Boots Riley’s ‘I Love Boosters,’ starring Keke Palmer, to kick off 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival

Boots Riley‘s latest project, I Love Boosters, will kick off the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival. The movie starring Keke Palmer, Lakeith Stanfield, Don Cheadle and more will make its world premiere on opening night of the annual event, which will run March 12-18 in Austin, Texas. The movie tells the story of a crew of professional shoplifters called the Velvet Gang who choose a cutthroat fashion maven as their next target.

“The Velvet Gang has officially cased Austin and decided Opening Night at SXSW 2026 will be the start of their global takeover! We are beyond thrilled to kick off the festival with the World Premiere of Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters,” Claudette Godfrey, vice president of film & TV at SXSW, said in a statement, noting the film is a “wildly original and boundary-pushing vision that’s deliciously unpredictable.” 

“I Love Boosters is audacious, entertaining, and guaranteed to get our festival off to an unforgettable start,” she continued. “Trust us, you’ll want to be there when The Velvet Gang bursts onto the scene!”

The film, which also stars Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza Gonzalez and Demi Moore, will be Boots’ third project to premiere at the SXSW festival. His first, Sorry to Bother You, debuted in 2018, and I Am A Virgo premiered in 2023.

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