SXSW Film Awards

The SXSW Film Awards is an awards ceremony, presented by FilmStruck, that takes place halfway through the nine day long SXFSW Film Festival. The awards do not focus only on horror, instead choosing to honor creativity and talent demonstrated by filmmakers and designers who are in the SXSW Program.

Awards
The SXSW Awards hosts four different types of awards. The main awards are judged by a jury or panel of judges and includes nine categories of awards. The Audience Awards allows all films (excluding special events) to be judged by audiences (including those through social media). The Special Awards is a chance for many filmmakers to have their film receive the Louis Black “Lone Star Award”, Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship, and the SXSW Gamechanger Award. Lastly, the Design Awards is a celebration of the combination of designers and filmmakers and includes two categories.

Jury Awards
Jury Awards is your typical awards ceremony. All nominated films submitted into any one of the categories listed below are judged by a panel of judges.

Documentary Feature
Awards for new documentary features receiving their World, North American or U.S. premieres at SXSW.

Narrative Feature
Awards for high profile narrative features receiving their World, North American or U.S. premieres at SXSW.

Animated Shorts
Awards for stories told using traditional animation, computer-generated effects, stop-motion, and everything in-between.

Documentary Shorts
Awards for short documentaries.

Midnight Shorts
Awards for short films that contain sex, gore, and/or comedy.

Music Videos
Awards for "classic, innovative, and stylish work showcasing the scope of music video culture."

Narrative Shorts
Awards honoring well-crafted films that take advantage of the short form and exemplify distinctive and genuine storytelling.

Texas Shorts
Awards for work shot in, about, or somehow relating to the Lone Star state.

Texas High School Shorts
Awards for Texas High Schoolers who present shorts of 5 minutes or less.

Audience Awards
The Audience Awards allows all films (excluding special events) to be judged by audiences (including those through social media). Many filmmakers are happy to just be recognized by their audiences, but these awards won't truly make them candidates to be entered into the Oscars or the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts).

Narrative Feature
Ten world premieres, ten unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling.

Documentary Feature
Ten world premieres, ten real world stories that demonstrate innovation, energy and bold voices.

Headliners
Big names, big talent: Headliners bring star power to SXSW, featuring red carpet premieres and gala film events with major & rising names in cinema.

Narrative Spotlight
High profile narrative features receiving their World, North American or U.S. premieres at SXSW.

Documentary Spotlight
Shining a light on new documentary features receiving their World, North American or U.S. premieres at SXSW.

Visions
Visions filmmakers are audacious, risk-taking artists in the new cinema landscape who demonstrate raw innovation and creativity in documentary and narrative filmmaking.

Midnighters
Scary, funny, sexy, controversial – provocative after-dark features for night-owls and the terminally curious.

Episodic
Featuring innovative new work aimed squarely at the small screen, Episodic tunes in to the explosion of exciting material on non-theatrical platforms, including serialized TV, webisodes and beyond

24 Beats Per Second
Showcasing the sounds, culture & influence of music & musicians, with an emphasis on documentary.

SXGlobal
A diverse selection of International filmmaking talent, featuring innovative narratives, artful documentaries, premieres, festival favorites and more.

Festival Favorites
Acclaimed standouts & selected previous premieres from festivals around the world.

Louis Black “Lone Star Award”
An award given annually to a Texas-produced film.

Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship Award
Awarded annually, the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship honors the memory of the gifted editor Karen Schmeer. It is a year-long experience that encourages and champions the talent of an emerging Documentary editor. It creates opportunities to help editors with their artistry and craft, and expands on their professional and creative community.

SXSW Gamechanger Award
An award which honors an outstanding female director.

Design Awards
Honoring the long-time partnership between designers and filmmakers, the Film Design Awards present opportunities for designers to have their work celebrated. This award ceremony hosts two different categories:

Excellence in Poster Design Award
The SXSW Excellence in Poster Design Award highlights outstanding work from international design and illustration talent.

Excellence in Title Design Award
The Excellence in Title Design Award was introduced to shine a much needed light on a part of the filmmaking ecosystem that often slips below the radar.