This week, the annual SXSW Film Festival took place, with award winners just announced. Featuring an all-star jury including Kristen Bell, Becky Cloonan and more, the jury selected winners across a variety of categories including Narrative Feature, Film Design, Short Film Making, Documentary Feature and Excellence in Poster and Title Design among others.
The 2017 SXSW Film Festival took place over nine days, and featured 130 films, 84 of which were world premieres, and 54 first time filmmakers. SXSW received over 7,600 submissions for their festival, with only a special select few receiving awards.
The winners are as follows:
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Winner: Most Beautiful Island
Director: Ana Asensio
Special Jury Recognition for Breakthrough Performance: The Strange Ones
Actor: James Freedson-Jackson
Special Jury Recognition for Best Ensemble: A Bad Idea Gone Wrong
Cast: Matt Jones, Eleanore Pienta, Will Rogers, Jonny Mars, Sam Eidson, Jennymarie Jemison
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
Winner: The Work
Directors: Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous
Special Jury Recognition for Excellence in Observational Cinema
Winner: Maineland
Director: Miao Wang
Special Jury Recognition for Excellence in Documentary Storytelling
Winner: I Am Another You
Director: Nanfu Wang
Short Film Grand Jury Awards
NARRATIVE SHORTS
Winner: Forever Now
Director: Kristian Håskjold
Special Jury Recognition for Acting
Winner: DeKalb Elementary
Actor: Tarra Riggs
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
Winner: Little Potato
Director: Wes Hurley & Nathan M. Miller
MIDNIGHT SHORTS
Winner: The Suplex Duplex Complex
Director: Todd Rohal
ANIMATED SHORTS
Winner: Wednesday with Goddard
Directors: Nicolas Menard
Special Jury Recognition: Pussy
Director: Renata Gasiorowska
MUSIC VIDEOS
Winner: Leon Bridges – ‘RIVER’
Director: Miles Jay
Special Jury Recognition: Tame Impala – ‘The Less I Know The Better’
Director: CANADA
TEXAS SHORTS
Winner: The Rabbit Hunt
Director: Patrick Bresnan
TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORTS
Winner: Better Late Than Never
Director: Atheena Frizzell
Special Jury Recognition: Darcy’s Quinceañera
Director: Sam Cooper
SXSW Film Design Awards
EXCELLENCE IN POSTER DESIGN
Winner: Fry Day
Designer: Caspar Newbolt
Special Jury Recognition: Like Me
Designer: Jeremy Enecio
EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN
Winner: Into The Current
Directors: Chris R. Moberg and Jared Young
SXSW Special Awards
SXSW LUNA® Gamechanger Award – Narrative
Winner: INFLAME
Director: Ceylan Ozgun Ozcelik
SXSW LUNA® Chicken & Egg Award – Documentary
Winner: I Am Another You
Director: Nanfu Wang
Louis Black “Lone Star” Award
Winner: Mr. Roosevelt
Director: Noël Wells
SXSW Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award
Presented to: Assholes directed by Peter Vack
Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship
Presented to: Leigh Johnson
Congratulations to all the winners! Still to come are the SXSW Audience Awards, which will be announced on March 18, along with the winners of the VR/AR Virtual Cinema award. For more information about the winning films and the people behind them, check out the SXSW Website!
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