Lilly Singh is ‘Doin’ It’ with SXSW premiere for her debut feature film

Lilly Singh is making her move to the big screen. The multihyphenate creator, who achieved success on YouTube a decade ago using the handle Superwoman, is the star of a new film called Doin’ It.

Doin’ It, directed by Sara Zandieh, is making its premiere at South By Southwest (SXSW), the annual conference and arts festival held in Austin, Texas. SXSW attendees can choose from three Doin’ It screenings, one each on the nights of March 12, 13, and 14.

According to its official description on the SXSW website, Doin’ It stars Singh as a sheltered virgin who tries to step out of her comfort zone when she gets a job as a substitute sex-ed teacher. The film sports a strong supporting cast that includes Stephanie Beatriz, Ana Gasteyer, and Utkarsh Ambudkar.

In addition to her starring role, Singh wore multiple hats behind the scenes of Doin’ It. She co-wrote the film alongside Zandieh and Neel Patel, and she co-produced it through her company Unicorn Island Productions.

“This is my first time leading, co-writing, and producing a film,” Singh wrote on Instagram. “And it is also Unicorn Island Productions’ first feature. We started working on this in 2019, and it’s been hustle, sweat, and vagina jokes ever since. I’m beyond grateful we’ve made it this far.”

Singh’s longtime fans will not be surprised to see her taking on multiple creative roles in a single project. She built a YouTube subscriber count of more than 14 million by writing and performing sketches that often spoofed her identity as an Indian-Canadian woman. Her YouTube success opened up doors for her in fields like publishing and producing, and she even had a brief stint as a late-night TV host on NBC.

The conclusion of Singh’s NBC deal brought her back to YouTube, but within a few years, she showed her fans that her aspirations will take her far beyond social media. With Doin’ It, she’s joining the ranks of creators who have broken into movie theaters. SXSW attendees will be the first people to see how she does it.