09/03/2018 - A healthy crop of films from all over Europe will be screened in Austin, Texas, from 9-18 March

The SXSW Film Festival, the most relevant independent film gathering in the United States alongside the Sundance Film Festival, is ready to get under way today, 9 March. The event will unspool until 18 March and has once again invited a clutch of films from Europe to be screened in its various sections.

While the Narrative Feature and the Documentary Feature Competition, as well as the Headliners section, are mostly dedicated to US productions (save for Stanley Tucci’s UK-US production Final Portrait [+see also:
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film profile], which will be screened in the latter), the Narrative and Documentary Spotlight, plus the Visions section, include some European talent. 

The first feature by French filmmaker Jérémie Guez, the French-Belgian co-production A Bluebird in My Heart [+see also:
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interview: Jalil Lespert
film profile] and The Night Eats the World [+see also:
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film profile], has now adapted a novel by Dannie M Martin, with Roland Moller, Veerle Baetens and Lubna Azabal among the cast. He will be joined by one of the festival's European protégés, Carlos Marqués-Marcet (whose Long Distance [+see also:
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interview: Carlos Marques-Marcet
film profile] won the Special Jury Award in the Narrative Feature section in 2014) - he will be showcasing his latest effort, Anchor and Hope [+see also:
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interview: Carlos Marques-Marcet
film profile]. 

As for the Documentary Spotlight section, the European contingent will be led by Time Trial [+see also:
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film profile] by British filmmaker Finlay Pretsell, and the Austrian-US co-production The Dawn Wall [+see also:
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One of the most original offerings is probably Elizabeth Harvest, which is touted as a science-fiction reimagining of the French folktale of Bluebeard. The UK-US co-production, directed by Sebastian Gutierrez and starring Abbey Lee, Ciaran Hinds and Carla Gugino, will have its world premiere at the festival.

Lastly, the parallel Global and Festival Favorites sections will welcome titles such as Annika Berg’s Team Hurricane [+see also:
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interview: Annika Berg
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film profile] (Argentina/Spain), and Laura Collado and Jim Loomis’ Constructing Albert (Spain).