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 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival Jury Awards. Audience Award Winners were certified by Maxwell Locke & Ritter LLP.

SXSW Film & TV Festival presented 118 features including 91 World Premieres, 4 International Premieres, 6 North American Premieres, 4 U.S. Premieres, 13 Texas Premieres + 80 Short Films including 19 Music Videos. The TV program included 7 TV Premieres, 5 TV Spotlight World Premieres, and 6 Independent TV Pilots. The XR Experience program included 36 projects.

“We are beyond grateful to all our filmmakers, audiences, and volunteers for creating one of the most exciting SXSW Film & TV Festivals ever,” said Claudette Godfrey, VP Film & TV. “We knew our audiences would flip for our program filled with explosive studio films, surprising indie dramas and comedies, riveting TV, powerful documentaries, gripping gems from around the world, and groundbreaking XR, and yet the reaction still exceeded our expectations. The sheer joy of the shared cinema experience was undeniable all week long, and we can’t wait for these films to find audiences after SXSW!”

SXSW draws thousands of fans, film and television creators, press, and industry leaders to discover the smartest, most innovative, and entertaining new films, TV and XR projects of the year, as well as giving access to hundreds of Conference Sessions, Music and Comedy Showcases, Creative Industry Exhibitions, Mentoring, Meetups, and Special Events that define the cross-industry event.

Feature films in the SXSW 2024 lineup screened in the following categories: Headliner, Narrative Feature Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Narrative Spotlight, Documentary Spotlight, Midnighter, Visions, Global presented by MUBI, 24 Beats Per Second presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and Festival Favorite. The TV program consisted of TV Premiere, TV Spotlight, and the Independent TV Pilot Competition. The SXSW 2024 Short Film Programs presented by You42 held six competitive sections: Narrative Short Competition, Documentary Short Competition, Animated Short Competition, Midnight Short Competition, Texas Short Competition, and Music Video Competition. XR Experience Competition, XR Spotlight, and XR Special Event programming rounded out the Film & TV Festival program.

Select SXSW 2024 event content, including SXSW Film & TV Red Carpet interviews & Q&A’s is available on YouTube, with more being rolled out.

2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival Audience Award Winners:

HEADLINER 
Audience Award Winner: Monkey Man
Director: Dev Patel, Producers: Dev Patel, Jomon Thomas, Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, Ian Cooper, Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Christine Haebler, Sam Sahni, Antay Nagpal, Screenwriters: Dev Patel, Paul Angunawela, John Collee

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Bob Trevino Likes It
Director/Screenwriter: Tracie Laymon, Producers: Tracie Laymon, Sean Mullin, Edgar Rosa, Felipe Dieppa

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION 
Audience Award Winner: Resynator
Director: Alison Tavel, Producers: Kathryn Robson, Jon Lullo, Brendan Walter, Sara Nesson, Barbara McDonough, Christopher Noviello

NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: My Dead Friend Zoe
Director: Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, Producers: Paul Scanlan, Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, Terri Lubaroff, Ray Maiello, Mike Field, Richard Silverman, Robert Paschall Jr., Screenwriters: Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, AJ Bermudez

DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: Clemente
Director: David Altrogge, Producers: Mike Blizzard, Mary Sabol, Sarah Altrogge, Jocelyn Hartnett, Stephen Turselli, Keith Ayers, Andrew Calvetti, Steve Burman, John Bennett Scanlon

MIDNIGHTER 
Audience Award Winner: Oddity
Director/Screenwriter: Damian McCarthy, Producers: Katie Holly, Laura Tunstall, Evan Horan, Mette-Marie Kongsved

VISIONS 
Audience Award Winner: Songs From the Hole
Director: Contessa Gayles, Producers: Contessa Gayles, Richie Reseda, David Felix Sutcliffe, Screenwriters: James “JJ’88” Jacobs, Contessa Gayles

GLOBAL presented by MUBI
Audience Award Winner: Bionico’s Bachata
Director: Yoel Morales, Producer: Cristian Mojica, Screenwriters: Cristian Mojica, Yoel Morales

24 BEATS PER SECOND presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka
Audience Award Winner: Faders Up: The John Aielli Experience 
Directors: David Hartstein, Sam Wainwright Douglas, Producer: Shelby Hadden

FESTIVAL FAVORITE 
Audience Award Winner: Sing Sing
Director: Greg Kwedar, Producers: Monique Walton, Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Screenwriters: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar

Short Film Programs presented by You42

NARRATIVE SHORT COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Can
Director/Screenwriter: Kailee McGee, Producers: JP Bolles, Kailee McGee

DOCUMENTARY SHORT COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Frank
Director: David Gauvey Herbert, Producers: David Gauvey Herbert, Lance Oppenheim, Abigail Rowe, Nate Hurtsellers

ANIMATED SHORT COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: A Crab in the Pool
Directors/Screenwriters/Producers: Alexandra Myotte, Jean-Sébastien Hamel

MIDNIGHT SHORT COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Meat Puppet
Director/Screenwriter: Eros V, Producers: Leah Draws, Masha Thorpe

TEXAS SHORT COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Sangre Violenta / Sangre Violeta
Directors: Edna Diaz, Arturo R. Jiménez, Producers: Maggie M. Bailey, Edna Diaz, Arturo R. Jiménez

MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Dillon Francis – ‘LA on Acid’
Director/Screenwriter: Parker Seaman, Producers: Melissa Langaas, Parker Seaman

TV Program

TV PREMIERE
Audience Award Winner: STAX: Soulsville, U.S.A.
Director: Jamila Wignot, Producers: Jamila Wignot, Kara Elverson

TV SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: Hacks Season 3 Premiere
Showrunners: Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, Jen Statsky, Director: Lucia Aniello, Producers: Jen Statsky, Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, Michael Schur, David Miner, Morgan Sackett

INDEPENDENT TV PILOT COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Neo-Dome
Director: Bonnie Discepolo, Screenwriter: Matt Pfeffer, Producers: Anna Camp, Michael Johnson, Matt Pfeffer, Mark Pfeffer, Valerie Steinberg

XR Experience

XR EXPERIENCE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Last We Left Off
Directors: Connor Illsley, Jon Riera, Grayson Moore, Aidan Shipley, Producers: Cameron MacLaren, Peter Fisher, Connor Illsley, Jon Riera, Screenwriter: Grayson Moore

XR EXPERIENCE SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: Emperor
Directors: Marion Burger, Ilan J. Cohen, Producers: Oriane Hurard, Katharina Weser, Jeanne Marchalot, Screenwriters: Marion Burger, Ilan J. Cohen

XR EXPERIENCE SPECIAL EVENT 
Audience Award Winner: Kiss/Crash
Director: Adam Cole

SXSW is proud to be an official qualifying festival for the Academy Awards® Short Film competition. Winners of our Best Animated, Best Narrative and Best Documentary Short Film categories become eligible for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards (Oscars). Any British Short Film or British Short Animation that screens at SXSW is eligible for BAFTA nomination. Films are also eligible for the Independent Spirit Awards, more information on eligibility here.

Press Links:
Project Stills can be found at: https://filmmaker.sxsw.com/media

Publicists for projects in program: Publicist List
(If you are unfamiliar with Airtable, you can click on the three dots above the category column to export into CSV.)

About SXSW Film & TV Festival
Now in its 31st year, SXSW Film & TV Festival brings together creatives of all stripes over nine days to experience a diverse lineup and access to the SXSW Music and Comedy Festivals plus SXSW Conference sessions with visionaries from all corners of the entertainment, media, and technology industries.

About SXSW
SXSW dedicates itself to helping creative people achieve their goals. Founded in 1987 in Austin, Texas, SXSW is best known for its conference and festivals that celebrate the convergence of tech, film and television, music, education, and culture. An essential destination for global professionals, the annual March event features sessions, music, and comedy showcases, film and television screenings, exhibitions, professional development, and a variety of networking opportunities. SXSW proves that the most unexpected discoveries happen when diverse topics and people come together. SXSW 2024 took place March 8–16 in Austin. Learn more at sxsw.com. To register for the 2025 event, please visit sxsw.com/attend.

SXSW 2024 is sponsored by Volkswagen, C4 Energy, Delta and The Austin Chronicle.