*Courtesy of Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images.*

Unlike the Cannes Film Festival, standing ovations often don’t happen at SXSW… Matthew McConaughey’s new drama however, ‘The Rivals of Amziah King,’ very much earned that accomplishment at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas.

The film by Andrew Patterson comes after the major studio spotlights have already screened. There’s already speculation about a Best Picture Oscar campaign for McConaughey’s new western.

Set in rural Oklahoma, the musically gifted Amziah King forms a bluegrass-playing band of misfits while being at the command of a premier honey-making operation. Amziah’s foster daughter unexpectedly returns after running away, and Amziah seeks to fix their connection… While his rivals try to destroy his honey empire.

McConaughey introduced the film by saying: “It’s been six years since I did a film or was onscreen? Why did I come to this film, what was it? Not often does something cross my desk where I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s an original language! I’ve never heard that before, but I know those people. Oh, that’s an original, time, place and space. Oh, there’s some real humor.’”

He continued: “There’s some real innocence and a whole lot of heart and momentous amount of spirit. In a place that has do with a carny-Creedence-like revival band that plays live shows in Dairy Queen parking lots; who’s a beekeeper; love story between a foster parent and a foster child, love story of a whole bunch of misfits and underdogs, that come together, a bunch of harelips, knee-scraping people who’ll give the shirt off their back. Those are the reasons why I did it. It’s also some kind of musical!”

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