SXSW Didn’t Get to Have a Film Festival This Year — So Here Are the Winners of the 2020 SXSW Film Festival

SXSW film festival award winners

SXSW is formally announcing its film festival award winners, despite the festival’s cancellation earlier this month.

This year’s SXSW film festival had several special award juries set up. Unfortunately, the event itself was nixed alongside the broader SXSW, but Janet Pierson, SXSW’s Director of Film, says changes were made to honor this year’s filmmakers. “We’re honored to at least be able to present our juried and special awards. We know that it’s no substitute for the actual festival’s vitality,” Pierson relayed. “But we hope it will help garner some well-deserved recognition for these wonderful works.”

This year’s SXSW film festival award winners were chosen from a group of 135 feature films and 119 short films. Since the show was canceled this year, there is no Audience Award.

SXSW Film Festival Award Winners

Narrative Feature Competition

  • Winner: Shithouse
  • Director: Cooper Raiff

Special Jury Recognition for Directing

  • Winner: Topside
  • Directors: Celine Held, Logan George

Special Jury Recognition for Acting

  • Winner: Really Love
  • Director: Angel Kristi Williams
  • Actors Kofi Siriboe, Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing

Documentary Feature Competition

  • Winner: An Elephant in the Room
  • Director: Katrine Philip

Special Jury Recognition for Achievement in Documentary Storytelling

  • Winner: The Donut King
  • Director: Alice Gu

Special Jury Recognition for Breakthrough Voice

  • Winner: Finding Yingying
  • Director: Jiayan ‘Jenny’ Shi

Short Film Grand Jury Awards

Narrative Shorts

  • Winner: White Eye
  • Director: Tomer Shushan

Special Jury Recognition for Acting

  • Winner: Dirty
  • Director: Matthew Puccini
  • Actors: Morgan Sullivan, Manny Dunn

Special Jury Recognition

  • Winner: Darling
  • Director: Saim Sadiq

Special Jury Recognition

  • Winner: Single
  • Director: Ashley Eakin

Documentary Shorts

  • Winner: No Crying at the Dinner Table
  • Director: Carol Nguyen

Special Jury Recognition

  • Winner: Mizuko
  • Directors: Katelyn Rebelo, Kira Dane

Special Jury Recognition

  • Winner: Dia de la Madre
  • Directors: Ashley Brandon, Dennis Höhne

Midnight Shorts

  • Winner: Regret
  • Director: Santiago Menghini

Special Jury Recognition

  • Winner: Laura Hasn’t Slept
  • Director: Parker Finn

Special Jury Recognition for Creature Design

  • Winner: Stucco
  • Director: Janina Gavankar, Russo Schelling

Animated Shorts

  • Winner: Symbiosis
  • Director: Nadja Andrasev

Special Jury Recognition

  • Winner: No, I Don’t Want to Dance!
  • Director: Andrew Vinciguerra

Special Jury Recognition

  • Winner: The Shawl
  • Director: Sara Kiener

Music Videos

  • Winner: 070 Shake – ‘Nice to Have’
  • Director: Noah Lee

Special Jury Recognition for Animation

  • Winner: Mitski – ‘A Pearl’
  • Director: Saad Moosajee, Art Camp

Special Jury Recognition for Direction

  • Winner: The Lumineers – ‘Gloria’
  • Director: Kevin Phillips

Texas Shorts

  • Winner: Just Hold On
  • Director: Sam Davis, Rayka Zehtabchi

Special Jury Recognition

  • Winner: Coup d’etat Math
  • Director: Sai Selvarajan

Texas High School Shorts

  • Winner: Wish Upon a Snowman
  • Director: Miu Nakata

Special Jury Recognition: Narrative

  • Winner: Ultimatum
  • Director: Kai Hashimoto

Special Jury Recognition: Documentary

  • Winner: Unveiled
  • Director: Sofia Bajwa

Special Jury Recognition: Animation

  • Winner: The Orchard
  • Director: Zeke French