The South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conference and Festivals announced the Audience Award winners for the 31st SXSW Film & TV Festival today. The Audience Awards follow the previously-announced 2023 Jury Awards. For the complete list of 2023 Award Winners, visit www.sxsw.com/festivals/film-awards/. Audience Award Winners were certified by Maxwell Locke & Ritter LLP.
Over the course of nine days the 2023 Film & TV program includes 110 features including 75 World Premieres, 3 International Premieres, 9 North American Premieres, 6 U.S. Premieres, 16 Texas Premieres + 63 Short films, 20 Music Videos, 12 TV Premieres, 3 TV Spotlight, 7 Independent TV Pilots, and 35 XR Experience projects.
Films in the SXSW 2023 lineup screened in the following categories: Headliners; Narrative Feature Competition presented by Panavision; Documentary Feature Competition presented by ACE91; Narrative Spotlight; Documentary Spotlight; Visions; Midnighters; Global presented by MUBI; 24 Beats Per Second; and Festival Favorites. The Episodic program consisted of TV Premieres, TV Spotlight and the Independent TV Pilot Competition. The SXSW 2023 Shorts Film Program presented by IMDbPro featured six competitive sections: Narrative Shorts; Documentary Shorts; Animated Shorts; Midnight Shorts; Texas Shorts; and Music Videos. Our XR Experience Competition, Spotlight and Special Events programming were held in-person with a selection of works held virtually. All categories were eligible for section-specific Audience Awards.
Select SXSW 2023 event content is available to registrants on the SXSW Online Schedule and SXSW TV app. A full list of available content can be found here.
2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Audience Award Winners:
HEADLINERS
Audience Award Winner: Flamin' Hot
Director: Eva Longoria, Producer: DeVon Franklin, Screenwriters: Linda Yvette Chávez, Lewis Colick
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION presented by Panavision
Audience Award Winner: Mustache
Director/Screenwriter: Imran J. Khan, Producers: Christina Won, Jessica Sittig, Christopher Storer, Tyson Bidner
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION presented by ACE91
Audience Award Winner: Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life
Director/Producer: Dan Covert, Screenwriters: Erik Auli, Dan Covert, Amy Dempsey, Tara Rose Stromberg
NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: The Long Game
Director: Julio Quintana, Producers: Javier Chapa, Ben Howard, Marla Quintana, Dennis Quaid, Laura Quaid, Screenwriters: Julio Quintana, Jennifer C. Stetson, Paco Farias
DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: The Herricanes
Director: Olivia Kuan, Producers: James Lee Hernandez, Brian Lazarte, Lisa France, James Short, Olivia Kuan, Justin Baldoni, Andrew Calof
VISIONS
Audience Award Winner: Tobacco Barns
Director/Screenwriter: Rocío Mesa, Producers: Olmo Figueredo González-Quevedo
MIDNIGHTERS
Audience Award Winner: It Lives Inside
Director: Bishal Dutta, Producers: Raymond Mansfield, Sean McKittrick, Screenwriters: Bishal Dutta, Ashish Mehta
GLOBAL presented by MUBI
Audience Award Winner: Ek Jagah Apni
Directors: Ektara Collective, Producers: Ektara Collective, Lotus Visual Productions, Screenwriters: Rinchin, Maheen Mirza
24 BEATS PER SECOND
Audience Award Winner: Louder Than You Think
Director: Jed I. Rosenberg, Producers: Jeffrey Lewis Clark, Brian Thalken, Kelly Thomas, Screenwriters: Jed I. Rosenberg, Greg King
FESTIVAL FAVORITES
Audience Award Winner: No Ordinary Campaign
Director: Christopher Burke, Producer: Tim Rummel, Christopher Burke
Shorts Film Program presented by IMDbPro
NARRATIVE SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Closing Dynasty
Director/Screenwriter: Lloyd Lee Choi, Producers: Jon Hsu, Lloyd Lee Choi
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Grandma & Grandma)
Director: Sean Wang, Producers: Sean Wang, Sam Davis
ANIMATED SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Sandwich Cat
Director/Screenwriter: David Fidalgo, Producers: Daniel Rodriguez, Laura Doval, Gonzalo E. Veloso
MIDNIGHT SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Dead Enders
Directors: Fidel Ruiz-Healy, Tyler Walker, Screenwriters: Fidel Ruiz-Healy, Tyler Walker, Jordan Michael Blake, Conor Murphy, Producers: Raven Jensen, Amanda Crown, Gregory Barnes, Conor Murphy, Nico Alvo, Jordan Michael Blake, Eduardo Ruiz-Healy
TEXAS SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Breaking Silence
Directors: Amy Bench, Annie Silverstein, Producers: Monique Walton, Amy Bench
MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Drew Ashby - 'HER'
Directors: Chris Scholar, Bevin Brown, Producer: Bevin Brown
TV Program
TV PREMIERES
Audience Award Winner: The Luckiest Guy in the World
Director: Steve James, Producers: Zak Piper, Steve James
TV SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: Blindspotting Season 2 Premiere
Showrunner: Rafael Casal, Directors: Rafael Casel, Jess Wu Calder, Producers: Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs, Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Emily Gerson Saines, Ken Lee, Tim Palen
INDEPENDENT TV PILOT COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Notarize Me
Director: Erika Rankin, Screenwriters/Producers: Erika Rankin, Brigitte Valdez
XR Experience
XR EXPERIENCE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: JFK Memento
Director: Chloé Rochereuil, Producer: Victor Agulhon
XR EXPERIENCE SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: MLK: Now is the Time
Director: Limbert Fabian, Producers: Matthew O’Rourke, Sulivan Parker, Screenwriter: Andrina Wekontash Smith
XR EXPERIENCE SPECIAL EVENTS
Audience Award Winners (three-way tie):
Neo-Wulin: The Era of Black Ark
Director/Screenwriter: Guanyu, Producers: Chenchenchen, Bingbing Wang
Ristband
Directors: Anne McKinnon, Roman Rappak
Soundwaves: A Metaverse Music Concert
Directors: YOOM, Active Theory
