The documentary “Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free” and Megan Park’s “The Fallout” won the audience awards from the 2021 SXSW Film Festival, it was announced Tuesday.
Mary Wharton’s “Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free,” which tells the backstory behind the late rock star’s “Wildflowers” recording sessions, won among the three headlining films playing the festival. “The Fallout,” a teen drama starring Jenna Ortega and Maddie Ziegler, won the audience prize for narrative features after it also won the category’s jury prize.
“Not Going Quietly,” a documentary by Nicholas Bruckman about progressive political activist Ady Barkan and his fight with ALS, won the audience award for films in the documentary feature competition. Director Natalie Morales also won the Narrative Spotlight audience award for her film “Language Lessons,” and Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler won the Documentary Spotlight Audience Award for “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America.”
Mei Makino’s “Inbetween Girl” won the audience award in the Visions category, and Kier-La Janisse’s “Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror” won the Midnighters audience award.
The SXSW Film Festival went virtual this year after being canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The festival ran between March 16-20 and was available through a single ticket and online platform. Much of the content will still be available to people already registered up through April 18 — you can see a full list of the content still available here.
View the full list of audience winners below, and see the jury prize winners here.
2021 SXSW Film Festival Audience Award Winners:
HEADLINERS: Tom Petty Somewhere You Feel Free
Director: Mary Wharton
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: The Fallout
Director: Megan Park
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Not Going Quietly
Director: Nicholas Bruckman
NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: Language Lessons
Director: Natalie Morales
DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America
Directors: Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler
VISIONS
Audience Award Winner: Inbetween Girl
Director: Mei Makino
MIDNIGHTERS
Audience Award Winner: Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror
Director: Kier-La Janisse
GLOBAL
Audience Award Winner: Ninjababy
Director: Yngvild Sve Flikke
24 BEATS PER SECOND
Audience Award Winner: Soy Cubana
Directors: Jeremy Ungar, Ivaylo Getov
FESTIVAL FAVORITES
Audience Award Winner: In The Same Breath
Director: Nanfu Wang
2020 SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: We Are The Thousand
Director: Anita Rivaroli
Shorts
NARRATIVE SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Play It Safe
Director: Mitch Kalisa
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Joe Buffalo
Director: Amar Chebib
ANIMATED SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Opera
Director: Erick Oh
MIDNIGHT SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Stuffed
Director: Theo Rhys
TEXAS SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Learning Tagalog with Kayla
Director: Kayla Abuda Galang
TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Beyond the Model
Director: Jessica Lin
MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Kuricorder Quartet – ‘Southpaw’
Director: Sawako Kabuki
Episodic Program
EPISODIC PREMIERES
Audience Award Winner: Them
Showrunner: Little Marvin
EPISODIC PILOT COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: 4 Feet High
Directors: Maria Belen Poncio, Rosario Perazolo Masjoan
Virtual Cinema
VIRTUAL CINEMA COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Biolum
Director: Abel Kohen
VIRTUAL CINEMA SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: Finding Pandora X
Director: Kiira Benzing
SXSW Film Design Awards
EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN
Audience Award Winner: Birds Of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn Title Sequence
Creative Director and Illustrator: Michael Riley