INDIEWIRE – March 6, 2019
“SXSW 2019: 14 Must-See Films at This Year’s Festival, From ‘Us’ to ‘Booksmart’” by Kate Erbland, Eric Kohn, David Ehrlich, Chris O’Falt, Zack Sharf, Jude Dry, Tambay Obenson
*MICKEY AND THE BEAR is included by David Ehrlich.
 

SXSW 2019: 14 Must-See Films at This Year’s Festival, From ‘Us’ to ‘Booksmart’

From returning Austin favorites to newbie talents to watch out for, we’ve got over a dozen new films you can’t miss at this year’s festival.

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The annual South By Southwest Conferences and Festivals — which pretty much everyone knows as SXSW — is hitting Austin, Texas later this week, armed with fresh film offerings (plus music, interactive, and a litany of exciting panels and conversations) and, with it, the promise of a brand new festival-going season. As ever, the annual gatherings is playing home to dozens of feature films and shorts, and while there’s plenty to anticipate seeing, we’ve waded through the lineup to pick out the ones we’re most looking forward to checking out.

From SXSW regulars like Harmony Korine and Lynn Shelton to rising stars like Olivia Wilde and the comedy duo D.A.D.D.Y. and marquee names like Jordan Peele, this year’s SXSW Film Festival has a robust new slate. Here are the ones that look most promising. Stay tuned for more on SXSW’s Episodics section. The 26th edition of the film festival runs March 8 – 17 in Austin, Texas.

“Mickey and the Bear”

“Mickey and the Bear”

SXSW

Annabelle Attanasio could have coasted to a lucrative career as a supporting actress in CBS procedurals, but the former “Bull” star wanted more for herself, and found the courage to leave that (extremely troubled) show after its second season in order to write and direct her debut feature. A coming-of-age drama that’s grounded in the cold realities of growing up in modern America, “Mickey and the Bear” is centered around Camila Morrone (so magnetic in last year’s “Never Goin’ Back”) as a Montana teenager who’s struggling to reconcile her responsibility to her grieving, opioid-addicted father (James Badge Dale) and her own dreams of a better life on the west coast. A story about the complicated relationship between family and independence, the film shines a spotlight on two compelling American actors — both on the cusp of stardom in their own ways — and reintroduces us to a third, whose true calling might have been found behind the camera. —DE