5 Films to Watch at the inaugural SXSW London 2025 Festival
The popular Austin based film festival has made its way across the ocean to land in London for its inaugural edition! SXSW London will be catapulting into London’s Shoreditch neighbourhood in time for the start of the summer festival session. From 2 – 7 June 2025, SXSW London will be offering a full bodied arts programme comprising a conference, music festival, film festival and more all under the umbrella of this one event!
Expect everything from this multi-faceted event with plenty of options for discovery onboard. Taking over Shoreditch for a week, this inaugural event will be a welcomed addition to London’s festival scene, providing an indoor experience across a plethora of venues accentuating that Shoreditch vibe.
This is bound to be an exciting time for curious film and music fans with the endless possibilities to discover new and emerging artists and films.
Just imagine, there will be at least 45 films to watch alongside the conference talks and musical festivities all running across approximately 30 venues, including Rich Mix and 93 Feet East, in this trendy part of London’s East End. Speakers such as Idris Elba, Joe Wicks, Top Jaw, Wyclef Jean, Akua Gyamfi and more will be participating in thought provoking discussions with wide ranging topics delving in to technology, innovation, the creator economy and even more! A week certainly seems too short for such a packed schedule!
Without further ado, let’s delve into the screen festival’s programme to provide insight into what you can experience.
Opening the screen festival is a film straddling both musical and film elements of SXSW London. Stans, based on Eminem’s renowned track. Directed by Steven Leckart and produced by Eminem’s production company, the film will have its World Premiere during the festival. Indeed, it is one of the 12 world premieres slated to appear and there will be a further 30 UK premieres to add to the film watchlists!
The centrepiece headline will be Tom Kingsley’s Deep Cover in the middle of the festival and the closing night film will be Life of Chuck as an adaptation of the chilling Steven King novel.
There will also be a shorts programme, music videos, XR and immersive to entice audiences further. For episodic series lovers, there are two premieres – The Institute and What It Feels Like For A Girl.
Needless to say, we are extremely excited for SXSW London to arrive! Here are five films that we think should be on your watchlists for the festival!
1) Stans
Kickstarting the festival as the opening night premiere, Stans explores the landscape between musicians and their fanbase. You may already know Eminem’s track Stan, about an obsessive fan, but this film will not only cover his discography but also promises to loft the veil off the discourse over social media and the type of interaction that it propagates with positives and negatives! Sounds as though it will be an engaging film!
2) Fury
Fury does sound extremely bleak as it presents the aftermath of a violent attack and the impact on both a sister and brother who develop different coping strategies. One of them chooses acting as escapism, whilst the other seeks angry revenge. For a directorial debut, the film sounds gripping and as though it is destined to be a talking point as a Spanish thriller!
3) Misan Harriman: Shoot the People
The camera turns on renowned photographer Misan Harriman for this documentary. Harriman’s thoughts about the political narrative, which is sometimes present within his photos, will provide a fascinating outlook given that he was the first black photographer with a British Vogue cover shot in 2021!
4) Late Shift
Leonie Benesch caught audience’s eye within her powerful role in The Teachers’ Lounge and her new role within Late Shift sounds just as riveting. Here, Benesch portrays a diligent nurse dealing with a lack of resources but works tirelessly and positively. However, just one occasional error threatens to disrupt everything on her shift, which sounds like fascinating viewing to us!
5) Deep Cover
An impressive cast line up for Tom Kingsley’s latest film, including Orlando Bloom and Bryce Dallas Howard. Offering a thriller comedy and heist film fusion with improv comedians finding themselves implicated in a heist seems intriguing!
Let us know which films sound interesting to you in the comments below!
Find out more about the SXSW London programme and how to purchase tickets here.
