South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas, United States. It began in 1987 and has continued to grow in both scope and size every year. In 2017, the conference lasted for 10 days with the interactive track lasting for five days, music for seven days, and film for nine days. There was no in-person SXSW in either 2020 or 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Austin, Texas; both years, there was a smaller online event instead.
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, Kickstarter has received $6.6 billion in pledges from 21 million backers to fund 222,000 projects, such as films, music, stage shows, comics, journalism, video games, technology, publishing, and food-related projects.
Anita Sarkeesian is a Canadian-American feminist media critic and public speaker. She is the founder of Feminist Frequency, a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture. She has received particular attention for her video series Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, which examines tropes in the depiction of female video game characters.
Broken Age is a point-and-click adventure video game developed and published by Double Fine. Broken Age was game director Tim Schafer's first return to the genre since 1998's Grim Fandango, and was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Xbox One platforms. The game was developed in two acts; the first was released on January 28, 2014, and the second was released on April 28, 2015. A retail version of the complete game for Windows, macOS, and Linux, published by Nordic Games, was released on April 28, 2015. A Nintendo Switch version was released on September 13, 2018.
2 Player Productions, Limited is a video production company based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 2005 by Paul Owens, Paul Levering, and Asif Siddiky. The company produces content relating to video game culture and the process of game production. They produced the documentary Reformat the Planet in 2008, and have since worked with mainstream companies including MTV and Spike.
Tropes vs. Women in Video Games is a YouTube video series created by Anita Sarkeesian examining gender representation in video games. The series was financed via crowdfunding, and came to widespread attention when its Kickstarter campaign triggered a wave of online harassment against Sarkeesian, causing her to flee her home at one point. Released on the channel Feminist Frequency between March 2013 and April 2017, the series consists of eighteen episodes.
That Dragon, Cancer is a video game created by Ryan and Amy Green, Josh Larson, and a small team under the name Numinous Games. The autobiographical game is based on the Greens' experience of raising their son Joel, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer at twelve months old. Though only given a short time to live, Joel survived for four more years before succumbing to the cancer in March 2014. The game is designed to have the player experience the low and high moments of this period in the style of a point-and-click adventure game, using the medium's interactivity and immersion to relate the tale in ways that a film cannot. It was initially developed to relate Ryan and Amy's personal experience with Joel when they were uncertain of his health, but following his death, they reworked much of the game to memorialize and personalize their time and interactions with Joel for the player. Alongside the game, a documentary, Thank You for Playing, documenting both the last few years of Joel's life and the development of the game, was aired in 2016.
Zoë Tiberius Quinn is an American video game developer, programmer, and writer. Quinn developed the interactive fiction game Depression Quest, which was released in 2013. In 2014, a blog post by their ex-boyfriend sparked the online harassment campaign known as Gamergate, during which Quinn was subjected to extensive harassment including doxing, rape threats, and death threats. The following year, Quinn co-founded Crash Override, a crisis hotline and resource center for victims of online harassment.
Gamergate or GamerGate was a loosely organized misogynistic online harassment campaign and a right-wing backlash against feminism, diversity, and progressivism in video game culture. It was conducted using the hashtag "#Gamergate" primarily in 2014 and 2015. Beginning in August 2014, Gamergate targeted women in the video game industry, most notably feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian and video game developers Zoë Quinn and Brianna Wu, among others. The harassment campaign included doxing, rape threats, and death threats. Gamergate proponents ("Gamergaters") stated that they were a social movement, but lacked well-defined goals, a coherent message, and leaders, making Gamergate difficult to define. Gamergaters claimed to promote ethics in video games journalism, claimed to be protecting the "gamer" identity, and opposed what they saw as "political correctness" in video games.
Brand: A Second Coming, also called BRAND: The Film, is a 2015 English documentary film about comedian Russell Brand directed by Ondi Timoner. The film documents Brand's transformation from a comedian to activist over the past five years. It debuted at the 2015 South by Southwest festival in March, but elicited some controversy as Brand declined to attend the premiere and is reportedly unhappy with the film.
Peace Officer is a 2015 American documentary film about police militarization in the United States. It won the 2015 Documentary Feature Competition Grand Jury award at the South by Southwest Film Festival.
Addicted to Fresno is a 2015 dark comedy film directed by Jamie Babbit and written by Karey Dornetto. The film stars Natasha Lyonne and Judy Greer as two sisters that find themselves in trouble after housekeeper Shannon Jackson (Greer) accidentally kills a guest at the hotel employing her and younger sister Martha (Lyonne). The film had its world premiere on March 14, 2015 at South by Southwest; it was released in the United States on September 1, 2015 through video on demand, and in a limited release in theaters on October 2, 2015, by Gravitas Ventures.
The Damned: Don't You Wish That We Were Dead is a 2015 American documentary film about the British music group The Damned. The film was directed by Wes Orshoski and premiered at the SXSW Film Festival.
Danny Says is a 2015 documentary film on the life and times of Danny Fields. The film is directed by Brendan Toller and produced by Pamela Lubell. Magnolia Pictures acquired the worldwide rights in January 2016.
The Smart Studios Story is a 2016 documentary film written, directed and co-produced by Wendy Schneider. The film chronicles the history and impact of Madison, Wisconsin-based recording studio Smart Studios, founded by Butch Vig and Steve Marker in 1983. The film premiered on March 16, 2016, at the SXSW Film Festival and was released on iTunes March 7, 2017.
Frame by Frame is a 2015 documentary film that follows four Afghan photojournalists – Farzana Wahidy, Massoud Hossaini, Wakil Kohsar and Najibullah Musafar – who face struggles as they report during the “photo revolution” that is occurring in the post-Taliban free press. It is directed by Mo Scarpelli and Alexandria Bombach. It had its world premiere at the South by Southwest 2015 Festival in Austin, Texas, and was nominated for a 2015 Cinema Eye Honors Award in the category “Spotlight Award.”
Jessica Edwards is a Canadian-American filmmaker known for her documentary Mavis! about musician and civil rights figure Mavis Staples.
All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records is a documentary directed by Colin Hanks on the rise and fall of the American record retailer Tower Records, completed and distributed in 2015.
A Secret Love is an 2020 American documentary film, directed by Chris Bolan. Ryan Murphy serves as a producer on the film, while Jason Blum serves as an executive producer under his Blumhouse Productions banner. It stars Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel. It was released on April 29, 2020, by Netflix.
Women's sumo is a form of sumo played by women.
