SXSW 2018 Review – ‘Jury and Special Award Winners’

South by Southwest Conference and Festivals “SXSW 2018”  announced the 2018 Jury and Special Award winners of the SXSW Film Festival Awards Presented by FilmStruck at Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texa.

The awards were hosted by actor and comedian Jim Gaffigan. Feature films receiving Jury Awards were selected from the Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature Competition categories. The Audience Awards will be announced separately on Saturday, March 17, except for Headliners, which will be announced on Monday, March 19.

SXSW also announced the Jury Award winners in the Shorts Program and winners of the SXSW Film Design Awards. Special Awards included the Louis Black “Lone Star” Award, the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship, and the SXSW Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award. The SXSW LUNA Gamechanger Award. Narrative and SXSW LUNA Chicken & Egg Award.

The documentary was also presented, including a $10,000 artist award and mentoring to help female filmmakers hone their craft in the fiction and documentary categories, seek new and exciting opportunities, and navigate the changing media landscape.

The 2018 SXSW Film Festival Juries consisted of:

Narrative Feature Competition: Justin Chang, Col Needham, Emily Yoshida Documentary Feature Competition: K. Austin Collins, Violet Lucca, April Wolfe Narrative Shorts Program: Dilcia Barrera, Nick Borenstein, Brandon Harris Documentary Shorts: David Matthews, Erica Deiparine-Sugars, Pam Torno Animated Shorts: Aki Isoyama, Kirsten Lepore, Eric Power

Midnight Shorts: Sara Cushman, Missy Laney, Pip Ngo

Music Videos: Dan Deacon, John T. Kunz, Daniel Scheinert

Texas Shorts: James Faust, Rebecca Morelo Jackson, Ali Nichols

Texas High School Shorts: Barak Epstein, Bob Ray, Bart Weiss

Independent Episodics: Rebecca Agbe-Davies, Christine Dávila, Randi Kleiner

Louis Black “Lone Star”: Victor Diaz, Steve Dollar, Dana Harris

Excellence in Title Design: Dan Brown, Jonathan Lacocque, Mara Smalley Excellence in Poster Design: Sean Carnegie, Michelle Schwartz, Kevin Tong

Over the course of nine days, the 2018 SXSW Film Festival will screen 136 features, consisting of 89 World Premieres, 13 North American Premieres, and 6 US Premieres, with 49 first-time filmmakers. 98 shorts and 20 music videos will screen as part of 12 curated shorts programs. The 256 films were selected from 8,183 overall submissions, consisting of approximately 2,476 features and 4,433 shorts.

The 2018 SXSW Film Festival Awards:

Feature Film Grand Jury Awards

Narrative Feature Competition Winner: Thunder Road

Director: Jim Cummings

Special Jury Recognition For First Feature: The New Romantic

Director: Carly Stone

Special Jury Recognition for Writing: Jinn

Director/Screenwriter: Niljla Mu’min

Documentary Feature Competition Winner: People’s Republic of Desire

Director: Hao Wu

Special Jury Recognition for Best Cast: This One’s For The Ladies

Director: Gene Graham

Special Jury Recognition for Best Feminist Reconsideration of a Male Artist:

Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable

Director: Sasha Waters Freyer

Short Film Grand Jury Awards

Presented by Vimeo. Vimeo empowers video creators of all kinds to tell exceptional stories and connect with their audiences and communities.

Narrative Shorts Winner: Emergency

Director: Carey Williams

Special Jury Recognition for Acting 

Actor: Shirley Chen from Krista

Documentary Shorts

Winner: My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes

Director: Charlie Tyrell

Midnight Shorts Winner: Milk

Director: Santiago Menghini

Animated Shorts Winner: Agua Viva

Director: Alexa Lim Haas

Special Jury Recognition: JEOM Director: Kangmin Kim

Music Videos

Winner: “Second Hand Lovers” – Oren Lavie

Director: Oren Lavie

Special Jury Recognition for Acting: “Territory” – The Blaze

Director: The Blaze

Texas Shorts

Winner: An Uncertain Future

Director: Iliana Sosa & Chelsea Hernandez

Texas High School Shorts

Winner: The Night I Lost My Favorite Jacket

Director: Jenna Krumerman

Special Jury Recognition: CCISD Strong

Director: Sofia Rasmussen

Independent Episodics Winner: Beast

Director: Ben Strang

Special Jury Recognition: She’s the Ticket

Director: Nadia Hallgren

SXSW Film Design Awards

Excellence in Poster Design Winner: The Gospel of Eureka

Designer: Matt Taylor

Special Jury Recognition: A Little Wisdom Designer: Adam Zhu

Excellence in Title Design Winner: Counterpart

Director: Karin Fong

Special Jury Recognition: Godless

Director: John Likens

SXSW Special Awards

SXSW LUNA  Gamechanger Award – Narrative

Winner: First Match

Director: Olivia Newman

Special Jury Recognition: Unlovable

Director: Suzi Yoonessi

SXSW LUNA Chicken & Egg Award – Documentary

Winner: On Her Shoulders

Director: Alexandria Bombach

Special Jury Recognition: Las Sandinistas 

Director: Jenny Murray

SXSW Louis Black “Lone Star” Award

To honor SXSW co-founder/director Louis Black, a jury prize was created in 2011 called the Louis Black “Lone Star” Award, to be awarded to a Texas film in content, filmmaker residency, or primary shooting location. (Opt-in Award)

Louis Black “Lone Star” Award

Winner: Daughters of the Sexual Revolution: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders

Director: Dana Adam Shapiro

SXSW Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award

Presented to: Prospect directed by Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell

Vimeo Staff Picks Award

Presented to: Krista directed by Danny Madden

Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship Presented to Kristin Bye

About SXSW Film Festival

Now in its 25th year, SXSW Film Festival brings together creatives of all stripes over nine days to experience a diverse lineup and access to thousands of SXSW Conference sessions with visionaries from all corners of the entertainment, media, and technology industries.

SXSW 2018 is sponsored by Capital One, Mercedes-Benz, Bud Light, and The Austin Chronicle.

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