The 2012 SXSW Film Festival has announced some exciting additions to their already-stellar line-up.  The Sundance flicks Searching for Sugar Man, Chasing Ice, Monsieur Lazhar (my review), Safety Not Guaranteed (my review), Shut Up and Play the Hits, and Sleepwalk with Me will all be showing up at this year’s SXSW.  I heard nothing but good things about Chasing Ice and Sleepwalk with Me, and I’m glad I’ll have a second chance to see them.  SXSW 2012 will also have the world premiere of Steve Taylor‘s Blue Like Jazz, and Todd Rohal‘s Nature Calls starring Patton Oswalt, Johnny Knoxville, and Rob Riggle.  

Hit the jump for more on all of the new additions.  The 2012 SXSW Film Festival runs from March 9 – 17th.

While the eventual break-up of most bands tends to come from a place of jealously/anger/greed/jealously, LCD Soundsystem left the limelight a little differently. When the band decided to call it quits after nearly a decade, they scheduled one last show at Madison Square Garden. Directors Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace chronicled the 48 hours encompassing the final concert in the new film Shut Up and Play the Hits. A first trailer for the pic has gone online, and fans of the band should be quite pleased. It’s certainly an interesting concept and I’m looking forward to seeing how the whole thing is put together.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. Shut Up and Play the Hits will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival which runs from January 19 – 29th.

Yesterday, Sundance announced the line-ups for the in-competition categories.  Today, we’re moving into the out-of-competition films and just because they’re not competing for an award, doesn’t mean they won’t be great.  Sundance has announced their line-ups for the Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, Next <=>, and New Frontier categories.  There are a lot of exciting films in these categories, but I’m over the moon that Sundance will be getting The Raid.  The movie got massive love coming out of TIFF this year, Sony Pictures Classics picked up the distribution rights, and I’m going to make sure there’s a spot for it in my Sundance schedule.  Other noteworthy movies include Monsieur Lazhar, Wuthering Heights, and Black Rock (a horror film from The Freebie director Katie Aselton and her husband/Cyrus co-writer-director Mark Duplass).

Hit the jump for the line-ups.  The 2012 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 19 – 29th.