Columbia Filmmakers at South by Southwest 2023
Several projects from Columbia filmmakers are headed to the upcoming South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival, which will take place March 10-19, 2023.
Hosted in Austin, Texas, the 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival lineup will offer a glimpse into the future of film, showcasing emerging storytellers and cinematic trends. This cornerstone of the festival circuit brings together industry leaders, emerging artists, and ambitious student filmmakers for a week that honors storytelling at its finest.
A complete list of projects from Columbia affiliates screening at SXSW 2023 can be found below:
Northern Comfort
Screening Category: Narrative Feature, World Premiere
Directed by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson ’08
Written by Sigurðsson, Tobias Munthe ’08, Halldór Laxness Halldórsson
A special forces veteran, an uptight property developer, an influencer with half a million followers and an incompetent instructor are thrown together on a high-end fear of flying course. The course’s final challenge is an experience flight from London to Iceland, which ends up being a horrendous ordeal. Lost in Iceland, freezing and terrified, they must find a way of facing their fears and working together to spread their wings... and fly. The film will be screened in the Narrative Spotlight section featuring high profile narrative features receiving their World, International, North American, or U.S. premieres at SXSW.
Lucky Hank
Screening Category: TV, World Premiere
Directed and Executive Produced by Peter Farrelly ’86
Lucky Hank will screen alongside other television pilots in the TV Premieres section of the festival, which highlights prestige serials slated for upcoming release. This pilot is a mid-life crisis tale set at Railton College, told in the first person by William Henry Devereaux, Jr. (played by Bob Odenkirk), the unlikely chairman of the English department in a badly underfunded college in a working-class American town. After having its world premiere at SXSW, Lucky Hank will have its AMC debut on Sunday, March 19, 2023.
The Young Wife
Screening Category: Narrative Feature, World Premiere
Directed by Tayarisha Poe
Produced by former Film Program Adjunct Anne Carey and Poe
The story of a young woman grappling with the meaning of love in the face of an uncertain world, The Young Wife is a sunny day panic attack and a wholly new take on the wedding film—following its protagonist over the course of her “non-wedding” day. The film will be screened as part of the Visions section of the festival, which spotlights audacious, risk-taking artists in the new cinema landscape who defy traditional categorization in documentary and narrative filmmaking.
Theatre Camp
Screening Category: Narrative Feature, Texas Premiere
Co-directed by Nick Lieberman CC’16 and Molly Gordon
Written by Lieberman, Gordon, Noah Galvin, Ben Platt
Produced by Erik Feig CC ’92, Lieberman, Galvin, Gordon, Platt, Will Ferrell, Samie Kim Falvey, Julia Hamme, Ryan Heller, Maria Zuckerman, Jessica Elbaum
Theater Camp follows the eccentric staff running a scrappy theater camp in upstate New York. After its indomitable and beloved founder falls into a coma, they must band together with her clueless “crypto-bro” son to keep the thespian paradise afloat. You can catch this film in the Festival Favorites section lineup, which features acclaimed standouts from festivals around the world.