Everyone knows it – something’s deeply wrong in the film world.
Netflix is cranking out “second screen” movies aimed at people looking down at other devices. Hollywood studios are locked in bidding wars over imaginary actors no one’s heard of. And striving directors are attending hard-earned festival premieres to find they share their honors with vapid, uncanny flops made by sitting back while a bot pukes up a series of plagiarized images and sounds
Big Tech has spent decades tempting us with speed, comfort, and convenience at the cost of our peace and privacy. Today, Big Tech offers filmmakers a Faustian fast-track to career success. Artists outside the system are being coerced into betraying their craft and integrity, afraid they can’t keep up in a landscape where even “Indie” has come to imply six figure budgets.
WE PROPOSE A CINEMATIC COUNTERATTACK: a film fest that says fuck shiny, fuck perfect, fuck paletable. A week of screenings that run the gamut of every mistake you can make in a film, from the inadvisably ambitious to the impenetrably idiosyncratic, to the grainy, blurry, fuzzy, and unfinished. A collection of films that reminds us that the path of the artist isn’t safe, smart, or profitable and that zero intelligence is required to create something that changes the world.
SEND US YOUR SHORTS, FEATURES, DOCS, PILOTS, AND MUSIC VIDEOS and we’ll program as many as we can in Austin, TX during SmashXSmashwest!
We welcome films of all genres and topics with a liberatory, rebellious, and critical spirit or that address our theme of “Zero Intelligence.”
YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE LOCAL! We invite filmmakers from far and wide to come join, make connections, and get up for some Q&A.
ANYONE CAN JUMP IN! If you’d like to host or organize a screening, let us know how we can help!
SUBMISSIONS CLOSE 2/20/2026! Get in touch with us securely at: smashxfilm@proton.me
Texas has long been the nexus for advancing the plots of the hyper-rich and power hungry. Here, the slave economies and terror of the Jim Crow South meet the genocidal settler expansion in the frontiers of the Southwest; Neoconfederate institutions fuel Earth-obliterating petro-economies while armed government goons spread terror along the southern border and beyond. Oil, War, Prisons, Big Ag—these industrial monsters spread out across the world from Texas. Now, binding these all together in an unholy alliance, we can add Tech.
Today, the Austin techno-elite stand poised to drain the rivers and aquifers in order to export their AI-generated fever dreams of automated surveillance, war, and brainrot. The likes of Elon Musk and Joe Lonsdale have upgraded old school American terror for the 21st century, combining eugenic breeding schemes, the theft of land and water for AI data centers, vapid consumer visions of techno-utopia for the few, and DOGE-style austerity for the many. With each passing day we face the risk of the empty AI bubble at the core of the US economy popping, dropping us into an abyss where we will struggle for scraps of food while the government bails the techno-capitalists so they can start the cycle again. Meanwhile in North Texas, the feds are testing out their new “Antifa terrorist” designations against the anti-ICE protestors in the Prarieland case, building the template to use against anyone who dares to resist the nightmare they want to impose on us.
These are the stakes behind the third annual SmashXSmashWest, which is our opportunity to take the initiative to fight for joyful, uncontrollable life on our own terms. Today, now that SXSW has shrunk and discarded the cannibalized husk of the DIY culture it was birthed from, it is obvious that it is nothing more than a playground for oligarchs laundering their techno-dystopias in a progressive, social-media friendly costume. Year by year, it continues to shrink in relevance, only proven by the decision to cut away the second weekend of music. As SXSW retreats and the elite who gather for it retreat into their guarded fortress, SmashXSmashWest has advanced and grown. In 2026 SmashXSmashWest will remain a 10 day counterfestival, filling in the ground ceded by SXSW with autonomous culture and action.
This year’s counterfestival will be an opportunity to experiment, learn and share strategies, build connections, and develop the foundations of a force that can frustrate the schemes of our enemies in legislatures, board rooms, and startup offices. SmashX is an moment to deepen and amplify the struggles occurring here in the heart of texas and connect them to struggles (inter)nationally.
Whether traveler or local, talk to your friends and crews to begin making your plans. Take action that breaks the spell of social peace and compliance—shows, actions, disruptions, talks, workshops, skillshares, parties. There are many ways to take the offensive, whether we’re taking the fight to the offices, businesses, communities, & homes of our overlords or taking back the streets of our neighborhoods with action, hooliganism, and art. Imagine ways to grow our collective power and deactivate the authoritarian power of our overlords, and bring that imagination to life without waiting for permission.
Smash By Smash West is not an organization. It is a platform and an open brand that you can use for all activities you take in the spirit of this invitation, that are not part of & express antagonism to SXSW. Once again, you can access open source graphics, logos, & printable materials to use on your flyers or distribute at your events: tinyurl.com/smashby
Join the signal announcements channel to keep up with SmashX events beyond the reach of Big Tech censorship & surveillance
We encourage as much self-sufficiency and self-organization as possible. Reach out at SmashBySmashWest@protonmail.com for questions or support around:
Sharing your event (or post-event reportback) on social media & our calendar
Connecting to venues, artists, or workshops
Resources you have to offer (such as space, housing, art production)
Questions about hosting and lodging for travelers
More ambitious proposals you want help collaborating on
We will do our best to assist you, with the understanding that our capacities as a decentralized, grassroots network may be limited.
