South By Southwest gets plenty of coverage as a music festival ― but of course, it’s also increasingly a showcase for the hottest technology, social media, TV, and movies too. Everything from the mumblecore films of the Duplass brothers to higher-profile projects like The Cabin in the Woods and 21 Jump Street has premiered there ― including Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture, her precursor to Girls.

This year, anticipated films like Spring Breakers, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and Evil Dead are unleashed upon Austin. But those films don’t really need exposure at SXSW to generate buzz. There are a handful of more under-the-radar films at the fest looking to break out in a major way, and possibly launch the career of the next Lena Dunham.

Here are a handful of SXSW 2013’s indie darlings!

1. Good Night

Written & Directed By: Sean H. A. Gallgher

A birthday party goes haywire when the birthday girl makes a startling announcement. Perhaps Tiny Furniture and Girls star Alex Karpovsky is a good luck charm for indies at SXSW?

2. Drinking Buddies

Written & Directed By: Joe Swanberg

Actor and filmmaker Joe Swanberg delivers a more technically polished tale than usual with this story of a growing flirtation between co-workers played by Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson, despite the fact that they’re dating other people played by Ron Livingston and Anna Kendrick. The dialogue was completely improvised ― is that indie enough for you?

3. Coldwater

Written By Vincent Grashaw & Mark Penney; Directed By: Vincent Grashaw

Got a teen in your life you need to be scared straight? This film might do it. It’s a gritty story about teen boys sent to a remote “juvenile reform” facility in the Colorado mountains. Let’s just say it isn’t all light-hearted male bonding and marshmallows around a campfire from there...

4. Hours

Written & Directed By: Eric Heisserer

A new father has a really horrible day when his wife dies in childbirth just before Hurricane Katrina hits the hospital where his newborn girl depends on a ventilator to survive. Paul Walker takes a break from stealing cars to deliver a more serious dramatic performance with some seriously high stakes.

5. Milo

Written By: Jacob Vaughan and Benjamin Hayes; Directed By: Jacob Vaughn

Think you have a problem with stress? Ken Marino plays a guy whose stress literally manifests as a demon living inside him ― living where inside him, you ask? Well, that’s just not the topic of polite conversation. There’s a reason this is premiering at SXSW rather than Cannes…

6. Zero Charisma

Written By: Andrew Matthews; Directed By: Katie Graham & Andrew Matthews

Dungeons & Dragons gets its time in the cinematic sun with this tale of a thirtysomething guy living with his grandmother whose sole respite from the hardships of life is his geeky fantasy pastime. Stories about wayward losers tend to do well on the indie scene, just ask Lena, the Duplass brothers... and just about everyone who has broken out at SXSW.

7. Short Term 12

Written & Directed By: Destin Daniel Cretton

Brie Larson stars as a supervisor in a foster care home for troubled youths in a film that has gotten some of the best buzz out of this year’s SXSW so far.

8. Scenic Route

Written By: Kyle Killen; Directed By: Kevin Goetz & Michael Goetz

Not exactly Safe Haven, is it? Josh Duhamel takes a walk on the dark side in a story about two buddies stuck in the desert... and let's just say dehydration becomes the least of their problems.

9. Burma

Written & Directed By: Carlos Puga

Another boy from Girls pops up at SXSW ― this time it’s Charlie, AKA Christopher Abbott, playing a drug addict who reunites with his long-lost father, with Gaby Hoffman as his sister.

10. Maladies

Written & Directed By: Carter

It’s safe to assume that this cost a mere fraction of James Franco’s blockbuster Oz The Great And Powerful. He plays an actor named James (hmm) who retires early due to some mental troubles, while his artist pal Catherine (played by Catherine Keener) has some of issues of her own to sort out.

11. The Wait

Written & Directed By: M. Blash

Chloe Sevigny and Jena Malone are sisters who decide to leave their mother’s corpse in the house, you know, just in case it comes back to life. In case it needs to be clarified, this is a haunting mood piece and not a Weekend At Bernie’s-style romp.

12. White Reindeer

Written & Directed By: Zach Clark

Finally, a Christmas movie for the rest of us! Suzanne’s husband gets murdered just before the holidays, which leads her to hunt down his stripper mistress and form a friendship with her. Darkly comedic episodes and sex parties ensue ― so, no, this is not one to sit down with the kids on Christmas Eve.

13. Much Ado About Nothing

Here’s one filmmaker who doesn’t need SXSW to get him more exposure. It’s not common to direct the third-biggest movie of all time and then show up at South By Southwest with your very first independent drama, but that’s what Joss Whedon did. The beloved director goes the low-budget drama route for the first time in his adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, featuring his favorite alumni from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Avengers, and so on.

Which SXSW filmmaker do you think has the biggest breakout potential?