The must-see Australian movies to watch at this year's SXSW Film Festival
Bobby Cannavale and Krew Boylan in Seriously Red. Image: Kane Skennar
Founded in 1987, South by Southwest (SXSW) has been supporting ambitious artists and creative dreamers for 35 years. Based in Austin, Texas, the SXSW conference and its various festivals celebrate the works of new and established professionals in tech, film, music, education and culture. The annual March event, featuring music and comedy showcases, film screenings and art exhibitions, takes place this year from March 11-20, and Popcorn Podcast is proud to cover the 2022 SXSW Film Festival.
Among the groundbreaking world premieres, daring documentaries and experimental features is a handful of must-see Australian gems you won’t want to miss, including these top picks.
SERIOUSLY RED
From director Gracie Otto, the woman behind AACTA Award-nominated documentary The Last Impresario (2013) and Under The Volcano (2021), comes musical dramedy Seriously Red. Raylene ‘Red’ Delaney (Krew Boylan, who also wrote the screenplay) could be over-pouring her morning cup of ambition, as she makes a drastic career change to become a Dolly Parton impersonator and finds herself romancing a Kenny Rogers tribute artist (Bobby Cannavale) in the process. Red soon discovers it’s not enough to get lost under the make-up and blonde wig; she must completely surrender to Dolly to find her true self.
If stars such as Boylan, Cannavale and Rose Byrne aren’t enough to grab your interest, the soundtrack sure will! Seriously Red features hits from Dolly Parton, Elvis, Kenny Rogers, Neil Diamond, Kylie Minogue and more.
Sandra Pankhurst attends a trauma cleaning job in Clean. Image: Louis Dai
CLEAN
What do you know about trauma cleaners? If your answer is “not much”, this is the documentary for you. Clean sweeps us through the spaces that most are too scared to touch – hoarder sites, meth-labs and murder scenes. Following closely behind Sandra Pankhurst, a dedicated trauma cleaner who confronts her own traumatic past as she sets out to find her birth mother, we are reminded that even the ‘cleanest’ members of society have dirty laundry. Clean comes from Lachlan McLeod, an independent filmmaker and co-founder of emerging Melbourne-based production house Walking Fish Productions, and this could very well be his big break.
Aisha Dee in Sissy. Image: Steve Arnold ACS
SISSY
Sydneysiders Kane Senes and Hannah Barlow co-wrote, directed and starred in the 2017 dramedy For Now. They unite again to write and direct Sissy, a horror-thriller following a young woman, Cecilia (Aisha Dee), who finds herself stuck in a remote cabin with her high school bully on a bachelorette weekend. Will a taste for revenge turn a hen party into a cookout?
You may recognise the film’s lead, Aisha Dee, from season three of The Saddle Club, or more recently as Kat Edison in series The Bold Type. Or perhaps it’s her singing voice that rings a bell – Dee garnered more than 15,000 listeners on Spotify following the release of EP Ice In My Rosé in 2020. Either way, soon everyone will recognise the Gold Coast-born actress, who is destined for super-stardom following Sissy.
The cast of Shadow. Image: Jeff Busby
SHADOW
Shadow is an audacious drama about a group of activists with intellectual disabilities who hold a public meeting about the future impacts of artificial intelligence. As the meeting unravels, bickering and chaos ensue as they each grapple for power, soon discovering the greatest threat to their future is already in the room.
The film is based on Back to Back Theatre’s stage production The Shadow Whose Prey The Hunter Becomes. The New York Times has praised the “extraordinary play” for its “astonishingly artful” development of the dystopian premise. But that’s not what makes this feature adaption so culturally important. As with his stage production, director Bruce Gladwin delivers information about neurological conditions in new and captivating ways so that we may better learn about neurodivergence through entertainment. By embracing a cast of actors with autism (Simon Laherty, Sarah Mainwaring and Scott Price), Gladwin is paving the way for better disability representation in film.
Courtney Barnett onstage. Image: Danny Cohen, Anonymous Club
ANONYMOUS CLUB
Under the festival category of 24 Beats Per Second, you’ll find a group of films which showcase the sounds, culture and influence of music and musicians. Anonymous Club is described as the antithesis of a rock biography. Presenting an intimate picture of the enigmatic and introverted singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett, her long-time collaborator Danny Cohen reveals the surprising truth behind her fame – and how, at the height of success, she is ready to walk away.
Cohen is familiar with Barnett’s personal style and approach to her art after having directed a number of her music videos, including Over Everything – a song with Kurt Vile that reached over seven million views. Cohen’s stylised 16mm film takes an innovative approach to documentary filmmaking: using Barnett’s most personal thoughts, recorded on a dictaphone over three years.
