You watched the films, you ate all the popcorn (judgement-free zone here, folks), you watched some more, and then you voted. Now presenting the 2021 Audience Awards winners of the Film Festival for SXSW Online.
All films, except Special Events, were eligible for the SXSW Film Festival Audience Awards voting which took place following the SXSW Online event on Sunday, March 21. Votes were calculated and then certified by the accounting firm of Maxwell Locke & Ritter.
Browse the winners below by screening section. Be sure to also check out the 2021 SXSW Film Awards winners selected by our esteemed Juries for Narrative and Documentary Feature Competitions, Shorts Programs, Design, Virtual Cinema, and more.
Thanks to everyone who participated in Audience Awards Voting Day and congrats to all the winners!
2021 Audience Award Winners
Headliners
Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free
Director: Mary Wharton
Narrative Feature Competition
The Fallout
Director: Megan Park
Documentary Feature Competition
Not Going Quietly
Director: Nicholas Bruckman
Narrative Spotlight
Language Lessons
Director: Natalie Morales
Documentary Spotlight
Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America
Directors: Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler
Visions
Inbetween Girl
Director: Mei Makino
Midnighters
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror
Director: Kier-La Janisse
Global
Ninjababy
Director: Yngvild Sve Flikke
24 Beats Per Second
Soy Cubana
Directors: Jeremy Ungar and Ivaylo Getov
Festival Favorites
In The Same Breath
Director: Nanfu Wang
2020 Spotlight
We Are The Thousand
Director: Anita Rivaroli
Narrative Shorts Competition
Play It Safe
Director: Mitch Kalisa
Documentary Shorts Competition
Joe Buffalo
Director: Amar Chebib
Animated Shorts Competition
Opera
Director: Erick Oh
Midnight Shorts Competition
Stuffed
Director: Theo Rhys
Texas Shorts Competition
Learning Tagalog with Kayla
Director: Kayla Abuda Galang
Texas High School Shorts Competition
Beyond the Model
Director: Jessica Lin
Music Videos Competition
Kuricorder Quartet – ‘Southpaw’
Director: Sawako Kabuki
Episodic Premieres
Them
Showrunner: Little Marvin
Episodic Pilot Competition
4 Feet High
Directors: Maria Belen Poncio and Rosario Perazolo Masjoan
Virtual Cinema Competition
Biolum
Director: Abel Kohen
Virtual Cinema Spotlight
Finding Pandora X
Director: Kiira Benzing
Excellence in Title Design
Birds Of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn Title Sequence
Creative Director and Illustrator: Michael Riley
Cheers again to all the winners and a big thanks to our SX community for your involvement this season!
Don’t put away the popcorn just yet (yes, we are popcorn enablers) – select Film Festival programming will remain available to SXSW Online registrants on the event platform and Connected TV apps through April 18. Browse the complete list of post-event on demand content including Conference sessions to catch something you missed or rewatch your favorites.
Stay Tuned for SXSW 2022
Following the recent announcement of SXSW 2022 dates, we will also be opening up 2022 participation opportunities this summer including PanelPicker®, Film Festival submissions, Music Festival applications, and more. Stay tuned!
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2021 SXSW Film Centerpiece, Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free – Credit Robert Sebree
The post Audience Awards Winners for the 2021 SXSW Film Festival Announced appeared first on SXSW.
