At revitalized SXSW Film Festival, moviegoers bask in the 'universal language' of cinema
Similar but definitely different. Familiar but not the same.
It's difficult to pin down how best to describe the first in-person edition of the South by Southwest Film Festival since 2019, returning to its home of Austin, Texas. So much has happened in the time since then, the world has changed, people have changed, that even when the festival hit its sweet spot combining freewheeling entertainment one moment and fresh discoveries the next, it could still feel like a muscle that wasn't used to being flexed. In introductions to screenings, festival head Janet Pierson repeatedly spoke with delighted surprise about how the "vibe" of the
