Two days after ”Everything Everywhere All at Once“ won seven Oscars, including best picture, the SXSW Film Festival, where Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s movie launched last year, has announced its own awards. To be clear, “EEAAO” was a studio-backed opening night premiere (not one of the smaller movies launched in competition at the indie-focused fest), but you can still feel the excitement in Austin around the landmark Oscar win. After all, SXSW was the first festival to take Daniels seriously, awarding them top prize for their Battles music video (“My Machines”) in 2012.
Will any of the movies or directors screening here this year go on to change film history?
With five days still to go at SXSW, the juries convened (after viewing and deliberating remotely, out of COVID precautions) to present the winners.
Narrative feature honors went to writer-director Paris Zarcilla’s “Raging Grace.” On the surface, the tense story of an undocumented Filipina house cleaner and her young daughter might appear to echo 2022 Sundance winner “Nanny,” though the film “subverts expectations on its way to a stirring conclusion,” in the jury’s words.
“In cleverly employing genre tropes to explore vast socio political matters, Zarcilla has crafted a resonant, urgent work about labor, legacy and diaspora,” explained the jury of three — Helena Andrews-Dyer, Tomris Laffly and Richard Lawson — who also awarded special jury recognitions for performance to “Parachute” star Courtney Eaton and cinematography to “Story Ave” DP Eric Branco.
The documentary jury — consisting of Mae Abdulbaki, Joel Anderson and Allegra Frank — described top winner “Angel Applicant” as “a revelation,“ complimenting director Ken August Meyer’s exploration of artist Paul Klee, with whom he shares the condition of scleroderma.
“The result is a yearslong undertaking that is stunning, powerful, and unforgettable,” the jury said. The nonfiction special jury award went to “Another Body,” which uses deep-fake techniques to illustrate how the unsettling innovation compromised the life of a college student.
See the complete list of winners below.
Feature Film Grand Jury Awards
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION Presented by Panavision
Winner: “Raging Grace” directed by Paris Zarcilla
Special Jury Recognition for Performance: Courtney Eaton, “Parachute”
Special Jury Recognition for Cinematography: Eric Branco, “Story Ave”
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION Presented by ACE91
Winner: “Angel Applicant” directed by Ken August Meyer
Special Jury Recognition for Innovation in Storytelling: “Another Body” directed by Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn
Short Film Grand Jury Awards Presented by IMDbPro
NARRATIVE SHORTS
Winner: “It Turns Blue” directed by Shadi Karamroudi
Special Jury Award: “Flores del Otro Patio” directed by Jorge Cadena
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
Winner: “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó” directed by Sean Wang
Special Jury Award: “Suddenly TV” directed by Roopa Gogineni
MIDNIGHT SHORTS
Winner: “The Flute” directed by Nick Roney
Special Jury Recognition for Powerful “Short Trip”: “Pennies from Heaven” directed by Sandy Honig
ANIMATED SHORTS
Winner: “The Debutante” directed by Elizabeth Hobbs
Special Jury Recognition for Animation Directing: Tom CJ Brown, “Christopher at Sea”
MUSIC VIDEOS
Winner: Amanda Sum – “Different Than Before” directed by Mayumi Yoshida
Special Jury Recognition: Residente – “This Is Not America ft. Ibeyi” directed by Grégory Ohrel
TEXAS SHORTS
Winner: “Breaking Silence” directed by Amy Bench, Annie Silverstein
Special Jury Award: “When You Left Me on That Boulevard” directed by Kayla Abuda Galang
TV Pilot Competition
Winner: “Grown” directed by Jocko Sims
Special Jury Award for Outstanding Performance: “Harbor Island” directed by Josh Fadem
SXSW Film Design Awards Presented by Adobe
POSTER DESIGN COMPETITION
Winner: “Eyestring” designed by Javier Devitt
Special Jury Award: “Riders of the Storm” designed by Casey Moore
XR Experience Competition
Winner: “Consensus Gentium” directed by Karen Palmer
Special Jury Award: “Body of Mine” directed by Cameron Kostopoulos
SXSW Special Awards
Janet Pierson Champion Award presented by Indiewire: Lizzie Shapiro
Fandor New Voices Award: “What We Leave Behind” directed by Iliana Sosa
Louis Black “Lone Star” Award: “The Lady Bird Diaries” directed by Dawn Porter
Special Jury Award: “The Herricanes”
Thunderbird Rising Award: Paris Zarcilla, “Raging Grace”
Thunderbird Rising Special Award: Brittany Snow, “Parachute”
The Hope Award Winner: “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”
The Hope Special Award: “Confessions of a Good Samaritan”
Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award: “Chronicles of a Wandering Saint” directed by Tomas Gomez Bustillo
ZEISS Cinematography Award: Carolina Costa, “Fancy Dance”
