SXSW 2024 has a lot in store for the Narrative Short Competition, which is described as “exceptional storytelling that captivates, surprises, and excites.”

Check out the full lineup below:

A Rotten Woman / Die Verdorbene (Germany)
Director/Screenwriter: Niamh Sauter-Cooke, Producers: Matthias Schuart, Christoph Holsten
When a neurotic woman discovers mushrooms growing on her skin, she tries everything to make them disappear. But as her self-hatred grows, and her life becomes increasingly miserable, she must learn to embrace her new form. (International Premiere)

A toi les oreilles (Canada)
Director/Screenwriter/Producer: Alexandre Isabelle
While the townsfolk are celebrating the village’s anniversary parade, Étienne tries the impossible: to show them how beautiful his family’s cacophony really is. (World Premiere)

Beach Logs Kill
Director/Screenwriter: Haley Z. Boston, Producer: Max Scholnick
Set at a high school football game, an outsider attempts to connect with her crush, the star quarterback. When the game goes horribly wrong, the outsider believes she’s the only one who can save the beloved quarterback. (World Premiere)

Bits
Director/Screenwriter: Lilliya Scarlett Reid, Producers: Julian Paul Stein, Mary Kate Van den Berg
A young Montana woman’s brush with danger leaves her pining for closure as she struggles to untangle feelings of rejection and desire. (World Premiere)

Caller Number Nine! (United Kingdom)
Director/Screenwriter: Sandy Honig, Producer: Leah Draws
A telemarketer accidentally calls into a radio show and wins a radio contest. (World Premiere)

Can
Director/Screenwriter: Kailee McGee, Producers: JP Bolles, Kailee McGee
Filmmaker Kailee McGee reexamines her relationship with reality, art, and self while battling breast cancer. She turns to the only way she knows how to heal — creating a version of her journey for the big screen. (World Premiere)

Dissolution (United States, Australia)
Director/Screenwriter: Anthony Saxe, Producers: Thomas Lopez, Anthony Saxe
A woman is forced to confront her elderly husband’s physical deterioration when they meet to sign their divorce papers. (Texas Premiere)

If I Die in America (United States, Puerto Rico)
Director/Screenwriter: Ward Kamel, Producers: Adrián Lausell Cabán, Cameron Morton
A young man fights for a chance to grieve his husband after his Muslim in-laws demand their son’s body be sent back to the Middle-East mere hours after the untimely death. (World Premiere)

The Last Brunch
Director: Jim Cummings, Screenwriters: Jim Cummings, Dustin Hahn, Producers: Thomas Cross, Dustin Hahn
Sometimes you don’t realize how thirsty you are until it’s right in front of you. (World Premiere)

Learning English (United States, United Kingdom)
Director/Screenwriter: Jean Liu, Producers: William T Phoenix, Jean Liu
An enthusiastic new arrival to the US seizes an unorthodox opportunity to practice her language skills. (World Premiere)

Let
Director/Screenwriter: Alyssa Loh, Producers: Karen Madar, Clara Dubau
An isolated law student wrestles with a compulsion toward self-harm and pain. A surprising night carries her, and a stranger, into new territory. (World Premiere)

Los Mosquitos (United States, Costa Rica)
Director: Nicole Chi, Screenwriters: Nicole Chi, Fumiya Hayakawa, Producers: Fumiya Hayakawa, Edna Díaz
Aby is a Honduran teenager living in the US along with her freshly arrived cousin, Nata. Together they will come to terms with the family bonds they are forced to create. (World Premiere)

My Tomato Heart (Canada)
Director/Screenwriters: Benoît Le Rouzès Ménard, Producer: Cynthia Mateu
Madeleine is forced to quit her position at the neighborhood grocery store. Except that her job is her whole life; her colleagues, her only family. The quinquagenarian spends her last days of work fighting to save what is near and dear to her heart. (International Premiere)

The Rainbow Bridge
Director/Screenwriter: Dimitri Simakis, Producers: Suki-Rose, Michael Scott, Dawnie Jefferson
Tina and her elderly dog visit a mysterious clinic offering human-to-pet communication. Two sinister doctors uncover an otherworldly bond between them that transcends time and space. They might be the key to something greater…but at what cost? (Texas Premiere)

The Robbers (Austria)
Director/Screenwriter/Producer: Isa Schieche
The Robbers is a sociological analysis of male-and female-attributed behavior and traits, shaking up binary role models in a swirl of radicalism and activism. (North American Premiere)

Say Hi After You Die
Director: Kate Jean Hollowell, Screenwriters: Kate Jean Hollowell, Ruby Caster, Producer: Miranda Kahn
A grieving woman believes her deceased best friend has come back to visit her…as a port-a-potty. (Texas Premiere)

See It Say It (United Kingdom)
Director/Screenwriter: Nez Khammal, Producer: Elena Valeri
A young and optimistic Arab actor struggling to make ends meet, receives a last-minute call for an audition that could change his life. But what starts as a routine journey quickly morphs into a Kafkaesque nightmare of terror and prejudice. (International Premiere)

Shé (Snake) (United Kingdom)
Director/Screenwriter: Renee Zhan, Producer: Jesse Romain
When pressures mount on a tightly wound violinist in a London youth orchestra, her internal monsters take external form. (Texas Premiere)

Sound and Colour (Ireland)
Director/Screenwriter: Emma Foley, Producer: Tamryn Reinecke
Having returned home after her attempted suicide, Hannah must face her dysfunctional and emotionally repressed family. Believing that her relationship ending is the root cause of her depression, the family avoids talking about the “incident”. (North American Premiere)

Trapped
Directors/Screenwriters: Sam Cutler-Kreutz, David Cutler-Kreutz, Producers: Sam Cutler-Kreutz, David Cutler-Kreutz, Tara Sheffer, Silvia Chen, Alex Morsanutto
A high school janitor runs into a series of dangerous obstacles. (World Premiere)

We Are Not Alone (Canada, United States)
Director: Adebukola Bodunrin, Screenwriter: Ezra Claytan Daniels, Producer: Mariel Neto
A reclusive young Nigerian immigrant becomes convinced that a mysterious object approaching Earth’s orbit holds the key to her loneliness. (World Premiere)

SXSW will run from March 8-16 in Austin, TX. You can purchase various badges on their website.

We will be covering SXSW, so be sure to follow along for further updates including reviews and event coverage!