiere at the festival to generate marketing and publicity around their upcoming release dates, including Judd Apatow’s Universal-produced “The King of Staten Island” and Paramount’s “The Lovebirds,” starring Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae.

However, the bulk of the program is comprised of movies searching for distribution.That includes the 20 movies in the narrative and documentary competition as well as potential discoveries in various sidebars, all of which were selected from a submission pool of 2,316 films.

The cancellation leaves a sudden gap in the festival calendar and veterans of the industry reeling from an unprecedented situation.At the same time, it also leaves

Read full article