As SXSW 2026 picks up steam, Bleecker Street opens body horror satire prize-winner from last year’s fest, Slanted from writer-director Amy Wang, on 588 screens. Shirley Chen (Dìdi) stars as Joan Huang, who idolizes the popular girls at her high school and dreams of being a prom queen with the help of Ethnos, a mysterious cosmetic surgery clinic that turns people of color white. Won the Grand Jury Prize in the Narrative Feature Competition at SXSW last year. With Mckenna Grace (Regretting You) and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. Film featured at Deadline SXSW Studio.
See SXSW 2026 movie preview and hot list here.
Family dramedy Scent of Pho from 3388 Films brings a global culinary phenomenon — phở — to the big screen in 10 countries including the U.S. and Canada. The directorial debut of Minh Beta stars social media star Xuan Hinh, whose 2025 music video Bắc Bling racked up nearly 300 million views on YouTube, debuted #1 on YouTube’s Top Debut Songs, and peaked at #2 on the YouTube global music video ranking alongside Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga, the distributor notes. The film grossed $1.8 million in Vietnam since opening last month.
The story centers on a devoted phở master whose willful ways threaten to tear apart his multigenerational family after he chooses his young grandson to succeed him in the family’s renowned phở business. Ensemble cast includes Thu Trang, Thanh Hien, Quoc Tuan, Bao Nam, Ha Huong, Thanh Huong, Chu Manh Cuong and Tien Loc.
Abramorama is out with two: Group: The Schoepenhauer Effect, debuting at the Quad in NYC, blends scripted and improvised elements to explore group therapy as it truly happens, blurring the line between performance and reality. Directed by Alexis Lloyd and starring Tony Award-nominated Thomas Sadowski and Lucy Walters and psychoanalyst Dr. Elliot Zeisel, who plays himself.
The distributor is also showing Space Cowboy, directed by Marah Strauch (Sunshine Superman) and Bryce Leavitt, featuring Joe Jennings, a renowned skydiving stunt coordinator and free fall cinematographer, also opens in limited release at the IFC Center in New York. Jennings has spent decades capturing breathtaking aerial moments with his camera for extreme sports competitions, Super Bowl commercials, and Hollywood blockbusters. Driven by a passion for “camera flying” in his youth, Joe cultivated a deep friendship with fellow skydiver Rob Harris, partnering to become one of the most influential skysurfing teams in history until tragedy struck.
More to come