The South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals announced the 2018 Jury and Special Award winners of the SXSW Film Festival Awards, presented by FilmStruck at the historic Paramount Theatre. The awards were hosted by actor and comedian Jim Gaffigan. Feature films receiving Jury Awards were selected from the Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature Competition categories. Films in competition categories, as well as all feature categories (with the exception of Special Events) and the Title Design Competition entrants, are also eligible for the 2018 SXSW Film Festival Audience Awards.
SXSW also announced the Jury Award winners in the Shorts Program and winners of the SXSW Film Design Awards. Special Awards included the Louis Black “Lone Star” Award, the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship, and the SXSW Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award. The SXSW LUNA Gamechanger Award – Narrative and SXSW LUNA Chicken & Egg Award – Documentary were also presented, including a $10,000 artist award and mentoring to help female filmmakers hone their craft in the fiction and documentary categories, seek new and exciting opportunities, and navigate the changing media landscape.
The 2018 SXSW Film Festival Juries consisted of:
- Narrative Feature Competition: Justin Chang, Col Needham, Emily Yoshida
- Documentary Feature Competition: K. Austin Collins, Violet Lucca, April Wolfe
- Narrative Shorts Program: Dilcia Barrera, Nick Borenstein, Brandon Harris
- Documentary Shorts: David Matthews, Erica Deiparine-Sugars, Pam Torno
- Animated Shorts: Aki Isoyama, Kirsten Lepore, Eric Power
- Midnight Shorts: Sara Cushman, Missy Laney, Pip Ngo
- Music Videos: Dan Deacon, John T. Kunz, Daniel Scheinert
- Texas Shorts: James Faust, Rebecca Morelo Jackson, Ali Nichols
- Texas High School Shorts: Barak Epstein, Bob Ray, Bart Weiss
- Independent Episodics: Rebecca Agbe-Davies, Christine Dávila, Randi Kleiner
- Louis Black “Lone Star”: Victor Diaz, Steve Dollar, Dana Harris
- Excellence in Title Design: Dan Brown, Jonathan Lacocque, Mara Smalley
- Excellence in Poster Design: Sean Carnegie, Michelle Schwartz, Kevin Tong
Over the course of nine days, the 2018 SXSW Film Festival screened 136 features, consisting of 89 World Premieres, 13 North American Premieres, and 6 US Premieres, with 49 first-time filmmakers. 98 shorts and 20 music videos will screen as part of 12 curated shorts programs. The 256 films were selected from 8,183 overall submissions, consisting of approximately 2,476 features and 4,433 shorts.
The 2018 SXSW Film Festival Awards:
Feature Film Grand Jury Awards
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Winner: Thunder Road
Director: Jim Cummings
Special Jury Recognition For First Feature: The New Romantic
Director: Carly Stone
Special Jury Recognition for Writing: Jinn
Director/Screenwriter: Niljla Mu’min
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
Winner: People’s Republic of Desire
Directors: Hao Wu
Special Jury Recognition for Best Cast: This One’s For The Ladies
Director: Gene Graham
Special Jury Recognition for Best Feminist Reconsideration of a Male Artist: Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable
Director: Sasha Waters Freyer
Short Film Grand Jury Awards
NARRATIVE SHORTS
Winner: Emergency
Director: Carey Williams
Special Jury Recognition for Acting: Shirley Chen from Krista
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
Winner: My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes
Director: Charlie Tyrell
MIDNIGHT SHORTS
Winner: Milk
Director: Santiago Menghini
ANIMATED SHORTS
Winner: Agua Viva
Director: Alexa Lim Haas
Special Jury Recognition: JEOM
Director: Kangmin Kim
MUSIC VIDEOS
Winner: ”Second Hand Lovers” – Oren Lavie
Director: Oren Lavie
Special Jury Recognition for Acting: ”Territory” – The Blaze
Director: The Blaze
TEXAS SHORTS
Winner: An Uncertain Future
Director: Iliana Sosa & Chelsea Hernandez
TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORTS
Winner: The Night I Lost My Favorite Jacket
Director: Jenna Krumerman
Special Jury Recognition: CCISD Strong
Director: Sofia Rasmussen
INDEPENDENT EPISODICS
Winner: Beast
Director: Ben Strang
Special Jury Recognition: She’s the Ticket
Director: Nadia Hallgren
SXSW Film Design Awards
EXCELLENCE IN POSTER DESIGN
Winner: The Gospel of Eureka
Designer: Matt Taylor
Special Jury Recognition: A Little Wisdom
Designer: Adam Zhu
EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN
Winner: Counterpart
Director: Karin Fong
Special Jury Recognition: Godless
Director: John Likens
SXSW Special Awards
SXSW LUNA Gamechanger Award – Narrative
Winner: First Match
Director: Olivia Newman
Special Jury Recognition: Unlovable
Director: Suzi Yoonessi
SXSW LUNA Chicken & Egg Award – Documentary
Winner: On Her Shoulders
Director: Alexandria Bombach
Special Jury Recognition: ¡Las Sandinistas!
Director: Jenny Murray
SXSW Louis Black “Lone Star” Award
Winner: Daughters of the Sexual Revolution: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys
Cheerleaders
Director: Dana Adam Shapiro
SXSW Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award
Presented to: Prospect directed by Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell
Vimeo Staff Picks Award
Presented to: Krista directed by Danny Madden
SXSW Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship Presentation
Presented to: Kristin Bye
