After premiering at SXSW 2025, $POSITIONS now makes its way to CUFF 2025 — a perfect home for Brandon Daley’s chaotic, hyper-topical debut.
Now in its 22nd year, the Calgary Underground Film Festival (CUFF) has evolved from local curio to one of the most respected genre festivals on the circuit — not just in Canada, but globally.
On its surface, The Heirloom may look like a conventional relationship drama, orbiting the ever-present possibility of a breakup. Beneath that, though, Petrie has crafted a nuanced film on obsession, control, and self-hatred.
When I sit down with Pete Ohs and the cast of The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick, it’s late in the day. They’ve been talking about this film for hours, moving from one press interview to the next, yet somehow, once we start discussing collaboration and creative freedom, their energy shifts. Sleepy eyes brighten. The conversation becomes less about promoting a movie and more about why they make them in the first place.
When I sit down with Annie St-Pierre at the Epidemic Sound Filmmaker & Industry Lounge at SXSW, I don’t expect us to start talking about Reuben and the Dark. But within minutes, we realize we have something in common – her partner plays in the band, a group I’ve seen live multiple times back in Calgary. It’s a small-world moment, but fitting, considering the film we’re here to discuss.
Each year, the SXSW Film & TV Festival delivers a lineup that spans genres, tones, and styles, offering everything from bold directorial debuts to established voices pushing their craft in unexpected directions.
At the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival, I sat down with Emma Laird and Alex Burunova to discuss a film that hasn’t let go since I first saw it. Though it remains one of SXSW’s quieter releases, it feels like a film that won’t stay under the radar for long.
Few films capture the unhinged spirit of independent cinema quite like Dead Lover. The sophomore feature from Grace Glowicki, the film is a feverish blend of romance, horror, sex, and dark comedy.
Cartuna and Dweck Productions announced today they will be teaming up on a new distribution venture, Cartuna x Dweck, and—in what is one of the first sales out of SXSW—have acquired North American rights to Grace Glowicki’s DEAD LOVER following its Texas premiere at SXSW.
What begins as an intimate exploration of identity and codependency rapidly spirals into unsettling territory as an enigmatic, unnatural force infiltrates their lives – and ultimately, their bodies.