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FESTIVALS

FILM & TV Announcing the 2025 Jury and Special Awards winners of the 32nd SXSW Film & TV Festival. Feature films receiving Jury Awards were selected from the Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature Competition categories, plus all other juried sections, including Shorts, Independent TV Pilots, Music Videos, Poster Design and XR Experience Awards. Special Awards announced included the SXSW Best of Texas Award, Redbreast Unhidden Award, Vimeo Staff Pick Award, Agog Immersive Impact Award, NEON Auteur Award, the Janet Pierson Champion Award presented by Indiewire, and the The Howl of Fame Award. All 2025 Film & TV Festival projects will be eligible for category-specific Audience Awards that will be certified by the accounting firm of Maxwell Locke & Ritter. Audience Award Voting will conclude on Saturday, March 15. Winners will be announced via sxsw.com that week. "The energy at SXSW has been absolutely electric this week! Our theaters have been packed with passionate audiences embracing the incredible diversity of stories in our lineup," said Claudette Godfrey, VP, Film & TV. "I'm thrilled to celebrate our jury and special award winners — they truly represent what makes this festival so special!"

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION Winner: Shuffle directed by Benjamin Flaherty “Wrought with measured style and humanity, this quietly searing exposé of exploitation and fraud in the addiction treatment industry is a deeply affecting work of cinematic memoir and alarm. The director illuminates the insidiousness of the profit-driven, billion-dollar recovery business even as he brings compassion and urgency to his subjects, whose candid revelations are as heartbreaking as they are hopeful.” Special Jury Award: The Python Hunt directed by Xander Robin “The Python Hunt burrows deep into a fascinating pocket of American life. This gorgeously shot, surprisingly touching film constantly subverts expectations while revealing the soul of these colorful contestants. With humor and compassion, Robin pushes past clichés: We’ll never think of the much-mocked media image of ‘Florida Man’ in the same way.” Special Jury Award: Remaining Native directed by Paige Bethmann “Paige Bethmann magnetically examines North America’s abusive Indian boarding school programs through the eyes of her impassioned subject, Kutoven Stevens. The director’s vivid use of montage, searing archival imagery, and Stevens’s poetic narration builds a powerful narrative around him. Stevens’ love of running brings him closer to his great-grandfather’s legacy while allowing him to use his voice as a force for good in his community.” Documentary Feature Competition Jury: Tim Grierson, Senior U.S. Critic, Screen International; Aisha Harris, culture critic and co-host of NPR’s “Pop Culture Happy Hour”; Jen Yamato, freelance journalist and film critic, previously staff writer, Los Angeles Times

SHORT FILM COMPETITION GRAND JURY AWARDS Presented by Vimeo Thank you to our Short Film Jury Award sponsor, Vimeo: the world’s most innovative video experience platform for creators and enterprises. NARRATIVE SHORT COMPETITION Winner: One Day This Kid directed by Alexander Farah “An intimate portrait that illustrates the desires and burdens we carry, offering an evocative glimpse into the life of an Afghan Canadian. It is both exquisite and soulful, effortlessly weaving in the cultural imprint of Islamic immigrant upbringing into the fabric of everyday queer experiences. The director is a timeless visionary who is reshaping the journey of what it means to claim and accept one’s own identity.” Special Jury Award: I'm The Most Racist Person I Know directed by Leela Varghese “Charming, contemporary, and polished. This film is a lyrical study of beauty and identity that balances the weight of internalized shame with the frivolity of a burgeoning romance. The Special Jury Award celebrates the director’s confidence in their examination of intersectional issues through the curious lens of two queer South Asian women.” Narrative Shorts Competition Jury: Amy Beecroft, Verve Ventures; Jaycie Luo, MRC; Sara Rastogi, EVP, Development, HOORAE DOCUMENTARY SHORT COMPETITION Winner: Looking for a Donkey directed by Juan Vicente Manrique “A subversive film that speaks to larger geopolitical realities. It tells a stranger-than-fiction story with staying power. The exceptional craft of this film – from the narrative approach to the cinematography – results in a brave and quiet film that speaks volumes.” Special Jury Award: Welcome Home Freckles directed by Huiju Park "The film creates a scripted narrative aesthetic through a deeply personal documentary. The director composes each shot with clear intention, so her vision seeps through every frame." Documentary Shorts Competition Jury: Chloe Gbai, Original Documentary Films, Netflix; Corinne Gilliard Fisher, producer and development executive; Amanda Spain, Head of Documentary, EverWonder Studio ANIMATED SHORTS COMPETITION Winner: Retirement Plan directed by John Kelly “A deeply resonant and well-crafted film, it is a masterful blend of charm, humor, and existential reflection. With remarkable storytelling finesse, the filmmaker succeeds in transforming a seemingly ordinary premise into a profound meditation on life, dreams, and the passage of time. It captures a universal longing for fulfillment and explores heavy themes with levity and warmth, making it both deeply personal and universally relatable.” Special Jury Award: My Wonderful Life directed by Calleen Koh “A throw down, relentless festival jam sure to evoke laughter while packing an emotional punch. The central character’s family dynamic provides firm grounding and relatability, freeing the filmmaker to make increasingly bold, and hilarious, choices demonstrating the absurd lengths they’ll go to for just one. more. day away from it all. Skillful animation and complex textures masterfully support the work’s central message.” Animated Shorts Competition Jury: Brandon Bui, Associate Creative Executive at Walt Disney Animation Studios; Silvia Olivas, two-time EMMY® AWARD Winning Writer; Adam Zehner, Funimation/Crunchyroll’s Japanese partnerships manager MIDNIGHT SHORTS COMPETITION Winner: Stomach Bug directed by Matty Crawford “A film as rich in character development and theme as it is in technical prowess and execution. It was a fresh take on a parent dealing with their child spreading their wings and flourishing. A brilliantly-gut-wrenching performance by its lead and a seamless blend of practical and visual effect results in a truly polished piece that everyone involved should be immensely proud to have birthed.” Special Jury Award: Whitch directed by Hoku Uchiyama “Crafting an effective short is incredibly difficult; doing so in under 5 minutes is extraordinary. This film skillfully blends horror and humor and does so without wasting a second. The film's use of familiar motifs lulls the audience into a false sense of knowing what’s to come before effectively pulling the rug out from under them several times, while still delivering a complete story and evocative performances.” Midnight Shorts Competition Jury: Alayna Glasthal, Creative Executive, Atomic Monster; Emily Gotto,SVP of Acquisitions and Productions at AMC Networks Shudder; David Lawson, Jr’s features include Resolution, Something In The Dirt, Synchronic, The Endless, and She Dies Tomorrow. TEXAS SHORTS COMPETITION Winner: Harvester directed by Charlie Schwan “This tightly focused horror film proves that great things come in small packages. Deftly commingling the tiniest, unheralded story details with big, “talk at the screen” levels of horror and well-judged creature work, this film absolutely delivers on the promise of the genre in which it lives, and goes that extra step further to become something truly special.” Special Jury Award: Newbies directed by Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence and Megan Trufant Tillman “This is a film that shimmers with beauty, yet also delivers powerful feelings of heartbreak and sadness, creating an experience that so perfectly embodies visual storytelling that it virtually eradicates the need for words. The characters invite you into their inner landscapes, placing you at the center of their richly shot and beautifully performed emotional drama.” Texas Shorts Competition Jury: Megan Creydt, Texas Monthly executive producer for TV, film, and podcasts; James Faust, Dallas Film Society Artistic Director; Michael Garcia, Producer and Executive involved in a number of highly-acclaimed, award-winning television series.

2025 SXSW Pitch Winners AgTech & Food Knead Technologies (Calgary, Canada) Enterprise, Smart Data, FinTech & Future of Work Polygraf AI (Austin, TX) Entertainment, Media, Sports & Content NeuralGarage (Bangalore, India) HealthTech, MedTech, BioTech & Accessibility Glidance (Seattle, WA) Innovative World Tech Xatoms (Toronto, Canada) Robotics, Web3, Voice & Extended Reality Contoro (Austin, TX) Security, GovTech & Space Little Place Labs (Houston, TX) Smart Cities, Transportation & Sustainability Helix Earth (Houston, TX) Student Startup MabLab (Boston, MA) Special Awards The winner of the Best Bootstrap Company (the company who has done the most with least): AzulBio The winner of the Best Speed Pitch: Tempesst Droneworx The winner of Best Inclusivity: Launch Ahead AI And the Best in Show winner: Polygraf AI This year’s participating companies represent the most cutting-edge technologies from around the world, with the highest caliber of applicants since 2009. To date, 647 companies have participated in SXSW Pitch, with over 93% receiving funding and acquisitions in excess of almost $23.2 billion. Of these 647 companies, 17% have been acquired by companies including Google, British Telecom, Huffington Post, Apple, Live Nation, OpenTable, Meta, Michelin, Constant Contact, and Harmon. Some of our prestigious alumni include Klout, ICON, Hipmunk, Wildfire, Tubemogul, Siri, Foodspotting, and Tango. If you missed any of the pitches this weekend you can still meet each of the 45 startups at the SXSW Pitch “Meet the Startups” in the Demo Session on Monday, March 10, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Griffin Hall on the second floor at the JW Marriott Austin, 110 East 2nd Street. Congratulations to all the winners, participants, and judges from this year’s SXSW Pitch. And we hope to see you tomorrow at the SXSW Pitch Showcase! Visit the SXSW Pitch page to learn more. SXSW Pitch is sponsored by KPMG, which goes far beyond the ordinary and the obvious to develop valuable insights that inform decisions, identify new opportunities and drive better, faster outcomes. Its diverse teams of industry professionals ask the right questions, see different perspectives, and uncover insights to bridge the gap between idea and execution. The result? Inspired innovation that works. KPMG firms operate in 143 countries and territories with more than 273,000 partners and employees working in member firms around the world.  

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