SXSW 2012 Film Festival Announces Midnight Features and Short Films
Steve Barton
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SXSW
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The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival has announced the highly anticipated features in its Midnighters section, as well as the complete short films lineup, which will debut at this year’s Festival from March 9-17, 2012 in Austin, Texas.
The eleven films announced in the 2012 Midnighters program include a feast of titles that promise to rouse, haunt, and thrill the eager SXSW late-night audiences with an eclectic mix of thrills from genre filmmakers at the top of their game.
“Though our regular program already includes a healthy sampling of genre fare, the Midnighters section highlights those that go a bit crazier, gorier, and all-around balls out-ier,” said SXSW Senior Programmer and Operations Manager Jarod Neece. “This year’s program includes both veteran names with anticipated follow-ups and fresh discoveries with new voices and charts otherworldly, insane territories that breathe new life into horror conventions.”
The SXSW Film Festival will open on Friday, March 9th, with the world premiere of Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s The Cabin in the Woods. In addition to nine full days of film screenings, SXSW Film will ultimately feature over 100 informative and entertaining panels, workshops, mini-meetings, and mentor sessions. The final conference lineup and remaining late addition features will be announced February 15th.
Joining the previously announced features (learn more about them here), the Midnighters additions to the 2012 SXSW lineup are as follows:
The Aggression Scale – World Premiere
Director: Steven C. Miller, Screenwriter: Ben Powell
Cast: Fabianne Therese, Ryan Hartwig, Dana Ashbrook, Derek Mears, Jacob Reynolds, Joseph McKelheer, Boyd Kestner, Lisa Rotondi, Ray Wise
4 hitmen + $500,000 of stolen cash + 1 family = WAR
Citadel (Ireland, Scotland) – World Premiere
Director/Screenwriter: Ciarán Foy
Cast: Anuerin Barnard, James Cosmo, Wumni Mosaku, Jake Wilson, Amy Shiels
An agoraphobic father teams up with a renegade priest to save his daughter from the clutches of a gang of twisted feral children.
Girls Against Boys – World Premiere
Director/Screenwriter: Austin Chick
Cast: Danielle Panabaker, Nicole LaLiberte, Liam Aiken, Michael Stahl-David, Andrew Howard
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.
Intruders (Spain, UK) – US Premiere
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Screenwriters: Nicolás Casariego, Jaime Marques
Cast: Clive Owen, Carice Van Houten, Daniel Brühl, Pilar López de Ayala
The haunting story of two children living in different countries, each visited nightly by a faceless being who wants to take possession of them.
Iron Sky (Finland, Germany, Australia) – North American Premiere
Director: Timo Vuorensola, Screenwriters: Michael Kalesniko, Timo Vuorensola
Cast: Julia Dietze, Götz Otto, Christopher Kirby, Peta Sergeant, Stephanie Paul, Tilo Prückner, Michael Cullen, Udo Kier
In 1945 the Nazis went to the moon; in 2018 they are coming back.
John Dies at the End
Director/Screenwriter: Don Coscarelli
Cast: Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Glynn Turman
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 under way. Can college dropouts John and Dave save humanity? No, they can’t.
Modus Anomali (Indonesia) – World Premiere
Director/Screenwriter: Joko Anwar
Cast: Rio Dewanto, Hannah Al Rashid, Izziati Amara Isman, Aridh Tritama, Surya Saputra, Marsha Timothy, Sadha Triyudha, Jose Gamo
A man tries to save his family who go missing during a vacation in the forest.
[REC]3: GENESIS (Spain) – World Premiere
Director: Paco Plaza
Screenwriters: Luiso Berdejo, Paco Plaza
Cast: Leticia Dolera, Diego Martin
Koldo and Clara’s wedding is horrifically interrupted when some of the guests start showing signs of a strange illness. Before they know what’s happening, the bride and groom find themselves in the middle of a hellish ordeal as an uncontrollable torrent of violence is unleashed on the wedding.
Super Secret Screening
Be the first to see this feature film coming to theaters near you.
The Tall Man – World Premiere
Director/Screenwriter: Pascal Laugier
Cast: Jessica Biel, Jodelle Ferland, Stephen McHattie, William B. Davis
When her child goes missing, a mother looks to unravel the legend of the Tall Man, an entity who allegedly abducts children.
V/H/S
Directors: Ti West, Adam Wingard, Joe Swanberg, David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence
Screenwriters: Ti West, Simon Barrett, David Bruckner, Radio Silence, Glenn McQuaid
Cast: Joe Swanberg, Calvin Reeder, Kate Lynn Shiel, Sophia Takal, Lane Hughes, Helen Rogers, Adam Wingard
A group of misfits are hired to burglarize a house in the countryside and acquire a rare tape. The guys are confronted with a dead body and an endless supply of cryptic footage, each video stranger than the last…
As for the shorts, 135 short films were selected from 3,306 short film submissions and will screen as part of twelve overall shorts programs. Rather than list them all here, we recommend you browse the official South by Southwest lineup for all the details on the narrative shorts, documentary shorts, SX global shorts, animated shorts, midnight shorts, music videos, Texas shorts, and Texas high school shorts.
“The shorts selected this year truly maximize the form’s potential. They employ clear directorial vision and draw the audience in with original characters, revealing the constant struggle to define identity,” said Shorts Programmer Claudette Godfrey. “While many of these films exist near the boundary between narrative and documentary, they ultimately cultivate their own terms, which is exactly what SXSW is all about.”
Visit the official South by Southwest website for more, and register for a Film, Gold or Platinum Badge by clicking here.
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