The film portion of SXSW has wrapped, which means the time has arrived for all the winners to be acknowledged.
There have been a lot of amazing gems within the virtual library. Films like Here Before and Islands were exceptional in storytelling and performances. That said, not everyone can be a winner.
Today the virtual festival broke down all the categories of winners and special awards to others. And given these picks, the ones who took home the prizes are not surprising.
So who all won at SXSW? Here is the full rundown of the winners at SXSW 2021.
SXSW 2021 Jury Winners and Special Awards
The biggest winners of the week are hardly surprising. The Narrative Feature Competition was given to The Fallout, a heartbreaking story about a teen trying to grieve after surviving a school shooting.
It’s quite a powerful film and absolutely deserves recognition.
Another special category went to Breakthrough Performance to Rogelio Balagtas for Islands. Besides the lead performance in The Fallout, Balagtas had the most emotionally raw performance of everyone.
Another standout is the documentary category. Lily Topples the World took home the prize–which we did not get to watch– but the buzzworthy documentary Introducing, Selma Blair won Recognition for Exceptional Intimacy in Storytelling.
Here is the full list of winners below:
Narrative Feature Competition Winner
The Fallout
Director: Megan Park
Special Jury Recognition for Multi-hyphenate Storyteller
I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking)
Directors: Kelley Kali and Angelique Molina
Special Jury Recognition for Breakthrough Performance
Islands
Director: Martin Edralin
Actor: Rogelio Balagtas
Documentary Feature Competition Winner
Lily Topples the World
Director: Jeremy Workman
Special Jury Recognition for Exceptional Intimacy in Storytelling
Introducing, Selma Blair
Director: Rachel Fleit
Special Jury Recognition for Humanity in Social Action
Not Going Quietly
Director: Nicholas Bruckman
SHORT FILM GRAND JURY AWARDS
Narrative Shorts Winner
Play It Safe
Director: Mitch Kalisa
Special Jury Recognition for Visionary Storytelling
Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma
Directors: Topaz Jones, rubberband.
Special Jury Recognition for Direction
Like the Ones I Used to Know
Director: Annie St-Pierre
Documentary Shorts Winner
Águilas
Directors: Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and Maite Zubiaurre
Special Jury Recognition for Courage
Red Taxi
Director: Anonymous
Special Jury Recognition for Poetry
I Ran From It and Was Still in It
Director: Darol Olu Kae
Midnight Shorts Winner
The Moogai
Director: Jon Bell
Special Jury Recognition for Bold Vision
Stuffed
Director: Theo Rhys
Animated Shorts Winner
Nuevo Rico
Director: Kristian Mercado
Special Jury Recognition for Innovation
KKUM
Director: Kang Min Kim
Special Jury Recognition for Storytelling
Your Own Bulls**t
Director: Daria Kopiec
Music Videos Winner
Madame Gandhi – ‘Waiting for Me’
Director: Misha Ghose
Special Jury Recognition for How the Hell Did They Do That?!
Waze & Odyssey, George Michael, Mary J. Blige & Tommy Theo – ‘Always’
Director: Nelson de Castro
Special Jury Recognition for Pure Joy
Kuricorder Quartet – ‘Southpaw’
Director: Sawako Kabuki
Texas Shorts Winner
Summer Animals
Director: Haley Elizabeth Anderson
Special Jury Recognition for Vision
O Black Hole!
Director: Renee Zhan
Texas High School Shorts Winner
A Really Dark Comedy
Director: Manasi Ughadmathe
Special Jury Recognition for Directing
Beyond the Model
Director: Jessica Lin
Episodic Pilot Competition Winner
4 Feet High
Directors: Maria Belen Poncio and Rosario Perazolo Masjoan
Special Jury Recognition for Best Duo
Pretend Partners
Director: Ron Najor
SXSW FILM DESIGN AWARDS PRESENTED BY ADOBE
Poster Design Competition Winner
Bob Moses Featuring ZHU – ‘Desire’
Creative Director: Owen Brown
Art Director and Illustrator: Benjámin Kalászi
Graphic Designer: Diego L. Rodríguez (Paramoidme)
Special Jury Recognition
The Box
Designers: James Burns and Shal Ngo, Aleksander Walijewski
Title Design Competition Winner
The Queen’s Gambit Title Sequence
Designer: Saskia Marka
Special Jury Recognition
Birds Of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn Title Sequence
Designer: Michael Riley
Virtual Cinema Competition Winner
Samsara
Director: Huang Hsin-Chien
Special Jury Recognition for Immersive Journalism
Reeducated
Director: Sam Wolson
SXSW SPECIAL AWARDS
Brightcove Illumination Award
The Fallout
Director: Megan Park
Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award
Delia Derbyshire – the Myths and the Legendary Tapes
Director: Caroline Catz
Adobe Editing Award
R#J
Editor: Lam Nguyen
Final Draft Screenwriters Award
Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break
Screenwriters: Brook Driver, Matt White, and Nick Gillespie
Louis Black “Lone Star” Award Winner
Without Getting Killed or Caught
Directors: Tamara Saviano and Paul Whitfield
ZEISS Cinematography Award Winner
Gaia
Cinematographer: Jorrie van der Walt
Mailchimp Support the Shorts Award
Chuj Boys of Summer
Director: Max Walker-Silverman
Mailchimp Support the Shorts Special Jury Recognition
Like the Ones I Used to Know
Director: Annie St-Pierre
Mailchimp Support the Shorts Special Jury Recognition
Malignant
Director: Morgan Bond and Nickolas Grisham
This has been an amazing festival done virtually. It’s quite impressive that the event was able to be executed in such a smooth fashion, considering the entire country and beyond is still in the middle of a pandemic.
Congrats to all the winners from our site. They are all well deserved.
SXSW will still be streaming all these films until March 20. So, if attendees haven’t had the chance, be sure and move quickly before the festival wraps up.
Stay tuned for more coverage of SXSW 2021 at Monsters & Critics.