Written by Kianna Best on Jun 9, 2025. Posted in Awards and Festivals

A Festival Grows in Shoreditch: Reflecting on the first SXSW London

Deepak Chopra, Ian Wright and Katherine Ryan may have their fair share of differences to the public, but one thing they have had in common this week is their attendance at the inaugural SXSW London. The eclectic festival which brings together the music and screen industry through a series of panels, screenings and performances, took the journey from Austin Texas to London shores this past week, held from 2-7 June across the city.

 

 

In Shoreditch, a queue snaked around Protein Studios. Inside, a woman in a VR headset walks through a digital dreamscape while outside, a man live-streams a panel on AI and intimacy. No one’s quite sure where to look. Welcome to the very first SXSW London, part tech conference, part culture jam, part identity crisis.

 

For six days in early June, SXSW’s famously sprawling format planted itself in the red-bricked backstreets of East London. The American import, a decades-old Austin institution, promised a UK remix: smaller venues, smarter tech, no BBQ smoke, but the same goal. Think Demis Hassabis debating digital ethics at Hoxton Hall, Tems lighting up Troxy with a stripped-back set, and Wyclef Jean unpacking AI’s impact on music IP. All within three tube stops.

 

 

The Vibe: Big Brains, Tight Spaces

If you were looking for celebrity sizzle, it was there, but subtle. Idris Elba, relaxed in a navy jumper, spoke less about movies and more about how creativity could reshape public policy. A few rooms over, Deepak Chopra meditated on consciousness and machine learning. Katherine Ryan, in full comedic stride, headlined a panel on mortality, science, and whether eternal life might be “a bit much, actually.”

 

But SXSW London wasn’t about bombast. It was about curation. Attendees moved through venues like curators at a biennale: small, intentional, and just this side of overwhelmed.

 

Art took a front seat—and often stole the show. Christ Church Spitalfields, repurposed into a luminous gallery, hosted Zinzi Minott and Denzil Forrester in “Beautiful Collisions,” a free-to-enter installation that turned sacred space into a shrine for Black British creativity. Outside, pop-up performances merged music, visual storytelling, and spoken word.

 

 

Music, Films & Micro-Moments

Tems’ performance at Troxy may have been the week’s apex: smoky, stripped down, reverent. Newcomers like Cucamaras turned heads with tight indie sets at Hoxton Hall, while Seoul Community Radio’s takeover of 93 Feet East left ears ringing and Twitter chirping.

 

The film strand, smaller but potent, screened the UK premiere of Stans, a deep-dive into Eminem's fanbase. Jenn Nkiru’s retrospective reminded viewers why London continues to lead in experimental filmmaking.

 

 

And then, of course, King Charles showed up. In person. At SXSW.

 

So, What Was It? A festival trying to become a platform. A soft launch with hard edges. A beta version of something potentially very big. SXSW may be broken down into music and screen avenues, welcoming the biggest names in each respective field. But more than anything, it centres around culture and the voices shaping that. With 862 conference speakers across 50 sessions, the festival welcomed figureheads from politics, AI, Social media, Sports and many more fields. SXSW’s leadership says they’re in for the long haul, ten years of growth, with London as a global hub for culture-meets-technology.