By Rachel Bui
SXSW 2020’s cancellation due to the coronavirus had many of us wondering how SXSW 2021 would look like for almost a year. Their response: host SXSW virtually.
SXSW Online may not have been the first festival of its kind during the pandemic, but it was a first for a major annual festival, especially at the scale SXSW is typically conducted. Within SXSW’s online interface, an attendee could surf through the channels 24/7 for the entire duration of the festival for content. One perk for this year was that you had access to all of the components of the festival, not just for one or two, so a typical music festival attendee could enjoy watching a short film premiere if they had time. Another perk of the online format was that there were no caps on how many people could attend a session or viewing; for example, I didn’t have to wait in line outside of a conference room hoping to make the cut to attend a session by The Daily Show News Team: Content from Their Couches this year. By hosting the festival online, accessibility was not an issue.
The scheduling roster was similar, the types of events were similar, but (to no one’s surprise) SXSW Online was still missing the spark of magic that comes with physically sharing a collective experience with fellow audience members. At this point of the pandemic, it is difficult to enjoy your free time at an event if it is hosted on the same devices that you’ve been using for remote work. You can’t watch stages that are essentially several playlists of music videos and say that you attended a festival.
Overall, I believe that some parts of the festival transitioned to the online format more than others, but I commend everyone for their efforts “during these unprecedented times” (yes, cringe at this phrase - it’ll be over soon). Going to SXSW virtually kept attendees entertained, but it's probably safe to say the next rendition of the festival that occurs in person will be extra joyous and chaotic.
Notable shorts:
Beyond The Model - Jessica Lin
Marvin’s Never Had Coffee Before - Andrew Carter
Opera - Erick Oh
Rendang of Death - Percolate Galactic
The Beauty President - Whitney Skauge
Red Taxi - Anonymous
Favorite stage: AOMG / BeatBites (Devita, sogumm, DJ Wegun, Woo, Loco) --- I enjoyed that the each performance of the show happened in a different part of a house, so it reflected “SXSW at Home” vibe nicely.
