SXSW Film Festival: 'Neighbors' and 'Chef' Premiere; Lionsgate Makes First Big Acquisition

The first two days of the SXSW Film Festival have been filed with a number of film screenings and events.

The festival opened with Jon Favreau's "Chef" which stars Favreu, Scarlett Johansson, Sofia Vergara and John Leguizamo. The movie, which is scheduled for release later this year by Open Road, scored excellent reviews, with Joe Ledon from Variety stating, "Far too entertaining to be dismissed as self-indulgence."

Edward Douglass of ComingSoon also enjoyed the film and wrote, "Never relies solely on its tasty-looking food to win over the audience ... and yet, it's probably the best 'foodie' movie since 'Ratatouille.'"

The festival also had the premiere of the work-in-progress film "Neighbors" starring Seth Rogen and Zac Efron. The film scored mixed review with Variety's Andrew Barker stating "Zac Efron gives one of his most credible and intriguing performances in this winningly stupid frat comedy."

Meanwhile, the Hollywood Reporter's John Defore called it "An uproarious and hugely commercial vision of intergenerational warfare."

The festival also saw a number of films acquired. Picturehouse made one of the biggest deals, grabbing the rights to Bob Berney's "The Guest," which was made by the team behind the Lionsgate film "You're Next." Picturehouse intends to release the movie in the fall.

Oscilloscope acquired the rights to "Buzzard." The film will next screen at the New Directors/New Films Festival and will hit theaters in the coming months.

FilmBuff and Particpant films will team up to release the documentary "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Schwartz." The film will be released in theaters and VOD in June and will be followed by a broadcast TV premiere on Pivot, which is owned by Participant. The film made its world premiere at Sundance before going to Austin.

The biggest acquisition at the festival was Lionsgate's purchase of "Exists." The company announced in a press statement that it would distribute Eduardo Sanchez's film. Sanchez, who is best known for his work on "The Blair Witch Project" stated, "I'm really excited about working with the talented team at Lionsgate. We've had great history together and they really understand 'EXISTS' and see the tremendous opportunity to reboot Bigfoot for a new generation."

The producers of the movie stated, "It is especially gratifying to sell the film at SXSW in Austin so close to Bastrop, Texas where we shot 'EXISTS' with an amazing Texas-based cast and crew. We look forward to working with Lionsgate to bring Ed's vision to the masses."

"Exists" played to a sold-out audience in the Midnight section of the festival.

The event has already seen a number of A-list actors and industry workers attend including Kevin Bacon ("The Following") Dana Brunetti (Producer of "Captain Phillips") Jason Bateman ("Bad Words"), Rose Byrne ("Neighbors") and Dave Franco ("Neighbors").

The SXSW Film Festival is one of the most important events in film and it has seen a number of filmmakers breakout into the industry. Last year "Short Term 12" won the Grand Jury Prize and became a huge box office success in the U.S.

The festival runs until March 16.