SXSW London announces the first wave of the programme for the highly anticipated inaugural SXSW London Screen Festival, taking place from 2-7 June in Shoreditch. Set to platform 12 World Premieres and 30 UK Premieres, fans can enjoy a host of films, documentaries and short films by purchasing individual screen tickets, available from May.
SXSW London’s Screen Festival will act as a launchpad for talent from across the world, showing the established and the yet-to-be-discovered. SXSW will be the UK’s only cross-genre film festival placing multi-disciplinary and non-traditional artists as its focus. It will feature conversation-starting panels and inspiring talks that explore the future of screen-based storytelling. These panels and screenings will bring in established as well as emerging industry execs, filmmakers and practitioners, and will speak to the intersection of industries across film, TV, music and art.
From Emmy Award-winning director Steven Leckart, SXSW London’s Opening Night Film STANS is announced today. A deep exploration of the relationship between artist and fanbase, STANS features input from some of Eminem’s closest collaborators and most notorious fans, to give the audience unique insight into the song that changed fandom forever, and the entertainer behind it. The World Premiere of STANS will take place at SXSW London on June 2, kicking off Screen Festival proceedings.
The Closing Night Film and UK Premiere of STUDIOCANAL’s LIFE OF CHUCK will be screened on Saturday 7 June to wrap up SXSW London’s inaugural Screen Festival. Directed by Mike Flanagan and starring Tom Hiddleston and Chiwetel Ejiofor, THE LIFE OF CHUCK is a life-affirming, genre-bending story based on Stephen King’s novella about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz.
The programme’s Centrepiece Headliner, Amazon MGM Studio’s DEEP COVER, will hold its world premiere at SXSW London on Wednesday 4 June. The film is a fast-paced action comedy directed by Tom Kingsley and starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammed as a group of amateur improv comics embroiled in London’s criminal underworld. DEEP COVER will be available globally on Prime Video on June 12, 2025.
Other Headliner screenings include the World Premiere of LOVE & RAGE: MUNROE BERGDORF, a documentary about the trailblazing author, model and trans activist Munroe Bergdorf, showcasing her journey as she navigates identity, race, activism and hope.
Alongside films, two series will premiere at SXSW London: the festival will host the UK premiere of the BBC’s WHAT IT FEELS LIKE FOR A GIRL, inspired by the acclaimed memoir of the same name by Paris Lees, and the World Premiere of MGM+’s drama thriller THE INSTITUTE based on the best-selling Stephen King novel, where the fates of a former police officer and a facility full of children possessing unusual abilities are intertwined; starring Mary-Louise Parker, Ben Barnes and Joe Freeman, and directed and executive produced by Jack Bender with Stephen King and Benjamin Cavell also serving as executive producers.
The full screen programme will be presented across a number of strands:
- Official Competition: Where the future of screen storytelling starts; projects handpicked for their innovative and bold storytelling, including the UK Premieres of LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS, FURY and THE THINGS YOU KILL.
- Heartwarmers: A celebration of festival favourites and crowd-pleasers such as the World Premiere of PALESTINE COMEDY CLUB and the UK premiere of CIELO.
- Visionaries: Portraits of and work by artists, technologists and future-thinkers that are shaping film storytelling, including the European Premiere of BEEF and the UK premiere of SILENT STORMS.
- Shivers: Films living in the realm of the eerie, the uncanny and the weird, with the World Premiere of projects like FORTE and THE OCCUPANT.
- Collisions: Stories that open our eyes, create and push conversation forward, including the World Premieres of MISAN HARRIMAN: SHOOT THE PEOPLE and UNBOUND.
- Short Films: A series of short film programmes from across the world, curated from over 1600 submissions.
- XR: A curated exhibition of immersive projects, including presentations of MY FATHER’S VIDEOTAPE and ASTRA.
- Keynotes: the previously announced Gillian Anderson, INDUSTRY creators Mikey Down and Konrad Kay, MUBI CEO Efe Cakarel, artist Misan Harriman and more to be announced.
Anna Bogutskaya, Head of Screen for SXSW London said: “Putting together the first-ever programme of the SXSW London Screen Festival has been a dream. We are excited to present bold new work from across the world, celebrating boundary-pushing films across documentary, animation and narrative filmmaking. Our programme is designed to ignite conversations, inspire new connections, and showcase and celebrate screen storytelling across film, TV and immersive.”
Full Screen passes available to buy now, with individual tickets for each screening starting at £12, on sale from May.
