SXSW Announces 2011 Film Award Winners

It seems like only yesterday when our planes were touching down, we were packing into our roach-heavy hotels, and ordering that first pint at the Alamo Drafthouse, eager to welcome SXSW 2011, but those days are long gone, and the Film Festival’s award-winners have now been announced.

Of course, those days really aren’t long gone, because there’s still plenty more films to see…and plenty more reviews for us to write up.

But as far as the awards go, it looks like Tristan Patterson’s skater-drug-love documentary Dragonslayer and Robbie Pickering’s Natural Selection, about a housewife’s quest to reunite her husband’s illegitimate son with his father. Take a look at the full winner list in a press release, after the jump.

Austin, Texas – March 15, 2011 – 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