SXSW Film Festival Unveils Genre And Shorts Lineup

SXSW Film Conference and Festival released its genre-centered Midnighters and short films lineup Wednesday. Eleven features will screen in the section though the festival will screen genre work throughout its sections including the previously announced opener The Cabin In The Woods which will kick off the festival March 9th. SXSW unveiled its competition and other lineups earlier this month. “The most innovative work is happening in genre filmmaking,” SXSW senior programmer Jarod Neece told Deadline Wednesday. “Filmmakers are able to be more creative and it’s outgrown the Midnighter program itself.” Asked if he sees genre plateauing any time soon, Neece said that a reaction to movements in indie film are common, citing the Mumblecore group of films that came out of the festival several years ago as an example. For now though filmmakers are continuing to ride the genre wave. “There may be some genre backlash at some point. But at this point there are some very strong genre filmmakers,” said Neece who added that overall half the features are with distribution and about half are from emerging filmmakers.

The 2012 SXSW Film Festival takes place March 9-17 in Austin, TX.

MIDNIGHTERS
Scary, funny, sexy, controversial – provocative after-dark features for night owls and the terminally
curious.

The Aggression Scale
Director: Steven C. Miller, Screenwriter: Ben Powell
4 hitmen + $500,000 of stolen cash + 1 family = WAR
Cast: Fabianne Therese, Ryan Hartwig, Dana Ashbrook, Derek Mears, Jacob Reynolds, Joseph
McKelheer, Boyd Kestner, Lisa Rotondi, Ray Wise (World Premiere)

CITADEL (Ireland, Scotland)
Director/Screenwriter: Ciarán Foy
An agoraphobic father teams up with a renegade priest to save his daughter from the clutches of a
gang of twisted feral children.
Cast: Anuerin Barnard, James Cosmo, Wumni Mosaku, Jake Wilson, Amy Shiels (World Premiere)

Girls Against Boys
Director/Screenwriter: Austin Chick
A psychological thriller about two girls on a killing spree. With edgy and ironic humor and a darkly meditative tone, it is also a coming-of-age story about a girl learning how the world really works.
Cast: Danielle Panabaker, Nicole LaLiberte, Liam Aiken, Michael Stahl-David, Andrew Howard
(World Premiere)

Intruders (Spain, UK)
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Screenwriters: Nicolás Casariego, Jaime Marques
The haunting story of two children living in different countries, each visited nightly by a faceless being
who wants to take possession of them.
Cast: Clive Owen, Carice Van Houten, Daniel Brühl, Pilar López de Ayala (U.S. Premiere)

Iron Sky (Finland, Germany, Australia)
Director: Timo Vuorensola, Screenwriters: Michael Kalesniko, Timo Vuorensola
In 1945 the Nazis went to the moon; in 2018 they are coming back.
Cast: Julia Dietze, Götz Otto, Christopher Kirby, Peta Sergeant, Stephanie Paul, Tilo Prückner, Michael Cullen, Udo Kier (North American Premiere)

John Dies At The End
Director & Screenwriter: Don Coscarelli
On the street it’s called “soy sauce,” a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. Suddenly, a silent otherworldly invasion is underway. Can college dropouts John and Dave save humanity? No, they can’t.
Cast: Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Glynn Turman

Modus Anomali (Indonesia)
Director/Screenwriter: Joko Anwar
A man tries to save his family who go missing during a vacation in the forest.
Cast: Rio Dewanto, Hannah Al Rashid, Izziati Amara Isman, Aridh Tritama, Surya Saputra, Marsha Timothy, Sadha Triyudha, Jose Gamo (World Premiere)