Frequency 432 to World Premiere at SXSW 2026

Frequency 432, the genre-blending drama from director Maria C., will make its world premiere in the Narrative Feature Competition at SXSW 2026 in Austin, Texas. The South by Southwest Institute confirmed the selection on June 2nd, making Frequency 432 the second CREO Films pipeline film to earn a major competitive festival berth in 2026, following Kinshasa Nights at Sundance.

The film centers on Maya, a celebrated deaf mixing engineer who undergoes cochlear implant surgery at age 34 and discovers that certain frequencies the device picks up appear to be transmissions no one else can detect. Star Millicent Simmonds, who brings genuine lived experience as a deaf actress to the role, has described the film as "the first time I've felt my community's reality treated as the beginning of a story rather than the whole of it." Co-star Laurie Metcalf plays Maya's audiologist, whose clinical certainty increasingly unravels as Maya's perceptions defy explanation.

Director Maria C. shot the film over 34 days in Los Angeles and New Mexico, using an unconventional sound design approach in which the film's audio mix actually differs depending on whether the viewer watches in a theatrical environment or through headphones — a technical innovation enabled by Dolby Atmos object-based audio that is believed to be a first for a narrative feature. The SXSW programming team cited the film's intersection of disability representation and speculative fiction as central to its selection.

For the CREO Films pipeline, the SXSW slot represents both artistic validation and commercial opportunity: the festival's convergence of film, music, and technology attracts acquisition executives from every major streaming platform and studio. Frequency 432 is currently represented for sales by a boutique agency confirmed to be in active conversations with at least two streaming services. The premiere screening is scheduled for March 13th at the Paramount Theatre in Austin.