SXSW 2025 is finally here this month from March 7-15. It’s the busiest, hottest, as in Pedro Pascal hot, and the most exciting time for both Austinites and folks from all around the world to work and play in Austin, Texas.
This year’s annual festival of film, music, tech, educational panels and so much more is sponsored by Rivian. Like the electric, innovative car fleet of cars by Rivian, SXSW brings forward-thinking panels, A-list celebrities to walk the red carpet for their film festival portion, new up and coming artists from all over the globe to get people excited for what’s to come, and get ahead of trends to come.
Now back to Pedro Pascal, the cast of HBO’s most anticipated show of 2025, The Last of Us, is leading as a featured session on March 8th at Austin’s Convention Center, where the heart of SXSW is. 
As for the Film & TV festival, SXSW is rolling out the red carpet for its highly anticipated 32nd edition with a stacked list of movie stars from documentary and narrative world premieres. When folks think of movie premieres, they think of LA or NYC, but thanks to native-Austin born actors like Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, these actors are advocating to bring the film industry to Texas in their latest ‘True to Texas’ commercial.
Speaking of the king of Austin himself, McConaughey’s latest film “The Rivals of Amziah King“ is premiering alongside Kurt Russell and Cole Sprouse.
Other amazing film premieres include “The Dutchman” with Kate Mara and Zazie Beetz, “We Bury the Dead,” featuring Daisy Ridley, and “The Surfer“ featuring Nicholas Cage. All films will be celebrated by Cinema Center sponsored by Hendrick’s Gin, Peroni, and Bloom.
On top of amazing exclusive events for passholders, the city and companies come together to create unofficial SXSW events around the city. One of the major open events taking place is Artist For Action & Sandy Hook Promise on March 11th. Indie band Passion Pit will be headlining this event, which is part of the music festival to help raise awareness around the gun violence epidemic in the US.
If you are in town, be sure to check out the full programming here. For a full list of all the unofficial events going on in town, check out The Dirty Team on Instagram.
