Emersonians Will Be Everywhere All at Once at SXSW 2024

This year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Film & Television Festival will host the premiere of I Love You Forever, a film written, directed, produced, and starring Emerson alums, including Cazzie David ’16, who also is being honored with a Breakthrough Artist Award for her work on the film.

I Love You Forever is one of several films and TV shows created, in part, by Emersonians, and screening March 8-16 in Austin, Texas, at the festival, where Oscar darlings and alums Daniel Kwan ’10 and Daniel Scheinert ’09, will deliver the keynote address.

Titled “How We Pulled Off Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the Daniels will talk about making their award-winning film, but “we should tell you that we’ve run out of new things to say about Everything Everywhere All at Once,” they write in the keynote description, “so although we’ll try our best to stay on topic, we’ll most likely go on a bunch of tangents about the state of the world, the impending climate crisis, the collapse of consensus truth, the rise of AI, the importance and impossibility of self-care, and our collective responsibility as storytellers to confront the issues of our time.”

I Love You Forever, a film about a woman who enters into, and gets out of, an emotionally abusive relationship, was co-written and co-directed by David (who also plays Ally in the film) and Elisa Kalani ’16. It was produced by Billy Mulligan ’01, and George Loucas ’04 was visual effects supervisor. The film is being screened in the Narrative Spotlight category.

David will be presented with her Breakthrough Artist Award by writer/producer Diablo Cody at Variety’s annual Power of Comedy event on March 8.

A half-dozen Emersonians had a hand in making Arcadian, a dystopian father-son story starring Nicolas Cage — including director Ben Brewer ’10, who also was VFX Creative Director and Lead Artist. Frank Mobilio ’10 was Cinematographer, Lawrence He ’18 was Sound Designer, Jenna Tresidder ’22 was Sound Effects Editor, Vivian Williams ’19, Foley Artist, and Wyatt Andraos ’24 and Zoe O’Neil ’24, Foley Editors. Arcadian is screening as a Narrative Spotlight selection.

He and Tresidder teamed up again on High Tide, about an undocumented Brazilian immigrant searching for purpose in the queer mecca of Provincetown; He was Sound Designer and Tresidder was Foley Artist. No fewer than eight alums worked on the film, including Edgar Rosa ’12 ( Line Producer), Nicole Schott ’02 ( Costumer Designer), Christopher Stavre ’16 (Set Dresser), Honah Lee Milne ’96 (Key Costumer), Kayla McEniry ’19 (Additional Costumer), and Robert Eckel ’12 (Additional Grip).

Producer Rosa and Sound Effects Editor Tresidder , sound effects editor, worked together on Bob Trevino Likes It, in the Narrative Feature Competition. Tresidder (who evidently was busy this year) and Williams worked together on Dandelion in the 24 Beats Per Second Category — Tresidder as Sound Editor, Williams as Foley Artist.

In addition to Mobilio on Arcadian, four additional Emerson cinematographers will have their work screened at SXSW.

Lowell Meyer ’11 shot I Don’t Understand You, which joins I Love You Forever in the Narrative Spotlight. The film, starring Nick Kroll, is about an American couple stranded in rural Italy, facing their fears and relationship issues. Meyer also contributed additional cinematography to Headliner Immaculate. Michelle Kwong ’15 filmed Songs from the Hole, running in the Visions category, about a man serving a life sentence; and Pat Scola ’08 was cinematographer on Sing Sing, being screened as a Festival Favorite. Starring Colman Domingo, Sing Sing is about a theatre group escaping incarceration by staging a play. Shane Hurlbut ’86 shot Música, a coming-of-age story about a creator with synesthesia. Kenzie Woodrow ’17 was Assistant Editor on the film.

Jared Canfield ’12 plays Daniel, and student Mischa Reddy ’27 plays Sunny Patel in We Strangers, a character study of a Black woman who, working as a housekeeper, who finds herself in a position of power. We Strangers is in the Narrative Feature Competition.

Music editor David Klotz ’94, who has won eight Emmy Awards for his work on American Horror Story, Stranger Things, and Game of Thrones, has reunited with GOT showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss on their latest series, 3 Body Problem, about humanity’s first contact with an alien civilization, premiering at SXSW. Peter Keeling ’10 worked as a B camera/Steadicam operator on the series. Xun Zhuo ’19 was a Creative Executive on eight episodes of the series.

James Chapman ’10 executive produced How Music Got Free, a documentary about a CD factory worker who teams up with teen hackers to lead the music piracy revolution.

Braden Bochner ’18 executive produced I Wish You All the Best, screening as a Narrative Spotlight selection. The film follows a non-binary teen’s attempts to navigate high school after being thrown out of their house.

And Jim Cummings ’09, who grabbed the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW in 2018 for his feature film Thunder Road, wrote, directed, edited, and did visual effects for The Last Brunch, screening in the Narrative Short Competition (Tagline: “Sometimes you don’t know how thirsty you are until it’s right in front of you”).

SX Programming

On the program side, in addition to the Daniels, Head of Film Exhibitions and Festival Programs Anna Feder and Visual and Media Arts Assistant Professor Maria Agui Carter will present in this year’s 90-Minute Film School. Feder will discuss “Cinema-Going as Civic Engagement,” and Agui Carter will present “Throw Away the Umbrella and Dance in the Rain,” her strategies for thriving as a filmmaker against the odds.

McKenna Stephens, MFA ’16, global TV manager at Participant, a media company dedicated to entertainment at the intersection of art and activism, will listen for the next big TV show as a panelist on the SXSW Film Fest Episodic Pitch-a-Thon, presented by SeriesFest.

Michelle Shwarzstein ’09, CEO of Brainstorm Media, will be one of the panelists on “Demystifying Film Distribution from Delivery to Release.”

And Helen Todd, MA ’08, founder of Sociality Squared, a social media agency, and Creativity Squared, providing free content exploring how creatives are using artificial intelligence, will offer a Mentor Session for those interested in AI, machine learning, marketing, advertising, and PR.

More alum work at SXSW:

Headliners:

Anne Loppert ’16, assistant costume designer, The Fall Guy

Samuel Kim ’16, video assistant, Babes

Elliot Thompson ’02 and Shiheng (Jedy) Xu ’20 were Re-Recording Mixers, and Sarah McCulley ’10 was VFX Producer on Y2K

Narrative Spotlight:

Camille Calderon ’19 was Art Department Assistant on The Greatest Hits.

Midnighters:

Caitlin Brown ’16, MFA ’19, additional first assistant camera, and Tatiana Melendez ’20, casting assistant, It’s What’s Inside

Festival Favorites:

Ethan Feldbau ’07, visual effects artist, Sasquatch Sunset

Maggie Ambrose ’16, unit production manager, and Justin Landsman ’24, production assistant, I Saw the TV Glow

TV Premiere:

Christopher Consoli ’23, second assistant camera, Black Twitter

TV Spotlight:

Julianna Castigliego ’12, graphic designer, Hacks (season 3 premiere)

Kenzie Woodrow ’17, first assistant editor, Penelope , and editor/story producer, Ryley Walker & Friends (Duplass Brothers Indie TV Showcase)

This story is developing. Did we miss anyone? Email alumni@emerson.edu and let us know!