What a whirl. SXSW 2017 in Austin, TX is one for the books. The movies that premiered this year knocked my socks off. Baby Driver, starring Ansel Elgort, Jon Hamm and Kevin Spacey, was such a creative concept for a heist movie and was delivered perfectly. Atomic Blonde, starring Charlize Theron and James McAvoy, was absolutely kickass in every way. THANK YOU for creating a female spy who is anything but dainty and can throw a real punch. The Big Sick, starring Kumail Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan (my favorite comedian Bo Burnham also made an appearance), made the audience belly laugh so hard at times we would all miss the next joke. Judd Apatow produced the film and was there to answer some questions during the Q&A after the premiere. Win It All, starring Jake Johnson, Tragedy Girls, starring Brianna Hildebrand, Alexandra Shipp, and Jack Quaid, Song to Song, starring Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman and Rooney Mara, This is Your Death, starring Josh Duhammel, Giancarlo Esposito and Sarah Wayne Callies... the list of incredible talent goes on and on.
The SXSW panels this year were also top notch. The festival hosted Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner and the writers for Game of Thrones, Casey Neistat had a panel, Bob Odenkirk was interviewed by Fred Armisen, Jake Tapper from CNN also had a talk, Tim Ferriss and billionaire Marc Cuban had their own panels too. SXSW jam packs in the worlds' best creatives and leaders into one week. It's always a tough decision to decide what event you want to see next.
My favorite part of the festival is always the concerts. I was introduced to some remarkable talent this year. Tameca Jones, Jacob Banks and Maggie Koerner were my favorite new discoveries. The Pandora House hosted Jimmy Eat World and if you attended the festival you could have also seen bands like Weezer, Eli Young Band, Aaron Carter, Solange, The Roots, Brandy, and so so many more.
SXSW also has a gaming conference too! This year I photographed their Gaming Awards at the Hilton. The awards were hosted by WWE Superstar Xavier Woods and YouTube Star Sonja Reed aka Omgitsfirefoxx. The SXSW Game of the Year award was given to Uncharted4: A Theif's End.
There's so much more I could say about this incredible week. I'll end by saying my SXSW Photo Crew team has more talent on it than any team I've ever been a part of before. It's an honor to get to work with them and have like minded peers. Thank you for another unforgettable year.
Cheers,
Sam xx
To see more photos from the festival ::click here::
