The SXSW Film and TV Festival is one of the largest of its kind in the world. In a typical year, thousands of fans arrive in downtown Austin, TX to partake in a couple of weeks of great music, technology, and film. For this special episode of The Hollywood Outsider, we take you along for our annual deep dive into the heart of the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival portion, and even further into the films themselves.

Over the course of several days, the 2026 SXSW Film and TV Festival screened numerous features, TV premieres, many from first-time filmmakers (consisting of World Premieres, North American Premieres, and US Premieres), shorts, virtual reality exhibits, AI advancements, and other works. These films were selected from thousands of overall submissions, and – while we can't see them all – we have a nice sample to share with you of what came out of this stellar lineup of independent and popular films and television series. Over 25 films are on our docket this year, and we review them all (including Ready or Not 2, Family Movie, Phoenix Jones, Rock Springs, Obsession, Stormbound, Normal, They Will Kill You, Chili Finger, Ugly Cry, and more), as well as snippets from panels and a whole lot more!

So sit back and relax. You're about to experience The 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival from the comfort of your own home.

Discussed on this episode of The Hollywood Outsider Movie and TV Podcast:

• Thoughts on the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival
• Reviews of over 25 films, TV episodic premieres, and panels screened at the festival.
• Our personal awards from the festival
• Please support The Hollywood Outsider and gain immediate access to bonus content, including Patreon exclusive podcast content like our Bad Movie Night by visiting Patreon.com/ TheHollywoodOutsider
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For this special episode, Scott Clark from The Gaming Outsider podcast joins Aaron to breakdown Ryan Gosling's film adaptation of Andy Weir's bestselling novel, Project Hail Mary. The conversation begins spoiler-free before we dive head first into the connections to the book and deviations from the source material. Plus, why the world has fallen in love with Rocky.

• Please support The Hollywood Outsider and gain immediate access to bonus content, including Patreon exclusive podcast content like our Bad Movie Night by visiting Patreon.com/ TheHollywoodOutsider
• Be sure to join our Facebook Group
• Subscribe on Apple
• Subscribe on Spotify
• Subscribe via RSS

For this special Oscars 2026 wrap-up, we discuss the events, speeches, and winners of the 98th Annual Academy Awards. Including Conan O'Brien's hosting performance, in-memoriam, one battle after another between Paul Thomas Anderson and Ryan Coogler, and more. All this and more are up for grabs as we recap this year's Oscars!

The Academy Awards ("Oscars") are the most prestigious awards in filmmaking and showcase some of the greatest talent and work in motion pictures for that running year. The nominees and winners are selected by majority vote from members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Ballots are cast by members from within the industry and, in most categories, represent the corresponding branch (ex.: actors nominate actors).