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South by Southwest Jury and Audience Award-Winners / Natural Selection Wins Big

South by Southwest Jury and Audience Award-Winners / Natural Selection Wins Big

Still from Natural Selection which took home the Grand Jury Award, Audience Award and other awards in the Narrative Feature category

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

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
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

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
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
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Winner:
Kumaré
Director: Vikram Gandhi

NARRATIVE FEATURE

Winner: Natural Selection

Director: Robbie Pickering

SPOTLIGHT PREMIERES

Winner: Becoming Santa
Director: Jeff Myers

EMERGING VISIONS
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

 

NARRATIVE SHORTS

Winner: Pioneer
Director: David Lowery

 

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

Winner: Mothersbane

Director: Jason Jakaitis

 

ANIMATED SHORTS

Winner: THE WONDER HOSPITAL
Director: Beomsik Shimbe Shim

MUSIC VIDEOS
Winner: Hollerado, “Americanarama”
Director: Greg Jardin

TEXAS SHORTS

Winner: 8
Director: Julie Gould & Daniel Laabs

TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORTS

Winner: ( __ )

Director: Chad Werner

SXSW Film Design Awards

EXCELLENCE IN POSTER DESIGN

Winner: Silver Bullets
Designer: Yann Legendre

 

Audience Award Winner: Green

Designer: Adrian Kolarczyk

EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN

Winner: Blue Valentine
Designer: Jim Helton

Audience Award Winner: Blue Valentine
Designer: Jim Helton

SXSW Special Awards

SXSW WHOLPHIN AWARD
Winner:
The Eagleman Stag

Director: Mikey Please

SXSW CHICKEN & EGG EMERGENT NARRATIVE WOMAN DIRECTOR AWARD
Winner: Sophia Takal for Green

LOUIS BLACK LONE STAR AWARD

Winner: INCENDIARY: The Willingham Case

Directors: Steve Mims & Joe Bailey, Jr.

KAREN SCHMEER FILM EDITING FELLOWSHIP

Presented to: Erin Casper

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