2011 SXSW Film Festival Award Winners

The Jury and Audience Award-winners of the 2011 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival were announced tonight at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony, hosted by comedian Owen Egerton in Austin, Texas. Feature Films receiving Jury Awards were selected from the Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature categories. New for 2011, films in competition were also eligible for Jury Awards for Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Score/Music, Best Screenplay (narratives) and Breakthrough Performance (narratives). Films in these categories, as well as Spotlight Premieres, Emerging Visions, Midnighters, Lone Star States and 24 Beats Per Second, were also eligible for 2011 SXSW Film Festival Audience Awards. Only Narrative and Documentary Feature, Spotlight Premieres and Emerging Visions Audience Awards were announced tonight. Lone Star States, 24 Beats Per Second and Midnighters Audience Awards will be announced separately on Saturday, March 19.

SXSW also announced the Jury Award-winners in Shorts Filmmaking and Film Design Awards, and Special Awards, including the Louis Black Lone Star Award, the SXSW Chicken & Egg Emergent Narrative Woman Director Award and the SXSW Wholphin Award. Details can be found at www.sxsw.com/film.

“It’s been completely exciting to witness the overwhelming appreciation and acclaim for the 2011 SXSW Film lineup,” said Film Conference and Festival Producer Janet Pierson. “The unique combination creative talents from music, film and technology all in the same environment has once again set an electric backdrop for our films, and across the board, the combustion of new talent, fresh perspectives, and the engaged community has been exhilarating. We are happy our Awards can honor even a sliver of the wide-ranging talent we were privileged to host this year.”

The 2011 SXSW Film Festival Juries consisted of:

Narrative Feature Competition: Roger Ebert, Logan Hill, Michelle Satter
Documentary Feature Competition: Mark Olsen, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Sky Sitney
Narrative Shorts: Jon Korn, Jay Van Hoy, Rose Vincelli
Documentary Shorts: Brad Beesley, Jay Duplass, Amanda Micheli
Animated Shorts: Austin Kleon, Bill Plympton, Alison Willmore
Music Videos: Tom Blankenship, John Kunz, Ron Mann
Texas Shorts: Victor Diaz, Megan Gilbride, Adam Roffman
Texas High School Shorts: Cole Dabney, Marcy Garriott, Bart Weiss
Title Design: Ian Albinson, Jenny Lee, Tommy Pallota, Ron Pippin, Kurt Volk
Poster Design: Craig Crutchfield, Craig Denham, Marc English, Tim League, Charlie Loft, Danny Parker
Louis Black / Lone Star: Marjorie Baumgarten, Elvis Mitchell, Robert Wilonsky

For the 2011 SXSW Film Festival, 140 features, consisting of 66 World Premieres, 15 North American Premieres and 15 U.S. Premieres, were selected from a record 1,792 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,323 U.S. and 469 international feature-length films. 153 shorts were selected from 3,089 short film submissions. The nearly 300 films were selected from 4,911 overall submissions; a record number and a 23% increase over 2010. The 2011 SXSW Film Festival Awards were hosted by Ovation TV.

The 2011 SXSW Film Festival Award Winners:

Feature Film Jury Awards

Grand Jury Winner: Dragonslayer
Director: Tristan Patterson

Best Editing: Where Soldiers Come From
Editors: Kyle Henry & Heather Courtney

Best Cinematography: Dragonslayer
Director of Photography: Eric Koretz

Best Score/Music: The City Dark
Music by: The Fishermen Three, Ben Fries

Grand Jury Winner: Natural Selection
Director: Robbie Pickering

Breakthrough Performances:
Evan Ross – 96 Minutes
Rachael Harris – Natural Selection
Matt O’Leary – Natural Selection

Best Screenplay: Natural Selection
Writer: Robbie Pickering

Best Editing: Natural Selection
Editor: Michelle Tesoro

Best Cinematography: A Year in Mooring
Director of Photography: Elliot Davis

Best Score/Music: Natural Selection
Music by: iZLER, Curt Schneider

Feature Film Audience Awards

Winner: Kumaré
Director: Vikram Gandhi

Winner: Natural Selection
Director: Robbie Pickering

Winner: Becoming Santa
Director: Jeff Myers

Winner: Weekend
Director: Andrew Haigh

*Audience Awards for 24 Beats Per Second, Lone Star States, and Midnighters sections will be announced on Saturday, March 19, 2011.

Short Film Jury Awards

Winner: Pioneer
Director: David Lowery

Winner: Mothersbane
Director: Jason Jakaitis

Winner: THE WONDER HOSPITAL
Director: Beomsik Shimbe Shim

Winner: Hollerado, “Americanarama”
Director: Greg Jardin

Winner: 8
Director: Julie Gould & Daniel Laabs

Winner: ( __ )
Director: Chad Werner

SXSW Film Design Awards

Winner: Silver Bullets
Designer: Yann Legendre

Audience Award Winner: Green
Designer: Adrian Kolarczyk

Winner: Blue Valentine
Designer: Jim Helton

Audience Award Winner: Blue Valentine
Designer: Jim Helton

SXSW Special Awards

Winner: The Eagleman Stag
Director: Mikey Please

Winner: Sophia Takal for Green

Winner: INCENDIARY: The Willingham Case
Directors: Steve Mims & Joe Bailey, Jr.

Presented to: Erin Casper