SXSW Film Festival 2014: A Look at the Competition Lineup; Which Film Will Breakout?

On March 7, the SXSW Film Festival will begin with many films vying to become the next breakout movie of the year.

The SXSW festival is one of the most important industry events of the year and has screened a number of great films including last year's winner "Short Term 12." That film went on to win a number of awards including a Gotham accolade and was nominated for the Critics Choice. The film was also nominated for Best Picture at a number of critics groups and obtained Independent Spirit Award nominations. While not every single Grand Prize winner goes on to have the same success, a win at the SXSW festival will make a movie stand out.

This year the competition slate was chosen from an estimated 1,324 films and will include "10,000KM (Long Distance)" directed by Carlos Marques Marcet and starring Natalia Tena and David Verdaguer; Colin Schiffli's "Animals"; Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers' "Fort Tilden"; and Leah Meyerhoff's "I Believe in Unicorns."

After a breakout in "Short Term 12," John Gallagher Jr. will return with the competition film "The Heat Machine," directed by Zachary Wigon and also starring Kate Lyn.

One of the highest profile films in the competition is the Emmy Rossum and Ron Perlman vehicle "Before I Disappear," directed by Shawn Christensen and based on the Oscar-winning film "Curfew."

John Magary will bring his film "The Mend" starring Josh Lucas to the competition while Lawrence Michael Levine's "Wild Canaries" will make its world premiere.

The Documetntary competition films were chosen from 892 submissions. Competition films include "Beginning with the End," "Born to Fly," "The Great Invisible," "The Immoralists," "Impossible Light," "Mateo," "Print the Legend," and "Vessel."

SXSW also headlines a number of high profile films in its "Headliners" section. This year Jon Favreau's "Chef" will make its world premiere in the section. The film tells the story of Carl Casper (Favreau), who loses his chef job and cooks up a food truck business in hopes of re-establishing his artistic promise. The film stars Sofia Vergara, Scarlet Johansson, Dusitn Hoffman, Oliver Platt aand John Leguizamo.

David Gordon Green's highly regarded "Joe" will make its U.S. debut after a successful world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September. The film stars Nicholas Cage and Tye Sheridan.

Nicolas Stoller's "Neighbors" will be screened as a work in progress. The film, starring Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and Rose Bryne, tells the story of a young couple suffering from arrested development who are forced to live next to a fraternity house after the birth of their newborn baby.

Austrailian movie "Predestination" will also make its world premiere and the movie stars Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook and Noah Taylor. The film tells the story of a riveting adventure through time centered on a secret government time traveling agency designed to prevent future killers and terrorists from committing their crimes.

"Veronica Mars" will also make its world premiere after having been funded on the Kickstarter. The film is based on the original TV show and stars Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring.

The SXSW Film Festival will run from March 7-16 in Austin, Texas.