SXSW 2024 - We Strangers and Birdeater

Our SXSW Film Festival coverage is in full swing with two narrative films that deal with lies and finding out the truth.

We Strangers follows a commercial cleaner as she tells a lie (that she can speak to the dead) that spirals out of control. We chat with director/writer Anu Valia about how she created the uncomfortable/anxious tone for the film, interweaving themes of race, power, and assimilation, and how she hopes this film sparks a greater conversation afterwards.

Birdeater is a thriller that follows a bride-to-be as she joins her fiance at his bachelor party in the Australian outback. It was a packed house as we were joined by lead actors Shabana Azeez and Mackenzie Fearnley, and co-director/writer Jack Clark and co-director Jim Weir. We get into the environmental and logistical drama that happened off camera, the importance and impact of working with an intimacy coordinator, and the details behind a horrible game we learn about in the film (that's apparently popular in Australia?) called Paranoia.

Follow director Anu Valia on IG

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Follow actor Mackenzie Fearnley on IG

Audio engineering by Jeff Hunt from Storied: San Francisco