SXSW Hands Out Film Awards, Despite Festival Cancellation

A somber drama built on the idea that a small town is no place to try keeping secrets, Scott Teems' The Quarry pits a Texas police chief (Michael Shannon) against a newly arrived preacher (Shea Whigham) who isn't who he claims to be. Catalina Sandino Moreno and Bobby Soto round out a very fine cast; but sensitive performances only go so far toward generating sparks in the slow-moving film, which never becomes the crime-and-punishment nail-biter it might've been.

[Note: In the wake of SXSW's cancellation this year, The Hollywood Reporter is reviewing select fest entries that elected to screen digitally for critics.] S.R. Bindler's 1997 documentary Hands on a Hard Body —about a Texas endurance contest in which the last contestant awake with a hand touching a new truck would win it —was an unexpected sensation, attracting attention long before today's doc boom and inspiring spinoffs including a Broadway musical.

German-born, Austin-based director Bastian Günther has crafted an artful but unnaturally pessimistic retelling of Texas' infamous 'Hands on a Hard Body' competition.

NEW YORK -- The popcorn will be bring your own and the barbecue won't be as good, but the Austin, Texas, SXSW Film Festival is moving online after having its 27th edition canceled by the coronavirus pandemic.

South by Southwest, the sprawling Austin, Texas, conference and festival, was one of the first major gatherings canceled by the coronavirus pandemic. But its organizers, eager to lend a hand to the movies that had been set to premiere at SXSW, on Tuesday went ahead with the festival’s film awards.

NEW YORK -- South by Southwest, the sprawling Austin, Texas, conference and festival, was one of the first major gatherings canceled by the coronavirus pandemic. But its organizers, eager to lend a hand to the movies that had been set to premiere at SXSW, on Tuesday went ahead with the festival's film awards.

Though this year’s SXSW was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the film festival held annually in Austin, Texas announced 2020 award winners.

“Charm City Kings” won over many critics in its Sundance premiere earlier this year, and likely would have been doing the same in Texas this week if it were showing, as planned, at the canceled South by Southwest Film Festival.

Netflix has been airing quality binge-worthy content and one series that made headlines in recent months was Cheer.

Dim echoes of David Lynch and early Roman Polanski abound throughout “The Carnivores,” a fitfully fascinating mix of teasing narrative opacity and stylized psycho-thriller atmospherics.

"Now is the time we should be going to restaurants, going to clubs, and buying musicians' merchandise"

Erykah Badu is making social distancing a fashion statement.

Erykah Badu is keeping herself protected in style for safety!

The South by Southwest music, technology and film festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, will foot costs related to the event getting cancelled, as disease outbreak was excluded from its insurance cover, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Now celebrating its 20th year — as well as the 35th anniversary of its parent organization, the Austin Film Society — the Texas Film Awards will honor such diverse talents as actors Kaitlyn Dever and Shelley Duvall and neo-soul auteur Erykah Badu at its annual ceremony on March 12. Duvall’s film debut, the Houston-shot “Brewster McCloud,” will also be recognized with the org’s Star of Texas Award.

"We had to find a way to make sure the show would go on in order to support the emerging artist community"

Without losing perspective, the city in the U.S. that may have been hit hardest thus far by the spread of the coronavirus may be one that has not yet seen a single case of the illness: Austin, Texas, where the annual South by Southwest conference, which brings dozens of thousands of people and hundreds of millions of dollars to the city every year, was cancelled on Friday.