As it wraps up its 25th anniversary edition in Austin, the SXSW Film Festival announced its Audience Award winners, with the list headed by narrative First Match and documentary TransMilitary.
First Match is a Netflix drama written and directed by Olivia Newman about a Brooklyn girl who finds her way by competing against boys in high school wrestling. TransMilitary chronicles the lives of four American transgender troops defending their country’s freedom while fighting for their own, and the larger efforts to help rescind the military ban on transgender service members serving openly. As Deadline was the first to report, it is the first feature documentary to get financial backing from GLAAD.
Other notable winners included Upgrade in the Midnighters section and Vida, the forthcoming Starz series created by Tanya Saracho and directed by So Yong Kim, in Episodic. The Audience Awards follow the previously announced 2018 Jury Awards, which included Grand Jury Winners Thunder Road for Narrative Feature and People’s Republic of Desire for Documentary Feature.
Over nine days, the 2018 SXSW Film Festival screened 136 features.
Here is the complete list of Audience Award winners:
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: First Match
Director: Olivia Newman
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: TransMilitary
Directors: Gabriel Silverman, Fiona Dawson
NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: All Square
Director: John Hyams
DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: The Dawn Wall
Director: Josh Lowell, Peter Mortimer
VISIONS
Audience Award Winner: Profile
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
MIDNIGHTERS
Audience Award Winner: Upgrade
Director: Leigh Whannell
EPISODIC
Audience Award Winner: Vida
Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios, So Yong Kim
24 BEATS PER SECOND
Audience Award Winner: Ruben Blades Is Not My Name
Director: Abner Benaim
GLOBAL
Audience Award Winner: Virus Tropical
Director: Santiago Caicedo
FESTIVAL FAVORITES
Audience Award Winner: Science Fair
Director: Cristina Costantini, Darren Foster
SXSW Film Design Awards
EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN
Audience Award Winner: #19 – Offf Barcelona 2017
Directors: Eve Duhamel, Julien Vallee
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Deadline
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