SXSW Film Announces 2010 Winners

The SXSW Film Festival announced its award winners last night at the Closing Awards Ceremony, hosted by comedian Eugene Mirman. The full list is available after the jump.

Austin filmmaker Amy Grappell received the Short Film Jury Award for the Documentary Short category for Quadrangle, an unconventional documentary about two "conventional" couples that swapped partners and lived in a group marriage in the early 70s. She also took home the SXSW Wholphin Award. Quadrangle previously received an honorable mention award after its premiere at Sundance this year, and has screened at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.

Grappell has been active in the Austin film community over the last decade as a director, writer, producer, actress and casting director. She serves on the Austin Film Society's "Docs in Progress" committee and received an AFS Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund grant in 2009 for Quadrangle. I met Amy in 2005 at SXSW where she premiered a documentary she had written and directed, Light From the East. Amy also produced and starred in the narrative feature Shady Grove (1996) that made its debut at an earlier  SXSW.

Other notable Austin connections:

• Tiny Furniture, the Feature Film Jury Award winner for Narrative Feature category, includes local filmmaker/actor Alex Karpovsky
• Locally made documentary Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission won the Audience Award winner for Excellence in Poster Design. 
• Petting Sharks, the Texas Shorts winner, was written and directed by University of Texas RTF grad Craig Elrod. His credits include Cleverboy's Playhouse (Cinematexas 2004), The Trouble With Jumpsuits (SXSW 2007), Clothes Horse (SXSW 2008), Polar Ops (Salvage Vanguard Micro Cinema 2009), and A Gentleman's Touch (AFF 2009). His feature script Floyd was a finalist for the 2007 Sundance Screenwriter's Lab.

Audience Awards for Spotlight Premieres, Emerging Visions, 24 Beats Per Second, Lone Star States, and Midnighters will be announced on Monday, March 22, 2010. In an official press release, Film Conference and Festival Producer Janet Pierson stated:

“I wasn't sure how we could top or even present a program as strong as SXSW 2009, but it feels like we did. There are some films that are rocking crowd pleasers, some that are refining the form or finding a voice, several that are inspiring, and fortunately, a wonderful few that are truly original visions. We are thrilled to be able to celebrate those tonight.”

The 2010 SXSW Film Festival Award winners: 

Feature Film Jury Awards
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Winner: Marwencol Director: Jeff Malmberg
Runner-up: War Don Don Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen

NARRATIVE FEATURE
Winner: Tiny Furniture Director: Lena Dunham
Special Jury Award – Best Ensemble: Myth of the American Sleepover Director: David Robert Mitchell
Special Jury Award – Best Individual Performance: Brian Hasenfus in Phillip the Fossil Director: Garth Donovan

Feature Film Audience Awards
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Winner: For Once in My Life Directors: Jim Bigham & Mark Moormann
NARRATIVE FEATURE Winner: Brotherhood Director: Will Canon

Short Film Jury Awards
NARRATIVE SHORTS
Winner: Cigarette Candy Director: Lauren Wolkstein
Runner Up: Teleglobal Dreamin' Director: Eric Flanagan

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
Winner: Quadrangle Director: Amy Grappell
Runner Up: White Lines and The Fever: The Death of DJ Junebug Director: Travis Senger

ANIMATED SHORTS
Winner: The Orange Director: Nick Fox-Gieg
Runner Up: One Square Mile of Earth Director: Jeff Drew

EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS
Winner: Night Mayor Director: Guy Maddin
Runner Up: Kids Might Fly Director: Alex Taylor

MUSIC VIDEOS
Winner: Cinnamon Chasers, "Luv Deluxe" Director: Saman Keshavarz
Runner Up: Grizzly Bear, "Forest" Director: Allison Schulnik

TEXAS SHORTS
Winner: Petting Sharks Director: Craig Elrod
Runner Up: The Big Bends Director: Jason William Marlow

TIME WARNER CABLE & OVATION YOUNG FILMMAKER SCHOLARSHIP for TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORT
Winner: Give the Dog a Bone Director: Edward Kelley
Runner Up: The Sleep Project Director: Whitney Bennett & Matthew Cunningham

SXSW Film Design Awards
EXCELLENCE IN POSTER DESIGN
Winner: Feeder Designer: Joseph Ernst
Runner Up: Amer Designer: Gilles Vranckx
Audience Award Winner: Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission Designer: Michael Anderson
Special Jury Award: Equestrian Sexual Response Designers: Martim Vian & Zeke Hawkins

EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN
Winner: Zombieland Designer: Ben Conrad
Runner Up: earthwork Designer: Stan Herd
Audience Award Winner: earthwork Designer: Stan Herd
Special Jury Award: Enter the Void Designer: Gaspar Noé and Tom Kam

SXSW Special Awards
SXSW WHOLPHIN AWARD
Winner: Quadrangle Director: Amy Grappell

SXSW CHICKEN EGG EMERGENT NARRATIVE WOMAN DIRECTOR AWARD
Winner: Lena Dunham for Tiny Furniture
Special Award - The Chicken & Egg Pictures "We Believe in You" Award:
Martha Stephens for Passenger Pigeons

For the 2010 SXSW Film Festival, 134 feature-length films, including 64 world premieres, were selected from a record 1,572 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,206 U.S. and 366 international feature-length films. 130 shorts were selected from 2,312 short film submissions. In its inaugural year, the Title Design Competition included 18 finalists selected from 101 submissions. The 2010 SXSW Film Festival Awards were hosted by Ovation TV. Highlights from the Awards Ceremony will be available on YouTube starting Monday, March 22.