Women-directed offerings dominate South by Southwest’s (SXSW) 2020 Competition lineups. The Austin, Texas-based fest just announced the program for its 27th edition, and women helmed or co-helmed seven of 10 titles in both the Narrative Feature Competition and Documentary Feature Competition slates, amounting to 70 percent overall. Last year 60 percent of features in Competition were by women filmmakers.

Titles set to screen in the Narrative Feature Competition category include “I’ll Meet You There,” Iram Parveen Bilal’s drama about a Muslim policeman who goes undercover at his estranged father’s mosque, and “Pink Skies Ahead,” Twitter sensation Kelly Oxford’s directorial debut, a portrait of a recent college drop-out who moves in with her parents and is diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Among the feature docs in competition are “The Donut King,” Alice Gu’s look inside the meteoric rise and fall of a Cambodian refugee who escaped genocide and went on to build an empire of donut shops, and “Red Heaven,” Lauren DeFilippo and Katherine Gorringe’s account of what happened when six people lived on “Mars” for a year in a NASA experiment studying isolation.

Women filmmakers fared considerably less well in some of the fest’s other prominent categories. SXSW’s most glitzy program, Headliners, features five films, and exactly zero of them are directed by women.

The Narrative Spotlight section, which promises “high profile narrative features receiving their World, North American, or U.S. premieres at SXSW,” includes 13 titles and just two are directed or co-directed by women, or 15 percent of the slate. The program includes Lauren Smitelli and Michael Parks’ teen musical featuring a fully integrated cast and crew of people with and without disabilities and Kris Rey’s “I Used to Go Here,” the story of a 35-year-old novelist who is invited to speak at her alma mater. Numbers in the Documentary Spotlight section are only slightly better. Sixteen titles are screening, four of which are women-directed or co-directed, amounting to 25 percent of the program. The category features Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar’s “9to5: The Story of A Movement,” a look inside America’s secretaries fight to end abuse on the job, and Maria Finitzo’s “The Dilemma of Desire,” an exploration of female desire and what the world would look like if if women’s libidos were taken as seriously as men’s.

SXSW will take place March 13-22. Check out all of the women-directed and co-directed films screening in the Narrative Feature Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Narrative Spotlight, and Documentary Spotlight programs below. Head over to Collider to see the complete feature and episodic lineup for this year’s fest.

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION

Ten world premieres, ten unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,305 narrative feature submissions in 2020.

Holler

Director/Screenwriter: Nicole Riegel

To pay for her education, and the chance of a better life, a young woman joins a dangerous scrap metal crew. Cast: Jessica Barden, Gus Halper, Austin Amelio, Grace Kaiser, Pamela Adlon, Becky Ann Baker (World Premiere)

I’ll Meet You There (Pakistan, United States)

Director/Screenwriter: Iram Parveen Bilal

A Muslim policeman goes undercover at his estranged father’s mosque while his daughter hides her passion for a forbidden dance, uncovering a shocking family secret. Cast: Faran Tahir, Nikita Tewani, Muhammad Qavi Khan, Sheetal Sheth, Shawn Parsons, Andrea Cirie, Nitin Madan, Michael Pemberton (World Premiere)

Pink Skies Ahead

Director/Screenwriter: Kelly Oxford

Life unravels for a wild young woman after dropping out of college, moving in with her parents, and being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Cast: Jessica Barden, Marcia Gay Harden, Michael McKean, Henry Winkler, Rosa Salazar, Odeya Rush, Lewis Pullman, Devon Bostick, Mary J. Blige, Evan Ross (World Premiere)

Really Love

Director: Angel Kristi Williams, Screenwriters: Felicia Pride, Angel Kristi Williams

Set in a gentrifying Washington DC, a rising Black painter tries to break into a competitive art world, while balancing a whirlwind romance he never expected. Cast: Kofi Siriboe, Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing, Uzo Aduba, Mack Wilds, Naturi Naughton, Suzzanne Douglas, Jade Eshete, Blair Underwood, Michael Ealy (World Premiere)

Shiva Baby

Director/Screenwriter: Emma Seligman

A young woman struggles to keep up different versions of herself when she runs into her sugar daddy and her ex-girlfriend at a shiva with her parents. Cast: Rachel Sennott, Polly Draper, Molly Gordon, Danny Deferrari, Dianna Agron, Fred Melamed, Glynis Bell, Sondra James, Jackie Hoffman (World Premiere)

Topside

Directors/Screenwriters: Celine Held, Logan George

A five year-old girl and her mother live in a community inhabiting the tunnels beneath New York City, when a sudden police eviction forces them into the world above, throwing their lives into chaos. Cast: Zhaila Farmer, Celine Held, Jared Abrahamson, Fatlip (World Premiere)

Violet

Director/Screenwriter: Justine Bateman

A film development executive realizes that “guiding voice” inside her head has been lying to her about everything. Cast: Olivia Munn, Luke Bracey, Justin Theroux, Bonnie Bedelia, Zach Gordon, Erica Ash, Rob Benedict, Dennis Boutsikaris, Todd Stashwick, Laura San Giacomo (World Premiere)

Narrative Feature Competition Jury: Rebecca Keegan, Senior Film Editor, The Hollywood Reporter; Rodrigo Perez, Editor in Chief, The Playlist; Kim Yutani, Director of Programming, Sundance Film Festival

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION

Ten world premieres: ten real world stories that demonstrate innovation, energy and bold voices. Selected from 1,011 feature documentary submissions in 2020.

The Donut King

Director: Alice Gu, Screenwriters: Alice Gu, Carol Martori

The rise, fall, and rise again of a Cambodian refugee who escaped genocide and overcame poverty to build a life for himself and hundreds of other immigrant families by baking America’s favorite pastry and building an unlikely empire of donut shops. (World Premiere)

An Elephant in the Room (Denmark)

Director: Katrine Philp

At Good Grief in New Jersey, groups of children meet to understand the passing of a parent or a sibling through play. Death may come suddenly or slowly, violently or peacefully, but it leaves a pain that the child has never felt before. (World Premiere)

Finding Yingying

Director: Jiayan “Jenny” Shi

After a young Chinese student is kidnapped on a university campus, her family travels to the US for the first time, first hoping to unravel the mystery of her disappearance, and then to seek justice, find closure and reclaim their daughter. (World Premiere)

For Madmen Only

Director: Heather Ross, Screenwriters: Heather Ross, Adam Samuel Goldman

Del Close, the hidden architect of modern comedy, sets out to smash open the creative process by writing an autobiographical comic book. (World Premiere)

Kenny Scharf: When Worlds Collide

Directors/Screenwriters: Malia Scharf, Max Basch

Kenny Scharf is surveyed through the eyes of his daughter — revealing a private struggle for identity and acceptance through the ups and downs of a prolific career driven by a passion for making his fantastical inner worlds a very public reality. (World Premiere)

Lights Camera Uganda

Directors: Cathryne Czubek, Hugo Perez

When “Africa’s Tarantino” casts a New York film nerd as his next action hero, it’s the beginning of a friendship that makes their no-budget studio world famous. But as their success grows, tensions flare and threaten everything they built. (World Premiere)

Red Heaven

Directors: Lauren DeFilippo, Katherine Gorringe

Six people live for a year on “Mars” in a NASA experiment studying what happens to humans when they are isolated from Earth. (World Premiere)

NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT

High profile narrative features receiving their World, North American or U.S. premieres at SXSW.

Best Summer Ever

Directors: Michael Parks Randa, Lauren Smitelli, Screenwriters: Michael Parks Randa, Will Halby, Terra Mackintosh, Andrew Pilkington, Lauren Smitelli

A fresh and exhilarating take on the beloved teen musical genre featuring eight original songs and a fully integrated cast and crew of people with and without disabilities. Cast: Shannon DeVido, Rickey Wilson Jr., MuMu, Jacob Waltuck, Emily Kranking, Bradford Hayes, Eileen Grubba, Holly Palmer, Ajani A.J. Murray, Lawrence Carter-Long (World Premiere)

I Used to Go Here

Director/Screenwriter: Kris Rey

Following the launch of her new novel, 35-year-old writer Kate Conklin (Gillian Jacobs) is invited to speak at her alma mater by her mentor and former professor (Jemaine Clement). Cast: Gillian Jacobs, Jemaine Clement, Josh Wiggins, Hannah Marks, Zoe Chao, Jorma Taccone, Forrest Goodluck (World Premiere)

DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT

Shining a light on new documentary features receiving their World, North American or U.S. premieres at SXSW.

9to5: The Story of A Movement

Directors: Julia Reichert, Steve Bognar

In the 1970s, America’s secretaries took to the streets, fed up with on-the-job abuse. They created a movement called 9to5, which later inspired Jane Fonda to make a movie and Dolly Parton to write a song. This is the untold story of their fight. (World Premiere)

Baby God

Director: Hannah Olson

For more than 30 years, Dr. Quincy Fortier covertly used his own sperm to inseminate his fertility patients. Now his secret is out. Baby God follows his children as they seek the truth about his motives and try to make sense of their own identities. (World Premiere)

The Dilemma of Desire

Director: Maria Finitzo

The Dilemma of Desire explores the clash between the external power of gender politics and the equally powerful imperative of female sexual desire. How different would the world look if women’s libidos were taken as seriously as men’s? (World Premiere)

M For Magic

Director: Alexis Manya Spraic

M for Magic is the never-told story of the royal family of magic – four generations of the legendary Larsen family – and their tireless endeavor to save the art of magic with a private club for magicians – the world famous Magic Castle in Hollywood. (World Premiere)