The Eva Longoria-directed Flamin’ Hot, Imran J. Khan’s Mustache and the upcoming ESPN bio-doc about NBA icon Bill Walton were among the audience award winners revealed Monday for the 31st SXSW Film & TV Festival.
Flamin’ Hot, which stars Jesse Garcia in the sometimes true tale of the man behind the “flamin’ hot”-branded chip revolution, was named the Audience Award winner in the festival’s Headliners section. The pic, from Searchlight Pictures, will debut June 9 on both Hulu and Disney+.
Mustache, written and directed by Khan, won the Narrative Feature Competition honor, and Julio Quintana’s The Long Game won for Narrative Spotlight. The Documentary Feature Competition winner was Dan Covert’s Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life, while Documentary Spotlight honors went to Olivia Kuan’s The Herricanes.
The fest’s Midnighters Audience Award went to Bishal Dutta’s It Lives Inside.
The festival, which wrapped Sunday, previously revealed its juried awards. Today’s wards were handed out across 10 film lineups, three Episodic sections for TV content and six short film sidebars.
Among the TV-side winners are the upcoming Steve James-directed ESPN documentary series The Luckiest Guy in the World on NBA star-turned-analyst Walton, scoring honors in the TV Premieres category. The Season 2 premiere of Starz’s Blindspotting was tapped as best of in TV Spotlight.
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Here’s the complete list of Audience Awards winners:
Film Program
HEADLINERS
Audience Award Winner: Flamin’ Hot
Director: Eva Longoria; Producer: DeVon Franklin; Screenwriters: Linda Yvette Chávez, Lewis Colick
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Mustache
Director/Screenwriter: Imran J. Khan; Producers: Christina Won, Jessica Sittig, Christopher Storer, Tyson Bidner
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life
Director/Producer: Dan Covert; Screenwriters: Erik Auli, Dan Covert, Amy Dempsey, Tara Rose Stromberg
NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: The Long Game
Director: Julio Quintana; Producers: Javier Chapa, Ben Howard, Marla Quintana, Dennis Quaid, Laura Quaid; Screenwriters: Julio Quintana, Jennifer C. Stetson, Paco Farias
DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: The Herricanes
Director: Olivia Kuan; Producers: James Lee Hernandez, Brian Lazarte, Lisa France, James Short, Olivia Kuan, Justin Baldoni, Andrew Calof
VISIONS
Audience Award Winner: Tobacco Barns
Director/Screenwriter: Rocío Mesa; Producers: Olmo Figueredo González-Quevedo
MIDNIGHTERS
Audience Award Winner: It Lives Inside
Director: Bishal Dutta; Producers: Raymond Mansfield, Sean McKittrick; Screenwriters: Bishal Dutta, Ashish Mehta
GLOBAL
Audience Award Winner: Ek Jagah Apni
Directors: Ektara Collective; Producers: Ektara Collective, Lotus Visual Productions; Screenwriters: Rinchin, Maheen Mirza
24 BEATS PER SECOND
Audience Award Winner: Louder Than You Think
Director: Jed I. Rosenberg; Producers: Jeffrey Lewis Clark, Brian Thalken, Kelly Thomas; Screenwriters: Jed I. Rosenberg, Greg King
FESTIVAL FAVORITES
Audience Award Winner: No Ordinary Campaign
Director: Christopher Burke; Producer: Tim Rummel, Christopher Burke
Shorts Film Program
NARRATIVE SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Closing Dynasty
Director/Screenwriter: Lloyd Lee Choi; Producers: Jon Hsu, Lloyd Lee Choi
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Grandma & Grandma)
Director: Sean Wang; Producers: Sean Wang, Sam Davis
ANIMATED SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Sandwich Cat
Director/Screenwriter: David Fidalgo; Producers: Daniel Rodriguez, Laura Doval, Gonzalo E. Veloso
MIDNIGHT SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Dead Enders
Directors: Fidel Ruiz-Healy, Tyler Walker; Screenwriters: Fidel Ruiz-Healy, Tyler Walker, Jordan Michael Blake, Conor Murphy; Producers: Raven Jensen, Amanda Crown, Gregory Barnes, Conor Murphy, Nico Alvo, Jordan Michael Blake, Eduardo Ruiz-Healy
TEXAS SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Breaking Silence
Directors: Amy Bench, Annie Silverstein; Producers: Monique Walton, Amy Bench
MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Drew Ashby – ‘HER’
Directors: Chris Scholar, Bevin Brown; Producer: Bevin Brown
TV Program
TV PREMIERES
Audience Award Winner: The Luckiest Guy in the World
Director: Steve James; Producers: Zak Piper, Steve James
TV SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: Blindspotting Season 2 Premiere
Showrunner: Rafael Casal, Directors: Rafael Casel, Jess Wu Calder; Producers: Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs, Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Emily Gerson Saines, Ken Lee, Tim Palen
INDEPENDENT TV PILOT COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Notarize Me
Director: Erika Rankin; Screenwriters/Producers: Erika Rankin, Brigitte Valdez
XR Experience
XR EXPERIENCE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: JFK Memento
Director: Chloé Rochereuil; Producer: Victor Agulhon
XR EXPERIENCE SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: MLK: Now is the Time
Director: Limbert Fabian; Producers: Matthew O’Rourke, Sulivan Parker; Screenwriter: Andrina Wekontash Smith
XR EXPERIENCE SPECIAL EVENTS
Audience Award Winners (tie):
Neo-Wulin: The Era of Black Ark
Director/Screenwriter: Guanyu; Producers: Chenchenchen, Bingbing Wang
Ristband
Directors: Anne McKinnon, Roman Rappak
Soundwaves: A Metaverse Music Concert
Directors: YOOM, Active Theory
