The South by Southwest Conferences and Festivals are a once a year event located in Austin, Texas known for bringing great music to the forefront. However, there is more than music to this event which also showcases comedians, films, and technology. The 2015 SXSW Festival goes from March 13 to March 22, perfect for a spring break road trip. Here are some events to look forward to for this year’s festival:
If music is your thing, this year hosts influential keynote artist Snoop Dogg. Previous years have seen Lady Gaga, Lou Reed, and Dave Grohl as keynotes highlighting a variety of genres. This year none other than The Dogg Father himself will be present to serve as keynote with the keynote conversation taking place Friday March 20th at 11:00 a.m. The music portion takes place March 17-22 with many up and coming bands from all genres playing the festival. If you like knowing about cool, new music before anyone else then this is the event for you.
The Narrative Feature Competition premieres ten unique films to premiere at the event chosen from 1,372 submissions. The films selected this year include “The Boy” with Rainn Wilson, “Manson Family Vacation” with Jay Duplass, both showing their world premieres at the event. Paul Feig, director of “Bridesmaids”, will be premiering his film “Spy” starring Melissa McCarthy during the Headliners segment of the film festival. The film festival runs March 13-21.
Badges for SXSW will cost you anywhere from $695 to $1745 if purchased at the gates, but if you have been saving up for a rainy day and love music, film, and tech then this might be the event to splurge on. Where else can you see Melissa McCarthy and Snoop Dogg, and can you really put a price on that? Imagine the stories.