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Director Benjamin Flaherty is himself a recovering alcoholic. He got help after many years from a sponsor and from working in the program. When the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, it covered addiction treatment. Since that time, many bogus treatment centers have sprung up. They are simply patient mills whose object is to… Continue reading SXSW 2025 Movie Review: SHUFFLE – How Good Intensions Can Go Bad

Kristi was raised by her older brother in Baton Rouge, La., and was definitely a tomboy. In adolescence, she decides she is a lesbian, and in college, she needs gynecological surgery. When she asks to see her medical records, Kristi learns she was born with “indeterminate sexual organs”, actually born a boy (XY) chromosomes, with… Continue reading SXSW 2025 Movie Review: THE SECRET OF ME – Secrets Are Eventually Exposed

The immersive documentary short film Red Sands made its World Premiere at the SXSW Film & Television Festival 2025. This film is the directorial debut of filmmaker Romina Cenisio, “whose work examines the preservation of complex identities and subjects on the fringe of existence,” as described in the press information. The filmmaker is the daughter… Continue reading SXSW 2025 Movie Review: Red Sands – Beyond the El Paso City Limits

I’ll be honest: Mermaid was my least favorite film of SXSW 2025. Despite its intriguing premise, it left me cringing more than laughing, and I had to force myself to sit through it. Directed by Tyler Cornack, the film follows Doug (played by Johnny Pemberton), an awkward, down-and-out drug addict in Florida who’s lost his… Continue reading SXSW 2025 Movie Review: MERMAID – A Misguided Fantasy That Missed the Mark

I walked into Andrew DeYoung’s Friendship at its U.S. premiere at SXSW 2025, not quite knowing what to expect. The premise—a suburban dad desperate for a new friend whose enthusiasm spirals into chaos—seemed ripe for uncomfortable laughs and maybe even some quietly incisive social commentary. To its credit, the film delivers flashes of both. But… Continue reading SXSW 2025 Movie Review: FRIENDSHIP – When Weird Goes Off the Rails

I went into this SXSW 2025 documentary more curious than skeptical. After all, it’s not every day you get a film that promises revelations from over thirty senior U.S. government, military, and intelligence officials about a secret 80-year cover-up involving non-human intelligent life. The idea of a global race to reverse-engineer alien technology sounds like… Continue reading SXSW 2025 Movie Review: AGE OF DISCLOSURE

There’s something intoxicating about On Swift Horses, a film that practically hums with longing from its opening frames. I saw it at SXSW 2025, where it screened in the Festival Favorites section, and from the moment the lights dimmed, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a gentle ride. The film opens not with… Continue reading SXSW 2025 Movie Review: ON SWIFT HORSES

I walked into Slanted with curiosity and an open mind, genuinely intrigued by what I thought might be a bold, satirical take on race, identity, and belonging in the age of cosmetic extremes. The premise—a Chinese-American teenager electing to undergo an experimental ethnic modification surgery to fit in—promised something provocative, maybe even daringly surreal. Unfortunately,… Continue reading SXSW 2025 Movie Review: SLANTED

I watched the documentary Flight 149: Hostage of War, directed by Jenny Ash, during its screening at SXSW 2025, and I walked away both stunned and deeply moved. Going in, I was only vaguely aware of the events surrounding British Airways Flight 149. I certainly didn’t expect to be as affected as I was. The… Continue reading SXSW 2025 Movie Review: FLIGHT 149: HOSTAGE OF WAR