Alex Garland's Civil War Will World Premiere at SXSW

Cailee Spaeny and Kirsten Dunst in Alex Garland's Civil War. The new A24 thriller will have its world premiere at this year's South by Southwest Film and Television Festival. (credit: A24)

South by Southwest has just announced a massive addition to its 2024 Film & TV Festival lineup: the world premiere of Alex Garland’s terrifying vision of a near-future America, Civil War, starring Kirsten Dunst and Nick Offerman.

This screening of Civil War marks writer/director Garland’s return to the festival after the legendary North American premiere of Ex Machina in 2015. It was produced by A24 alongside Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich of DNA and Gregory Goodman.

The film stars Academy Award-nominated Dunst as an award-winning news photographer traveling across an America in flames with her fellow journalist (Wagner Moura), a war zone veteran (Stephen McKinley Henderson), and an aspiring young photog (Cailee Spaeny) who wants to be just like her inspiration – and soon realizes the cost as they drive through refugee camps, war crimes, and other atrocities. The film also stars Jesse Plemons (also an Oscar nominee, alongside wife Dunst, for The Power of the Dog, and an Austinite).

“Alex Garland’s Civil War is a gorgeous, haunting, and powerful piece of cinema unlike anything else you’ll find in a movie theater this year. It’s a wholly immersive experience that expertly blends large-scale spectacle with an intimate understanding of character and personal stakes brought to beautiful life by a stellar ensemble cast,” said Claudette Godfrey, SXSW’s VP Film & TV. “When the credits rolled on Civil War, we all looked at one another in a bit of shock, knowing full well Alex and A24 had delivered another masterpiece. We cannot wait for the world to discover this visionary work and cannot imagine a better place for that to happen than at SXSW.”

SXSW 2024 runs March 8-16. More details and info at sxsw.com. And don't forget to follow all our coverage, and dig into the archives, at austinchronicle.com/sxsw.