The Arbalest, directed and written by Adam Pinney, earned the Grand Jury honor in the narrative feature competition at the South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival. Taking the top Grand Jury documentary honor was Tower directed by Keith Maitland.
The Arbalest centers on a noted toy inventor who reflects on his decade-long obsession with a woman who hates him.
Tower delves into the sniper shootings at the University of Texas at Austin on Aug. 1, 1966, a tragedy which rocked the campus, the country and the world at large.
SXSW Audience Award winners will be unveiled on Saturday, March 19, the same date through which SXSW will continue to screen world premieres and other films. Here’s a rundown of SXSW Jury Award winners.
FEATURE FILM JURY AWARDS
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Grand Jury Winner: The Arbalest
Director: Adam Pinney
Special Jury Recognition for Best Actor: Andre Royo
Film: Hunter Gatherer
Special Jury Recognition for Best Actress: Lily Rabe
Film: Miss Stevens
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
Grand Jury Winner: Tower
Director: Keith Maitland
Special Jury Recognition for Portrait Documentary: Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America
Director: Matt Ornstein
Special Jury Recognition for Cinematography: The Seer
Cinematographer: Lee Daniel
SHORT FILM JURY AWARDS
NARRATIVE SHORTS
Jury Award Winner: How Was Your Day?
Director: Damien O’Donnell
Special Jury Recognition for Acting: Jim Cummings
Film: Thunder Road
Special Jury Recognition for Writing: Jocelyn DeBoer & Dawn Luebbe
Film: Greener Grass
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
Jury Award Winner: These C*cksucking Tears
Director: Dan Taberski
Special Jury Recognition: Dollhouse
Director: Terri Timely
MIDNIGHT SHORTS
Jury Award Winner: MANOMAN
Director: Simon Cartwright
Special Jury Recognition: Don’t tell Mom
Director: Sawako Kabuki
ANIMATED SHORTS
Jury Award Winner: Glove
Directors: Alexa Lim Haas & Bernardo Britto
Special Jury Recognition: Pombo Loves You
Director: Steve Warne
MUSIC VIDEOS
Jury Award Winner: Childish Gambino – “Sober”
Director: Hiro Murai
TEXAS SHORTS
Jury Award Winner: The Send-Off
Director: Ivete Lucas & Patrick Bresnan
Special Jury Recognition for Acting: Lindsay Pulsipher
Film: 1985
TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORTS
Jury Award Winner: Lady of Paint Creek
Director: Alexia Salingaros
Special Jury Recognition: The Archer Hadley Story
Directors: Ben Root & Alex Treviño
SXSW FILM DESIGN AWARDS
EXCELLENCE IN POSTER DESIGN
Jury Award Winner: Miss Me: The Artful Vandal
Designer: MissMe
Special Jury Recognition: Night Stalker
Designer: New Media Ltd
Special Jury Recognition: Eat My Shit
Designer: Octavio Terol
EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN
Jury Award Winner: Sunstone
Director: Aimée Duchamp
SXSW SPECIAL AWARDS
SXSW Gamechanger Award
Winner: Sophie Goodhart, My Blind Brother
Louis Black “Lone Star” Award
Winner: Tower
Director: Keith Maitland
Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship
Presented to: Eileen Meyer
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More