SXSW 2014: ‘Fort Tilden,’ ‘Great Invisible’ win top jury awards
The South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival announced its jury awards on Tuesday night in a ceremony at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas.
“Fort Tilden” won the grand jury prize in the narrative competition. Written and directed by Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers, the comedy stars Bridey Elliott and Clare McNulty as a pair of hapless Brooklyn roommates on an epic journey to the beach.
On the documentary side, the grand jury prize went to “The Great Invisible.” Directed by Margaret Brown, the film tells the story of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.
A special jury prize for “courage in storytelling” went to actor and screenwriter David Dastmalchian for his work on “Animals.” Directed by Collin Schiffli, the film tells the story of a young couple (Dastmalchian, Kim Shaw) living out of their car in Chicago.
A special jury prize for “best acting duo” went to Natalie Tena and David Verdaguer for starring in “10,000 KM (Long Distance)” about a couple struggling to make a long-distance relationship between Barcelona and Los Angeles work via technology.
A special jury prize for “political courage” went to Diana Whitten’s documentary, “Vessel,” a look at a Dutch doctor providing abortions. Luis Lopez and Clay Tweel’s documentary on the 3-D printing industry, “Print the Legend,” received a special jury prize for editing and storytelling.
Among other prizes: Jen McGowan won the Gamechanger Emergent Woman Director Award with “Kelly and Cal,” Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” won the Lone Star Award given for Texas filmmaking, and Colin Nusbaum received the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship.
Audience award-winners will be announced Saturday.
Last year’s grand jury narrative prize winner was Destin Daniel Cretton’s “Short Term 12,” which helped launch the film toward a dark horse awards-season campaign for lead actress Brie Larson, landing her on the cover of Vanity Fair’s annual Hollywood issue. Other recent winners of the award include Adam Leon’s “Gimme the Loot,” Robbie Pickering’s “Natural Selection” and Lena Dunham’s breakthrough “Tiny Furniture.”
This year’s festival also saw the world premieres of Jon Favreau’s “Chef,” Nicholas Stoller’s “Neighbors” and Rob Thomas’ “Veronica Mars.”
Also:
SXSW 2014: Lawrence Levine and Sophia Takal chase ‘Wild Canaries’
‘Short Term 12’ beats long odds
Wes Anderson is off in a new world with ‘Grand Budapest Hotel’
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