The SXSW Film & TV Festival has locked in the final additions to its 2026 lineup.

The Austin-based festival unveiled 13 more projects today, rounding out the program for its 33rd edition, set to run March 12–18, 2026. With these titles, the festival reaches 120 feature films, including 90 world premieres, along with 52 shorts, 20 music videos, 13 TV projects, and 31 XR experiences.

Among the late additions are high-profile narrative premieres like The Fox, starring Olivia Colman and Sam Neill, Joey Power’s romantic dramedy Love Language led by Chloë Grace Moretz and Anthony Ramos, and Jo Rochelle’s teacher-created slam poetry drama Dead Deer High. On the documentary side, Baby/Girls offers an intimate look at teen motherhood in post-Dobbs Arkansas, while festival standouts such as Big Girls Don’t Cry, Cookie Queens, and Joybubbles join the Texas Premiere slate.

“With these final selections, the 2026 Film & TV lineup is one of our most exciting yet,” said Claudette Godfrey, VP of Film & TV at SXSW. “These projects capture the creative fearlessness and storytelling ambition that filmmakers bring to SXSW year after year.”

The additions span several sections of the festival, including Narrative Spotlight, Documentary Spotlight, Festival Favorite, Visions, and 24 Beats Per Second. On the TV side, the new series Woodstockers, created by Corbin Bernsen, will make its world premiere in the TV Spotlight section.

The Numbers

The completed 2026 program now includes:

• 120 Features (90 World Premieres, 2 International Premieres, 5 North American Premieres, 6 U.S. Premieres, 16 Texas Premieres)
• 52 Short Films
• 20 Music Videos
• 13 TV projects (4 TV Premieres, 3 TV Spotlight selections, 6 Independent TV Pilots)
• 31 XR Experience projects (17 in Competition, 13 Spotlight selections, 1 Special Event)

Feature films will screen across sections including Headliner, Narrative Feature Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Narrative Spotlight, Documentary Spotlight, Visions, Midnighter, Global, 24 Beats Per Second, and Festival Favorite. The Shorts program spans six competitive categories, while the XR Experience program continues to spotlight immersive storytelling in both competition and showcase formats.

Highlights From the Final Wave

In Narrative Spotlight, Dead Deer High follows a group of high school slam poets preparing for a national competition one year after a school shooting reshaped their lives. Dario Russo’s darkly comic folktale The Fox centers on a foxhunter tempted by a talking fox offering to “perfect” his fiancée. Meanwhile, Love Language tracks an aspiring writer who pens wedding vows for others, only to discover her longtime crush is engaged to one of her clients.

Documentary Spotlight selection Baby/Girls focuses on three pregnant teens living in a Christian maternity home in Arkansas, offering an unfiltered portrait of girlhood and early motherhood in the American South.

Festival Favorites include Paloma Schneideman’s coming-of-age drama Big Girls Don’t Cry, Josephine Decker’s Texas-set comedy Chasing Summer, the Girl Scout sales competition doc Cookie Queens, and Rachael Morrison’s Joybubbles, about a blind telephone prodigy whose obsession helped shape early hacking culture.

In the Visions section, Sinner Supper Club presents an improvised queer ghost story shot on an iPhone over six days, while 24 Beats Per Second adds Stages, about a musician navigating his first solo tour after a band breakup, and The Man with the Big Hat, a portrait of Texas singer-songwriter Steven Fromholz.

On the television front, Woodstockers follows an aging hippie forced to confront his past after his marriage collapses and his best friend dies, anchoring the TV Spotlight lineup.

Awards & Industry Recognition

Competition winners for Narrative and Documentary Features, along with Special Awards and Short Film Jury Awards, will be announced March 18. Audience Awards will follow shortly after the festival concludes.

SXSW remains an Academy Awards-qualifying festival for short films, with winners in the Animated, Narrative, and Documentary Short categories becoming eligible for Oscar consideration. British shorts that screen at the festival are also eligible for BAFTA nomination, and selected films may qualify for Independent Spirit Awards consideration.

As always, SXSW positions itself not just as a launchpad for premieres, but as a cross-industry gathering that blends film, television, XR, music, and conference programming into one of the year’s most closely watched cultural events.

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