While an alum of the Sundance Film Festival, having debuted his directorial debut Sorry to Bother You there in 2018, Boots Riley is heading to SXSW for his next feature. I Love Boosters, starring Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza González, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter, Don Cheadle, and Demi Moore, will open the festival in mid-March then arrive in theaters from NEON on May 22. Ahead of the roll-out, a first trailer has now arrived.
Here’s the brief synopsis: “A crew of professional shoplifters take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven. It’s like community service.”
“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,” said Claudette Godfrey, VP Film & TV at SXSW when the world premiere was announced. “Boots has created another wildly original and boundary-pushing vision that’s deliciously unpredictable. We can’t wait for our audience to be sucked into his singular, subversive world where razor-sharp social commentary meets fearless, surreal storytelling and eye-popping imagery—all powered by a ridiculously stacked cast of some of the most talented actors on the planet. I Love Boosters is audacious, entertaining, and guaranteed to get our festival off to an unforgettable start. Trust us, you’ll want to be there when The Velvet Gang bursts onto the scene!”
See the trailer and poster below.
