‘SXSW Is My Whole Life’: An Ode to the Austin Festival as It Makes Its In-Person Return

variety.com:

SXSW festival less than a week before it was scheduled to kick off.For years, as the festival grew from a cool place to see up-and-coming bands into a multinational, multidisciplinary megalodon, it seemed like an unstoppable force.

A source of both pride and annoyance for Austinites, it was also a major driver of the local economy, and its once fledgling film festival had turned into a major launching pad for everything from the most avant-garde of American indies to blockbuster studio comedies.

The idea of it ceasing to exist went from unimaginable to all too real within a matter of days. Perhaps that’s why, two years later, SXSW’s return to an in-person event this week feels particularly special. (Variety’s parent company, Penske Media, is a shareholder of SXSW.)“The pandemic began with the canceling of SXSW,” says Austin mayor Steve Adler, “so it’s only fitting that the reopening of this event is what celebrates the return of a now pandemic-informed, even more special and just city.”As longtime SXSW director of film Janet Pierson notes, “There are lots of other film festivals and other conferences and other trade shows, but you don’t have this particular combination of all these professionals in these different fields mixing it up together in a city like this.

There’s an alchemic spirit that you can’t duplicate.”The festival’s film program began to stand on its own thanks to a number of big breakouts — “Short Term 12,” “Bridesmaids” and “A Quiet Place” chief among them — but the importance of SXSW Film goes far beyond its usefulness as a marketing vehicle.