The Grand Jury winners in the Narrative and Documentary Feature competitions at the South by Southwest Film Festival were, respectively, Fort Tilden from directors Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers, and The Great Invisible, directed by Margaret Brown.
The former film centers on two 20something roommates who are trekking across Brooklyn while The Great Invisible examines the Deepwater Horizon disaster through the eyes of oil industry executives, explosion survivors and Gulf Coast residents.
SXSW winners were announced and honored during a ceremony last night. Here’s a full rundown of the award recipients:
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Grand Jury Winner
Fort Tilden
Directors/Screenwriters: Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers
It shouldn’t be this hard for Allie and Harper to get to the beach.
Cast: Bridey Elliott, Clare McNulty, Griffin Newman, Jeffrey Scaperrotta, Neil Casey (World Premiere)
Special Jury Recognition For Courage in Storytelling
Animals
Director: Collin Schiffli, Screenwriter: David Dastmalchian
Jude and Bobbie are a young, homeless couple who masterfully con and steal in an attempt to stay one step ahead of their addiction. They are ultimately forced to face the reality of their situation when one of them is hospitalized.
Cast: David Dastmalchian, Kim Shaw, John Heard (World Premiere)
Special Jury Recognition for Best Acting Duo
10,000KM (Spain)
Director: Carlos Marques Marcet, Screenwriters: Carlos Marques-Marcet, Clara Roquet Autonell
A year of a long distance relationship, two computers and two cities – Los Angeles and Barcelona, can love survive 6,000 miles?
Cast: Natalia Tena, David Verdaguer (World Premiere)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
Grand Jury Winner
The Great Invisible
Director: Margaret Brown
Penetrating the oil industry’s secretive world, The Great Invisible examines the Deepwater Horizon disaster through the eyes of oil executives, explosion survivors and Gulf Coast residents who were left to pick up the pieces when the world moved on. (World Premiere)
Special Jury Recognition for Political Courage
Vessel
Director: Diana Whitten
A fearless sea captain, Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, sails a ship through loopholes in international law, providing abortions on the high seas, and leaving in her wake a network of emboldened activists who trust women to handle abortion on their own terms. (World Premiere)
Special Jury Recognition for Editing & Storytelling
Print the Legend
Directors: Luis Lopez, Clay Tweel
The 3D Printing revolution has begun. Who will make it? (World Premiere)
SHORT FILM JURY AWARDS
Narrative Shorts
Quelqu’un d’extraordinaire
Director: Monia Chokri
A 30-year-old scholar, intelligent and beautiful yet socially crippled, is forced to attend a bachelorette party.
Special Jury Recognition
Person to Person
Director: Dustin Guy Defa
A man tries to get rid of a stranger who won’t leave his apartment.
Special Jury Recognition for Cinematography
Krisha
Director: Trey Edward Shults. Cinematographer: Drew Daniels.
Krisha has not seen her family for many years. When Krisha decides to join her family for a holiday dinner, tensions escalate and Krisha struggles to keep her own demons at bay.
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace
Director: Jeff Dupre
Painter Kehinde Wiley is renowned for his stunning portraits of black and brown men. Now, for the first time, he’s decided to create a series of paintings of women, and he’s enlisted Givenchy creative director Riccardo Tisci to help him.
MIDNIGHT SHORTS
Wawd Ahp
Directors: Steve Girard, Josh Chertoff
Wawd ahp! I’m throwing both birds up. Stick a stick of dynamite up your ass. Now I’m blowing turds up.
ANIMATED SHORTS
Coda (Ireland)
Director: Alan Holly
A lost soul stumbles drunken through the city. In a park, Death finds him and shows him many things.
Special Jury Recognition
Eager
Director: Allison Schulnik
Eager is a traditional, stop-motion and clay-mation film ballet by painter/animator Allison Schulnik.
MUSIC VIDEOS
Joel Compass – “Back to Me”
Director: Ian And Cooper
TEXAS SHORTS
Some Vacation
Director: Anne S. Lewis
TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORTS
Seawolf
Directors: Caila Pickett, Max Montoya
Seawolf follows a young girl as she travels to different worlds through magical boxes.
SXSW FILM DESIGN AWARDS
Excellence In Poster Design
Starry Eyes
Designer: Jay Shaw
Excellence in Title Design
True Detective
Designer Patrick Clair for Elastic
Special Jury Recognition
The Lego Movie
Designer Brian Mah for Alma Matter
SXSW SPECIAL AWARDS
SXSW Gamechanger Emergent Woman Director Award
Kelly & Cal
Director: Jen McGowan, Screenwriter: Amy Lowe Starbin
Kelly & Cal explores the heartfelt, somewhat absurd moments in our lives when we seek out a little bit of extra attention. Cast: Juliette Lewis, Jonny Weston, Josh Hopkins, Cybil Shepherd (World Premiere)
Special Mention
Hellion
Director/Screenwriter: Kat Candler
When 13-year-old Jacob’s delinquent behavior results in the authorities placing his little brother Wes with their aunt, he and his emotionally absent father must finally take responsibility for their actions and each other in order to bring Wes home.
Cast: Aaron Paul, Juliette Lewis, Josh Wiggins, Deke Garner, Jonny Mars
Louis Black “Lone Star” Award
Boyhood
Director/Screenwriter: Richard Linklater
One family’s journey shot over the course of 12 years.
Cast: Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater
Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship
Presented to Colin Nusbaum
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