SXSW 2020

SXSW adds Kim Kardashian, Trent Reznor, and more mega-watt names to 2020 lineup

Kim Kardashian at Tom Ford show in New York Fashion Week recrop

Kim Kardashian West is coming to SXSW.

BFA

It's just one month until the convention center doors swing open, and SXSW is still rolling out its mega-watt keynote and featured speakers. On Tuesday, February 11, the festival announced the addition of more than a dozen new attendees, including Trent Reznor, Kim Kardashian West, and Noam Chomsky. Unrelated, this may be the first time those three names have been in the same sentence before.

Gracing this year's Keynote stage will be Oscar, Golden Globe, and Grammy award-winning composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who also happen to make up Nine Inch Nails. They will join producer Damon Lindelof to discuss their collaboration on the HBO series Watchmen. Meanwhile, music superstar St. Vincent will join musician, actress, writer, and director Carrie Brownstein for a conversation.

Fresh from this year's Oscars ceremony, Janelle Monae is slated to make an appearance, as is The Farewell writer and director Lulu Wang and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore.

In what will surely be an interesting conversation on the state of the music industry, SM Entertainment founder Soo-Man Lee will join Capitol Music Group COO Michelle Jubelire in conversation. And in what will likely be the buzziest addition to this year's festival, executive director of Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation Cat Packer joins Cannabis Doing Good and kindColorado president and founder Kelly Perez for a discussion.

They join previously announced Keynotes Erin Lee Carr, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, former Sonic Youth star Kim Gordon, Reggie Fils-Aimé, Gabo Arora, Diplo, and Laurene Powell Jobs.

Featured speakers announced on Tuesday include filmmaker Judd Apatow; U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer; Noam Chomsky; Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, stars of Showtime's Desus and Mero; filmmaker Spike Jonze; criminal justice activist Kim Kardashian West; founder and CEO of DropLabs Susan Paley; David Simon, television producer and creator of The Wire; anime and film director Shinichirō Watanabe; stars and executive producers of #blackexcellenceKenya Barris and Rashida Jones; actor and activist Jameela Jamil; president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center and co-founder of TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund Fatima Goss Graves; music legend Ozzy Osbourne; country star Margo Price; Oscar and Emmy award-winning actor and creative council chair of Everytown for Gun Safety Julianne Moore; and Marvel editor in chief C.B. Cebulski and creative director Joe Quesada.

And those aren't even all of the names. See the full lineup here.

SXSW returns to Austin March 13-22 and badges, including Platinum, Film, Interactive, and Music, are on sale now. For more information and to purchase a badge, go here. A full list of this year's speakers, keynote addresses, bands, films, and more can be found here.

sxsw

SXSW 2020

Amazon Prime sets premiere date to stream SXSW 2020 films for free

Photo by Charlie L Harper III

Amazon Prime begins screening SXSW films on April 27.

SXSW is largely a place of discovery, but for technology companies and creatives, it provides a massive platform to get in front of new audiences. In the case of filmmakers, it's an opportunity to debut their work and — fingers crossed — score distribution deals. After the 2020 event was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns, these creators and creatives were left without an avenue to showcase their work and audiences without the opportunity to see it.

In early April, Amazon Prime provided one of the only pieces of good news in the wake of this year's cancellation: it will screen the festival's films — for free.

Prime Video presents the SXSW 2020 Film Festival Collection launches on Monday, April 27, through Wednesday, May 6, with 39 films ranging from narrative and documentary features to shorts and episodic shows. All titles will be available for free for both Prime members and non-members.

Each film would have been screened during SXSW Film, the movie portion of the 10-day mega-festival. In an earlier release, SXSW said every filmmaker would be invited to take part in the Prime festival, but it was not required. An earlier release noted that filmmakers would receive an undisclosed screening fee to participate. On April 9, the Hollywood Reporter said it had reviewed the fee documents given to filmmakers, but it was unclear what the compensation would be.

Writes THR, "The compensation would be delivered after the projects complete the 10-day run on the service. But it is was unclear to filmmakers what type of compensation that 'screening fee' would be, which was troubling for filmmakers that were trying to accurately weigh the possible financial risk."

"We understand every film has its own strategy and we know this opportunity may not make sense for every filmmaker. However, for those who want to share their stories right now and with as many people as possible, we’re excited to provide them this platform,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, in an April 21 release.

Along with the titles, nonprofit Free the Work is curating Q&As and online panels to accompany the collection, bringing a bit of that South By spirit to the online streaming platform.

"Free the Work's mission is to find new pathways to the discovery of underrepresented creators and we're excited to help celebrate, spotlight, and provide a platform for the voices of these talented filmmakers," said founder and filmmaker Alma Har’e of the organization's part in the collection.

To take part, users must create a free Amazon account and can stream the films through a browser or download the Prime app to watch on personal devices and smart TVs. See a full list of participating titles here, and start planning your very own SXSW Film festival.

festivals sxsw movies