The 2026 edition of the SXSW Film & TV Festival opened with a bang on Thursday: Boots Riley’s larger-than-life sci-fi comedy “I Love Boosters” served as the opening night film, bringing a starry ensemble led by Keke Palmer to Austin’s Paramount Theater.
It was certainly the right note to kick off the week. The crowd was raucous with laughter throughout all of the film’s witty dialogue and visual gags, and cheered as the characters realized their goals on screen. “I Love Boosters” follows a trio of boosters (Palmer, Naomi Ackie and Taylour Paige) — aka professional shoplifters — who steal from clothing stores owned by an evil genius billionaire (Demi Moore) as a way to fight her exploitative business dealings. Paige’s character jokingly refers to their operation as “Fashion Forward Filanthropy” — misspelling intentional. “People want to be involved with the world and art and feel like they’re in that conversation,” Riley said onstage, explaining the boosters’ special brand of political creativity.
Afterwards, Riley and the cast celebrated their premiere at the Variety Cover Party presented by Neon, where Palmer took the stage and sang two songs from the “I Love Boosters” soundtrack.
since “I Love Boosters” uses the fashion industry as the backdrop for its story about working class women coming together, the cast and crew attended the party decked out in unique pieces. Supporting star Eiza González spoke with Variety on the red carpet alongside Eric Andre, who makes a cameo in the film, to break down their looks.
Boots Riley donned his signature tall hat as part of a black-and-white ensemble. (Palmer wore a stylish hat in homage to her director while posing for the cover of Variety.) Supporting stars Naomi Ackie and Poppy Liu came to the party wearing textured gowns in bright red and lime green, respectively.
Rachel Walters, Taylour Paige, Eiza González, Boots Riley, Poppy Liu, Eric André, Kasmere Trice, LaKeith Stanfield and Naomi Ackie at Variety SXSW Cover Party presented by NEON on March 12, 2026 in Austin, Texas.
Anna Webber
Palmer was wearing turquoise as a reference to the favorite color of her character, Corvette. She spoke to Variety about loving the fact that she’s constantly meme’d on the internet — and discussed “I Love Boosters” at length in her cover interview.
Back at the premiere, Riley reiterated the political message behind “I Love Boosters” and earnestly asked the audience to encourage others to watch when it debuts in theaters soon.
“This movie, there’s silliness in it, but it’s also a very important movie to be out there right now, because I think we all need to figure out ways that we can change what’s happening. Ways that we can fight fascism and change the structure of the world around us. So tell people about this movie. I need it to be spread out there far and wide,” he said.
Speaking about the film’s distributor, he added, “And you might think because it’s Neon and they’re the shit that we got it covered. We don’t. We need all of you to be telling people to get there on May 22 because we need this kind of movie to do well.”
Source: variety.com
