SXSW: ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’, ‘Running With Beto’ Among Film Festival Audience Award Winners

As SXSW comes to a close, the Austin-based festival unveiled the audience winners from this year’s film festival which includes the Shia LaBeouf-fronted drama The Peanut Butter Falcon as well as David Modigliano’s documentary Running With Beto.

The winners for the Narrative Feature Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Narrative Spotlight, Documentary Spotlight, Visions, Midnighters, Episodic Premieres, Global, Festival Favorites, Design Award, and Virtual Cinema Jury Award categories were announced Saturday morning.

Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz’s The Peanut Butter Falcon took the Audience Award for Narrative Spotlight. Featuring an all-star cast including LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson, Bruce Dern, John Hawkes, Thomas Haden Church, John Bertnthal and some professional wrestlers you might recognize as well as breakout star Zack Gottsagen, the film follows a young man with Down syndrome runs away from the retirement home where he lives to chase his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. The crowd pleaser was joined on the lest by the aforementioned Running With Beto. The documentary’s win for the Documentary Feature Competition times perfectly with Beto O’Rourke recent announcement of his run for president.

RelatedSXSW: ‘Alice’, ‘For Sama’ Among Feature Film Grand Jury Award Winners

Earlier this week, the fest announced the Grand Jury Awards which included Alice and For Sama, the latter also taking this year’s Audience Award the Documentary Feature Competition. Directed by Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts, For Sama tells the epic story of a young woman’s journey through love, war and motherhood across five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria. Joining that list of honorees is the Alex Thompson-directed drama Saint Frances won the Narrative Feature Competition. The film follows Bridget, who gets a much-needed summer job in an affluent city in Illinois nannying a six-year-old after getting an abortion.

One final round of winners from the festival will be announced March 19 when the Headliners and 24 Beats Per Second Audience Award winners will be unveiled.

Read the full list of Audience Award winners below

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Saint Frances
Director: Alex Thompson

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: For Sama
Directors: Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts

NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: The Peanut Butter Falcon
Director: Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz

DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: Running With Beto
Director: David Modigliano

VISIONS
Audience Award Winner: The Garden Left Behind
Director: Flavio Alves

MIDNIGHTERS
Audience Award Winner: Boyz In The Wood
Director: Ninian Doff

EPISODIC PREMIERES
Audience Award Winner: Ramy
Showrunner: Bridget Bedard

GLOBAL
Audience Award Winner: Cachada: The Opportunity
Director: Marlén Viñayo

FESTIVAL FAVORITES
Audience Award Winner: Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins
Director: Janice Engel

SXSW Film Design Awards

EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN
Audience Award Winner: Spider-man: Into The Spider-verse
Directors: Brian Mah, James Ramirez

VIRTUAL CINEMA JURY AWARD WINNERS
The 25 projects in the Virtual Cinema, which ran Monday 3/11 through Wednesday 3/13, were eligible for 360° Video: Documentary, 360° Video: Narrative, Interactive, Storytelling, Best Use of Immersive Arts, plus special jury awards. The 2019 Virtual Cinema jury was composed of  Eliza McNitt, Laura Mingail, and Lori Schwartz.

360° VIDEO: DOCUMENTARY – Send Me Home
Director: Cassandra Evanisko

360° VIDEO: NARRATIVE – Metro Veinte: Cita Ciega
Director: Maria Belen PoncioINTERACTIVE – Runnin’
Director: Kiira Benzing

STORYTELLING – Gloomy Eyes
Director: Jorge Tereso, Fernando Maldonado

BEST USE OF IMMERSIVE ARTS – Home After War
Director: Gayatri Parameswaran 

SPECIAL JURY RECOGNITION – The Future of Experience
Director: Jessica Brillhart