And the Winner Is....

   This year's SXSW Film Festival received hundreds of submissions from individuals eager to showcase their talent and creativity, and after much deliberation by a select jury and the audience, nineteen films swaggered away with a giant belt buckle (literally) during the 2011 SXSW Film Awards on Tuesday, March 15.

   The CEO of Ovation, Charles Segars, said a few introductory words at the start of the ceremony and then handed the microphone over to the film awards emcee, Owen Egerton. The following films and individuals were the award winners of various categories.

Short Film Jury Awards

Texas High School Shorts

Runner Up - Volition directed by Maqui Gaona

Runner Up - Eggs directed by Gabriel Lopez, Eric Ochoa

Best Animated - The History of Nikola Tesla directed by Jeremiah Warren

Winner -  (__) (Blank) directed by Chad Warner

Texas Short

8 directed by Julie Gould, Daniel Laabs

Music Videos

Hollerado "Americanarama" directed by Greg Jardin

Animated Shorts

The Wonder Hospital directed by Beomsik Shimbe Shim

Documentary Shorts 

Mothersbane directed by Jason Jakaitis 

Narrative Shorts

Pioneer directed by David Lowery

Special Awards

SXSW Wholphin Awards

The Eagleman Stag directed by Mikey Please

SXSW Chicken and EGG Emergent Narrative Woman Director Award

Green directed by Sophia Takal

Louis Black/Lone Star Award

INCENDIARY: The Willingham Case directed by Steve Mims, Joe Bailey 

SXSW Film Design Awards

Excellence in Poster Design

Jury Award: Green by Sophia Takal

Audience Award: Silver Bullets by Joe Swanberg

Excellence in Title Design 

Jury Award: Blue Valentine by Jim Helton

Audience Award: Blue Valentine by Jim Helton

Feature Film Audience Awards

Spotlight Premieres 

Becoming Santa directed by Jeff Myers

Emerging Visions

Weekend (UK) directed by Andrew Haigh 

Documentary Feature

Kumare directed by Vikram Gandhi

Narrative Feature

Natural Selection directed by Robbie Pickering

Feature Film Jury Awards

Best Editing

Documentary: Where Soldiers Come From by Kyle Henry, Heather Courtney

Narrative: Natural Selection edited by Michelle Tesoro

Best Cinematography

Documentary: Dragonslayer directed by Eric Koretz

Narrative: A Year in Mooring by Elliot Davis

Best Score/Music

The City Dark with music by The Fisherman Three and Ben Fries

Best Screenplay

Natural Selection directed by Robbie Pickering

Breakthrough Performances

Evan Ross in 96 Minutes

Rachael Harris in Natural Selection

Matt O' Leary in Natural Selection

Grand Jury Award

Documentary: Dragonslayer directed by Tristan Patterson

Narrative: Natural Selection directed by Robbie Pickering

   Out of hundreds upon hundreds of initial submissions, volunteers screen and select a few hundred to be shown at the SXSW Film Festival. Simply to be screened within the theaters of downtown Austin and surrounding areas is an accomplishment in itself. Congratulations to all the winners and attendees of the 2011 SXSW Film Festival!