SXSW and Amazon Prime's Free Digital Film Festival Has Launched

The Austin film and culture festival SXSW has teamed up with Amazon Prime to launch a digital film festival, which runs until May 6. The 10-day festival will feature some of the films that never got screen time due to the unprecedented cancellation of the 33-year-old festival as a result of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The digital film festival is free to anyone with an Amazon account (no Prime membership necessary). In a press release, the festival said filmmakers have the choice to opt in to the online film festival, and the filmmakers who join the festival will receive a screening fee for their films' 10-day run.

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In a press release announcing the partnership, Janet Pierson, Director of Film at SXSW, said, "Ever since SXSW was canceled by the City of Austin, we’ve been focused on how we could help the incredible films and filmmakers in the SXSW 2020 Film Festival lineup.”

"We’re honored to be able to provide a space for the SXSW filmmakers to share their hard work and passion with audiences for the first time," said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios. "We... hope this online film festival can help give back some of that experience, and showcase artists and films that audiences might otherwise not have had the chance to see.”

The original film festival lineup included highly anticipated productions like David Lowery's The Green Knight, a retelling of the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with a fantasy twist, and The Lovebirds, a murder mystery with Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani in the leading roles.

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This article was originally published on 3 April and updated on 27 April.