New 'Dungeons and Dragons' movie will open SXSW Film & TV Festival 2023

You'll have to roll the dice during this year's South by Southwest Film & TV Festival. The world premiere of "Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" will be the opening night film for this year's event.

Festival organizers on Wednesday announced a slate of films screening during the 30th edition of the festival, running March 10-18. This year's SXSW Film & TV Festival will be in-person only, with no online screening portion, marking a turn away from a pandemic-era pivot.

Here's what we know so far.

SXSW has revealed four headliner films already.

Based on the popular role-playing game, "Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" is directed and co-written by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. The film stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Chloe Coleman and Daisy Head. While premiere details have yet to be announced, expect some of those famous faces to hit the red carpet at the Paramount Theatre.

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SXSW revealed three other headliner films on Wednesday:

• "Problemista," a world-premiere comedy caper through the world of art and immigration that's written and directed by star Julio Torres ("Los Espookys"). Tilda Swinton and RZA co-star, and Emma Stone is one of the film's producers.

• The anticipated next installment of the "Evil Dead" franchise, "Evil Dead Rise," will screen at the fest. Lee Cronin ("The Hole in the Ground") wrote and directed the film, which is produced by the franchise's original director and star: Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, respectively.

• Directed by Texas' own Eva Longoria (previously announced as a featured speaker for SXSW), "Flamin' Hot" will make its world premiere. The film is the story of former Frito Lay janitor Richard Montañez and the creation of Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

What other star-studded films are coming to SXSW?

SXSW announced dozens of other feature films screening across its programming categories, including narrative and documentary competition and spotlight tracks.

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Some world-premiere highlights featuring famous names include:

• Writer-director Ally Pankiw's "I Used to Be Funny," about a stand-up comedian and the search for a missing girl she used to nanny, starring Rachel Sennott ("Bodies Bodies Bodies")

• Director Lisa Steen's "Late Bloomers," about an aimless young woman who ends up caring for an elderly Polish woman, starring Karen Gillan ("Guardians of the Galaxy")

• Writer-director Imran J. Khan's "Mustache," about a Pakistani American kid growing up in the 1990s, starring Atharva Verma, Rizwan Manji, Alicia Silverstone and Hasan Minhaj

• "Parachute," which sees actress Brittany Snow jump behind the camera for a film about food and romantic addictions that features cast members like Courtney Eaton, Gina Rodriguez, Joel McHale, Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi and Dave Bautista

• Director Rightor Doyle's "Down Low," about "one wild night, a deeply repressed man, the twink who gives him a happy ending, and all the lives they ruin along the way," starring Zachary Quinto, Judith Light, Simon Rex, Audra McDonald and Lukas Gage, who also co-wrote the the script

• "If You Were the Last," an astronaut will-they-won't-they from director Kristian Mercado and stars Anthony Mackie, Zoë Chao, Natalie Morales and Geoff Stults

• "Self Reliance," starring and directed, written and produced by Jake Johnson, about a life-or-death reality game show, co-starring Anna Kendrick, Andy Samberg, Natalie Morales, Christopher Lloyd, Wayne Brady, GaTa, Emily Hampshire, Mary Holland and Boban Marjanović

What documentaries are coming to SXSW?

As always, documentaries covering hot-button issues, cultural phenomena and quotidian stories will fill the SXSW schedule. Some world-premiere highlights for 2023 include:

• "Being Mary Tyler Moore," about the life of the iconic actress, directed by James Adolphus

• "A Disturbance In the Force," about "The Star Wars Holiday Special," directed by Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak

• "The Herricanes," about 1970s women's tackle football team the Houston Herricanes, directed by Olivia Kuan

• "The Lady Bird Diaries," exploring the audio diaries of Lady Bird Johnson, directed by Dawn Porter

• "Pay or Die," about the insulin cost crisis, directed by Rachael Dyer and Scott Ruderman

• "Queendom," about a queer Russian artist protesting in Moscow, directed by Agniia Galdanova

What TV shows will premiere at SXSW?

This is the first year that the fest will officially add "TV" to its name, as the SXSW Film & TV Festival, marking the event's increased programming of small-screen content over the years. Announced this week for 2023:

• "I'm a Virgo" from showrunner Boots Riley (also is "a fantastical coming-of-age joyride," according to the description), about a 13-foot-tall young Black man. The series stars Jharrel Jerome, who also produces.

• "Mrs. Davis," written and produced by Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof (also SXSW featured speakers), is about a nun trying to destroy a powerful A.I. It stars Betty Gilpin ("G.L.O.W.").

• "Slip" from showrunner and star Zoe Lister-Jones is "a fantastical journey of parallel universes" as a woman tries to find her way through alternate relationships and back to her partner. Emily Hampshire ("Schitt's Creek") co-stars.

• In addition, the second season of Starz series "Blindspotting," staring Jasmine Cephas Jones and Helen Hunt, will premiere at SXSW.

Any other notable SXSW Film & TV Festival news?

Like we said, there are dozens of films on the slate so far and more coming. A few others stood out to your humble film correspondent.

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The Midnighters programming track, home to the weird and wild side of cinema, has several fun flicks on tap. We're looking out for "Late Night with the Devil," a film from Australia/United Arab Emirates about a 1970s talk show host who unleashes an evil force upon viewers. It stars David Dastmalchian ("The Suicide Squad"). Then there's "The Wrath of Becky," about a woman living off the grid who squares off with a fascist planning an organized attack. Lulu Wilson and Seann William Scott star.

SXSW's shorts programs are often a great window into up-and-coming talent. One entry into the Texas shorts competition that locals might be interested in: "Exit 238," directed by Henry Davis, a short about the purple martins that roost every year in Austin.

Wednesday's announcement also included programming for the independent TV pilot competition, the music video competition, and the narrative, documentary, midnight and animated short competitions, as well as a host of XR experience titles.

This will be the first edition of SXSW since Janet Pierson, longtime director of the film festival, stepped away from her role last year to become director emeritus. Claudette Godfrey, formerly Pierson's deputy as film festival programming director, is now at the helm as vice president of film & TV for the festival.

More films will be announced in early February, according to organizers. On Tuesday, SXSW announced a new keynote and many featured speakers. Dig into the full film and TV slate and find out how to purchase badges at sxsw.com.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: SXSW Film & TV Festival 2023 lineup to open with Dungeons and Dragons