The votes have been tallied after the nine-day festival ended on Saturday; the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals announced the Audience Award winners for the 31st SXSW Film & TV Festival today. The Audience Awards follow the previously-announced 2023 Jury Awards. Audience Award Winners were certified by Maxwell Locke & Ritter LLP. Over the course of nine days, the 2023 Film & TV program includes 110 features, including 75 World Premieres, 3 International Premieres, 9 North American Premieres, 6 U.S. Premieres, 16 Texas Premieres + 63 Short films, 20 Music Videos, 12 TV Premieres, 3 TV Spotlight, 7 Independent TV Pilots, and 35 XR Experience projects.
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Films in the SXSW 2023 lineup screened in the following categories: Headliners; Narrative Feature Competition presented by Panavision; Documentary Feature Competition presented by ACE91; Narrative Spotlight; Documentary Spotlight; Visions; Midnighters; Global presented by MUBI; 24 Beats Per Second; and Festival Favorites. The Episodic program consisted of TV Premieres, TV Spotlight and the Independent TV Pilot Competition. The SXSW 2023 Shorts Film Program presented by IMDbPro featured six competitive sections: Narrative Shorts; Documentary Shorts; Animated Shorts; Midnight Shorts; Texas Shorts; and Music Videos. Our XR Experience Competition, Spotlight and Special Events programming were held in-person with a selection of works held virtually. All categories were eligible for section-specific Audience Awards.
2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Audience Award Winners:
HEADLINERS
Audience Award Winner: Flamin’ Hot, Director: Eva Longoria
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION presented by Panavision
Audience Award Winner: Mustache, Director/Screenwriter: Imran J. Khan
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION presented by ACE91
Audience Award Winner: Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life, Director/Producer: Dan Covert
NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: The Long Game, Director: Julio Quintana
DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: The Herricanes, Director: Olivia Kuan
VISIONS
Audience Award Winner: Tobacco Barns, Director/Screenwriter: Rocío Mesa
MIDNIGHTERS
Audience Award Winner: It Lives Inside, Director: Bishal Dutta
GLOBAL presented by MUBI
Audience Award Winner: Ek Jagah Apni, Directors: Ektara Collective
24 BEATS PER SECOND
Audience Award Winner: Louder Than You Think, Director: Jed I. Rosenberg
FESTIVAL FAVORITES
Audience Award Winner: No Ordinary Campaign, Director: Christopher Burke
Shorts Film Program presented by IMDbPro
NARRATIVE SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Closing Dynasty, Director/Screenwriter: Lloyd Lee Choi
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Grandma & Grandma), Director: Sean Wang
ANIMATED SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Sandwich Cat, Director/Screenwriter: David Fidalgo
MIDNIGHT SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Dead Enders, Directors: Fidel Ruiz-Healy, Tyler Walker
TEXAS SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Breaking Silence, Directors: Amy Bench, Annie Silverstein
MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Drew Ashby – ‘HER’, Directors: Chris Scholar, Bevin Brown
TV Program
TV PREMIERES
Audience Award Winner: The Luckiest Guy in the World, Director: Steve James
TV SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: Blindspotting Season 2 Premiere, Showrunner: Rafael Casal, Directors: Rafael Casel, Jess Wu Calder
INDEPENDENT TV PILOT COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Notarize Me, Director: Erika Rankin
XR Experience
XR EXPERIENCE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: JFK Memento, Director: Chloé Rochereuil
XR EXPERIENCE SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: MLK: Now is the Time, Director: Limbert Fabian
XR EXPERIENCE SPECIAL EVENTS
Audience Award Winners (three-way tie):
Neo-Wulin: The Era of Black Ark, Director/Screenwriter: Guanyu, Producers: Chenchenchen, Bingbing Wang
Ristband, Directors: Anne McKinnon, Roman Rappak
Soundwaves: A Metaverse Music Concert, Directors: YOOM, Active Theory
