US director Paul Feig has joined the keynote speakers for this year’s SXSW Sydney, as further details of the 2025 screen festival are revealed.
The multihyphenate, known for creating cult TV series Freaks and Geeks while also directing features Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy, A Simple Favor, and the sequel Another Simple Favour, will receive the inaugural SXSW Sydney Screen Pioneer Award, honouring his contributions to genre filmmaking and film culture.
A retrospective of Feig’s films will be screened as part of the event. Details will be announced soon.
The director said SXSW’s commitment to entertaining audiences made it his “favorite festival in the world”.
“They’ve been supporters of mine for so many years, and to have my work celebrated in this way, and to be able to share it with Australian audiences through this retrospective is incredibly special,” he said.
“I look forward to the conversations, the Q&As, and the Tim Tams come October!”
Other new additions to this year’s screen festival are Amanda Kramer’s sci-fi drama By Design, Brandon Daley’s comedy $POSITIONS, Grace Glowicki’s horror comedy Dead Lover, Charlie Shackleton’s crime documentary Zodiac Killer Project, Rupert Russell’s The Last Sacrifice, and Bhargav Saikia’s fantasy horror Bokshi, as well as short films, including Matty Crawford’s Stomach Bug and Jessie Komitor’s Chasing The Party.
As part of today’s announcement, SXSW Sydney has revealed the first 40 games joining the Games Festival Showcase. Hailing from 26 countries, the titles will be available to playtest and demo at the Games Festival’s new home at the ICC Sydney.
More than 30 speakers and mentors will share their expertise through panels, hands-on workshops, and one-on-one mentoring sessions, with the first wave of sessions now announced—covering everything from indie marketing and global publishing to creative resilience and the future of storytelling in games.
The conference program has also unveiled its first 50 sessions, covering everything from AI ethics, space exploration
and sustainable design to the creator economy, angel investing, and the potential for humans to inhabit the ocean.
Confirmed speakers include former Google X chief business officer and host of mental health podcast Slo Mo, Mo Gawdat, Passes CEO and founder Lucy Guo, Google Maps and Panathēnea co-founder Lars Rasmussen, and MIT Technology Review executive editor Niall Firth. They join previously announced keynote speaker Meredith Whittaker, president of encrypted messaging app Signal.
Overall, the 2025 program incorporates more than 100 speakers, 50 conference sessions, 75 artists, 40 games, and 27 films, with hundreds more to be revealed in the lead-up to October.
SXSW Sydney will take place October 13-19. Click here for more details of this year’s program.