The fifth day of the SXSW Film Festival announced the awards for Best of the Festival.
The quirky comedy "Fort Tilden" took home top honors, winning the Grand Jury Prize. The award was given to directors Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Roger by Narrative competition juror Oliver Platt. During the ceremony Platt said the decision was unanimous. "Fort Tilden" stars Clare McNulty and Bridey Elliott as a pair of 20-year-old roommates who find themselves on an unexpectedly difficult a trek to the beach in "deep Brooklyn."
The win comes a year after "Short Term 12" took the top prize. That film went on to be nominated for a number of awards and became a success at the box office. Of course, not all SXSW winners end up being as successful as "Short Term 12." The 2012 winner "Gimme the Loot" scored rave reviews and was nominated for a couple of awards but never really took off with audiences. The same happened with "Natural Selection," which was a festival hit but failed at the box office.
Much of "Fort Tilden's" success depends on which distributor buys the film; the movie has yet to be picked up.
Other winners included "The Great Invisible," which took home the Best Documentary award. Director Margaret Brown said during the awards ceremony, "This was a three-and-a-half year effort" and thanked the film community "for watching a lot of really bad rough cuts."
Sundance premieres also scored a number of awards. Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" won the Louis Black Lone Star Award for a Texas film, while Kat Candler's "Hellion" received a special mention in the SXSW Gamechanger Emergent Woman Director category.
The Special Jury Recognition for Courage in Storytelling went to David Dastmalchian from "Animals" for his acting and screenwriting.
Meanwhile, the Special Jury Recognition for Best Acting Duo went to Natalie Tena and David Verdaguer for "10,000KM (Long Distance)."
In the documentary categories the Special Jury Recognition for Political Courage went to "Vessel" from director Diana Whitten.
Meanwhile, the Special Jury Recognition for Editing & Storytelling went to "Print the Legend" from director Luis Lopez & Clay Twee.
The festival also handed out awards for short films. The Narrative Short award went to "Quelqu'un d'extraordinaire" from director Monia Chokri, while the Special Jury Recognition went to "Person to Person" from director Dustin Guy Defa
Other accolades included the Special Jury Recognition for Cinematography, which was awarded to "Krisha" by director Trey Edward Shults.
The accolade for Documentary Short was awarded to Jeff Dupre for his film "Kehinde Wiley An Economy of Grace."
The festival also awarded the Midnight Short award to "Wawd Ahp" by directors Steve Girard and Josh Chertoff.
Meanwhile, "Coda," directed by Alan Holly, won the Best Animated Short accolade.
The SXSW Film Festival is one of the most important events in film and it has seen a number of filmmakers break into the industry. The celebrity guests at the this year's festival have included Jason Bateman, Lena Dunham, Kevin Bacon, Dana Brunetti and Edward Snowden.
The festival runs until March 16.
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