Ana Asensio’s Most Beautiful Island, a psychological thriller about undocumented female immigrants in New York, won the Grand Jury Award in the narrative feature competition at the South by Southwest Film Festival.
The Grand Jury Award for documentary feature went to The Work, from directors Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous, which looks at a four-day group therapy session in Folsom Prison.
The SXSW Film Awards, presented by FilmStruck, were announced Tuesday night, while the film portion of the SXSW Conference and Festivals continues through Saturday. The awards were hosted by Saturday Night Live castmember Sasheer Zamata. Audience Awards will be announced separately on Saturday, along with the VR/AR Virtual Cinema award winners.
In the narrative feature competition, the jury gave a special jury recognition for breakthrough performance to James Freedson-Jackson for his work in The Strange Ones. And another special jury recognition, for best ensemble, was given to A Bad Idea Gone Wrong and its cast, which included Matt Jones, Eleanore Pienta, Will Rogers, Jonny Mars, Am Eidson and Jennymarie Jamison.
The documentary jury gave a special recognition for excellence in observational cinema to Miao Wang’s Maineland and a jury recognition for excellence in documentary storytelling to Nanfu Wang’s I Am Another You.
Leading the SXSW Film Design Awards were designer Caspar Newbolt, who took the excellence in poster design prize for his work on Fry Day, and Chris R. Moberg and Jared Young, who were honored for their title design for Into The Current.
Noel Wells’ Mr. Roosevelt, about a recent college grad returning to Austin, Texas, home of the festival, won the SXSW Louis Black “Lone Star” Award, which recognizes a movie with Texas content.
Over the course of nine days, the 2017 SXSW Film Festival will screen 130 features, consisting of 84 world premieres, 14 North American premieres and five U.S. premieres, with 54 first-time filmmakers. One hundred twenty-eight shorts will screen as part of 12 curated shorts programs.
The 256 films were selected from 7,651 overall submissions, consisting of approximately 2,432 features and 4,975 shorts.
The 2017 SXSW Film Festival Awards:
Feature Film Grand Jury Awards
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Winner: Most Beautiful Island
Director: Ana Asensio
Special Jury Recognition for Breakthrough Performance: The Strange Ones
Actor: James Freedson-Jackson
Special Jury Recognition for Best Ensemble: A Bad Idea Gone Wrong
Cast: Matt Jones, Eleanore Pienta, Will Rogers, Jonny Mars, Sam Eidson, Jennymarie Jemison
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
Winner: The Work
Directors: Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous
Special Jury Recognition for Excellence in Observational Cinema: Maineland
Director: Miao Wang
Special Jury Recognition for Excellence in Documentary Storytelling: I Am Another You
Director: Nanfu Wang
Short Film Grand Jury Awards
NARRATIVE SHORTS
Winner: Forever Now
Director: Kristian Håskjold
Special Jury Recognition for Acting: DeKalb Elementary
Actor: Tarra Riggs
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
Winner: Little Potato
Director: Wes Hurley & Nathan M. Miller
MIDNIGHT SHORTS
Winner: The Suplex Duplex Complex
Director: Todd Rohal
ANIMATED SHORTS
Winner: Wednesday With Goddard
Directors: Nicolas Menard
Special Jury Recognition: Pussy
Director: Renata Gasiorowska
MUSIC VIDEOS
Winner: Leon Bridges – “River”
Director: Miles Jay
Special Jury Recognition: Tame Impala – “The Less I Know The Better”
Director: CANADA
TEXAS SHORTS
Winner: The Rabbit Hunt
Director: Patrick Bresnan
TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORTS
Winner: Better Late Than Never
Director: Atheena Frizzell
Special Jury Recognition: Darcy’s Quinceañera
Director: Sam Cooper
SXSW Film Design Awards
EXCELLENCE IN POSTER DESIGN
Winner: Fry Day
Designer: Caspar Newbolt
Special Jury Recognition:Like Me
Designer: Jeremy Enecio
EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN
Winner: Into the Current
Directors: Chris R. Moberg and Jared Young
SXSW SPECIAL AWARDS
SXSW LUNA Gamechanger Award – Narrative
Winner: Inflame
Director: Ceylan Ozgun Ozcelik
SXSW LUNA Chicken & Egg Award – Documentary
Winner: I Am Another You
Director: Nanfu Wang
SXSW Louis Black “Lone Star” Award
Winner: Mr. Roosevelt
Director: Noël Wells
SXSW Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award
In honor of a filmmaker whose work strives to be wholly its own, without regard for norms or desire to conform. The Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award is presented to a filmmaker from our Visions screening category.
Presented to: Assholes
Director: Peter Vack
SXSW Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship
Presented to: Leigh Johnson
