Next month’s SXSW Sydney will host the Australian premieres of upcoming horrors The Front Room and Smile 2, along with dark comedy Nightbitch, and Saturday Night Live biopic Saturday Night.
Taking place from October 15-19, the headliners’ strand kicks off with Max and Sam Eggers’ A24-backed The Front Room, which stars Brandy as a newly pregnant woman who is forced to live with her diabolical mother-in-law (Kathryn Hunter).
The scares continue the next evening with r Parker Finn’s follow-up to 2022 horror smash Smile, which starred Australian Caitlin Stasey. In Smile 2, Naomi Scott plays a global pop sensation who begins to experience increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events as she embarks on a world tour. Finn will be on hand to present the film on October 16.
Coming directly from the Venice and New York Film Festivals is Alex Ross Perry’s previously announced indie rock exploration Pavements, an experimental hybrid of narrative, scripted, documentary, musical, and metatextual elements focusing on US band Pavement, two members of which serve as co-writers.
Marielle Heller’s horror dramedy Nightbitch, starring Amy Adams as a stay-at-home mother who transforms into a dog after being frustrated from leaving behind a career as an artist for a life consumed by parental duties, transforms into a dog, will screen on Friday, October 18, just over a week before it heads to this year’s Adelaide Film Festival.
Fellow TIFF selection Saturday Night, which tracks the ninety minutes leading up to the inaugural episode of US comedy staple Saturday Night Live, will round out the headliners on Saturday.
Directed by Jason Reitman, the film stars Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Dylan O’Brien, Nicholas Braun, Kaia Gerber, Finn Wolfhard, Willem Dafoe, and J.K Simmons.
SXSW Sydney managing director Colin Daniels said each of the headlining films captured the event’s spirit.
“These bold, hilarious, captivating and thrilling films lead a program not just for film fans, but the tech, music, and games audiences that form the rich tapestry of the SXSW Sydney audience,” he said.
Today’s announcement comes after more than 20 titles were unveiled as part of the SXSW Sydney’s screen festival earlier this month, including Lucy Lawless’ feature directorial debut Never Look Away.
SXSW Sydney will take place from October 14 – 20. Find out more information here.