SXSW to screen world premieres of Donald Glover project 'Swarm' and Lee Sung Jin's 'Beef'

As the South by Southwest Music Festival has contracted over the past several years, the film and television component of Austin's spring extravaganza has exploded. On Feb. 1, SXSW Film & TV Festival organizers announced a new slate of premieres set to screen at this year's fest.

World premiere TV screenings to open and close SXSW film, plus new films

Notable television events include the opening night world premiere of Janine Nabers and Donald Glover's new Amazon Prime series, "Swarm," starring Dominique Fishback, and the closing night world premiere of Lee Sung Jin's Netflix series "Beef," starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong.

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Helmed by Nabers, who was a writer and producer on Glover's groundbreaking series "Atlanta," "Swarm" traces the life of a super fan who is obsessed with a Beyoncé-esque pop star. Fishback ("Judas and the Black Messiah") plays the lead role. Glover directed the pilot and Nabers told Vanity Fair, “When we shot the last scene of the pilot, every single person stopped what they were doing and gave Dom a standing ovation for three minutes.”

"Beef" is a dark comedy that follows a pair of a pair of strangers, Wong and Yeun, who become consumed by a road rage incident.

New films making their world premiere at the fest include Emma Seligman's sex comedy "Bottoms," with Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott, and "Tetris," a narrative film starring Taron Egerton that traces the true story of an American video game salesman's efforts to bring the game from Cold War Russia to the rest of the world.

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More world premiere TV coming to the 2023 SXSW Film Festival

Kelvin Yu's "American Born Chinese," a new Disney+ show featuring Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Ben Wang will also have a world premiere at the festival. Based on the graphic novel of the same name, the show follows an average teenager who meets a foreign student and inadvertently becomes tied up in a conflict with Chinese mythological gods.

The pilot for "A Small Light," a biographical miniseries about Miep Gies, the Dutch woman who sheltered Anne Frank's family, will premiere at the festival alongside "Lucky Hank," a campus dramedy starring Bob Odenkirk, and "Love and Death," an HBO true crime limited series about a Texas housewife who murdered Betty Gore. The latter, starring Elizabeth Olsen in the lead role, was filmed in the Austin area.

Kiefer Sutherland's new corporate espionage thriller, "Rabbit Hole," will also have a pilot premiere at the fest, as will "The Luckiest Guy in the World: The Bill Walton Story."

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Documentaries on Donna Summer, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner to screen

Festival organizers announced several notable documentaries coming to SXSW 2023. "You Can Call Me Bill," an intimate portrait of William Shatner, will receive a world premiere at the festival. Other screenings include the North American premieres of "Love to Love You," which traces the life of Donna Summer, and "I Am a Noise" that spotlights legendary folk singer Joan Baez.

"STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie," follows the '80s television icon whose life was reshaped by a Parkinson's disease diagnosis in 1991. Other notable docs include "Plan C," centered around a group of women dedicated to expanding access to abortion pills; "Black Barbie: A Documentary"; and "Going Varsity in Mariachi," a film that uses the journey of students from Edinburg North High School in South Texas to explore the world competitive scholastic mariachi.

How to attend SXSW 2023

The SXSW Film and Television Festival takes place from March 10-18. Badges are currently on sale for $1195. The festival generally releases film festival wristbands that provide access to many screenings (capacity permitting) closer to the event. Volunteer sign up for the festival is also still open.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: New Donald Glover project 'Swarm,' 'Beef' with Ali Wong coming to SXSW