Amazon to showcase SXSW movies in a virtual film festival on Prime Video

The South by Southwest music, technology and film festival or the SXSW 2020, which was scheduled to take place between March 13 and March 22 this year, was cancelled owing to the Covid-19 concerns. Now, the hosts of the SXSW 2020 have partnered with Amazon to showcase the movies that were scheduled to be released in Austin earlier this year.

As a part of the partnership, all the movies that were scheduled to be showcased at the event will be exclusively available on Prime Video in the US for 10-days as a part of the "Prime Video presents the SXSW 2020 Film Festival Collection". Filmmakers in the 2020 SXSW Film Festival will get an invitation to opt in to take part in this online film festival.

These movies will be available to all Amazon users across the US for free. This means that all Amazon users, even those who don't have a Prime subscription, will be able to watch these movies.

As far as the filmmakers are concerned, the filmmakers who choose to participate in this virtual film festival will get a screening fee for streaming their film over the 10-day period.

"We're honored to be able to provide a space for the SXSW filmmakers to share their hard work and passion with audiences for the first time...We are supporters of SXSW and other independent film festivals, and hope this online film festival can help give back some of that experience, and showcase artists and films that audiences might otherwise not have had the chance to see," Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios, said in a statement on the blog.

Amazon hasn't announced the launch date of the virtual film festival yet. However, SXSW and Prime Video said that they were targeting a late April date for the event.